Tom

Simple: he is old and doesn't want to put the time into it. Look at the number of concert works he has composed in the last 25 years and the number in the 25 years before that. Clearly those and conducting across the US has been his greater interest.

Yes, I hear the "JW is a hack" argument all the time, but I have never heard the outdated part. Perhaps its out there. At the end of the day, people are always going to just say it is up to each person's opinion whether the music is good or bad (bad as outdated in this case) in any evaluative sense. So, I never see the point in engaging in argumentation on it.

"old-fashioned" is descriptive; "out-dated" is pejorative. I have never heard even his biggest critics say his music is outdated.

Can you cite reputable people who are on record saying his music is outdated?

Just keep an eye on the spinning top, and you will be fine.

Where is Bill Clinton when you need him?

I don't think Williams needs a "wake-up call." He knows he would sell out any venue worldwide. He is almost 88. It is not easy for him to travel abroad.

This is cool, and not surprising given that the all the rehearsal footage over the years points to this. But it is nice when top-tier performers see it so clearly--they are in the best position to make this sort of evaluation.

Doesn't he have like 23 gramophones now?

Excellent idea, but I will not be attending. I would love to be there and hope everything there has a wonderful time--it is a historic moment.

I would bet Mutter would do the violin heavy version of the Raider's March for an encore.

Like most things in life, it depends on your income.

I would add that the author and like-minded people would say it is not cultural appropriation (or at least not the bad kind), when a non-European descendant composes for an orchestra. Just so dumb. I know we are giving the author too much attention by even discussing this, but we also know that the author represents the logical conclusion to a lot of people's principles on these things--so, I suppose we have to respond.

Dumb, but based on principle deep in the mindset of a whole hell of a lot of people in American academic and intelligentsia circles.

I would say that is not the case with Williams. ToD, for instance, sounds very different from IJ, but over time it all gets ingrained as the same musical broad brush. When Galaxy's Edge came out, many people said (including on this board) that it does not sound like SW. But again, over time once one gets acclimatized to it, it sounds like a perfect fit.