#john litweiler

More important than definitions is the experience of the music itself, given its power-and this is the great mystery- not merely to extend our emotions or decorate our lives but to transform them as we become participants in the artist's acts of communication. It is a characteristic theme in writings about twentieth-century music that the experiences of art can lead to a new human consciousness that will deter mankind from its present catastrophic course. This is an idea that is not to be dismissed