It must seem puzzling that with artistic maturity comes increased interest in the way small children hear. I relish exposure to the full range of musical response young children bring to the simplest musical events. They have no preconceived idea of how things go, they simply go. And I am happy to go with them.
We are led to believe that only complex structures are interesting, but I don't believe it. Too much musical complexity has led too many musicians to technical mastery at the expense of comprehension. I have recently heard technically brilliant performances of obviously ironic contemporary compositions which the musicians clearly did not get at all.
What are we losing in this era of readily-engineered flawlessness?
