this is not an obituary

Regarding the recently deceased Dead, White, German Dude, I’m not about to say

1. he was a swell guy
2. his music rocked
3. he will be missed

because

1. you gotta be joking me
2. okay, maybe exactly two of his pieces really did (and, granted, a lot of the rest were fascinating failures), and
3. hey, if there’s a post-War Avant-Garde Composer underrepresented and underdocumented, he ain’t it.

However…

…anyone who could compel the Arditti to make fools of themselves has more than a little going for them. Every time this Nut From The Dog Star managed to squeeze more funds from institutions ’round the world for his crazy plans, my respect for the man would skyrocket, but my view of those institutions would go down the drain.