Classical Music? Define Your Terms!

“Classical music is the music that has lived on or will live on. The implication here is that there’s lots of other music that hasn’t or won’t live on because it isn’t as good. Contemporary implies having a quality of newness, which is impermanent at best. Once something becomes familiar, by being around for a while and people getting to know it, it can’t really be contemporary anymore. So the more out there and inscrutable the music is to an audience, the longer it can stay contemporary.”