The New-Music Scene

The April 16 number of the New Yorker, which hits newsstands today, carries a fascinating backof-the book piece under the headline, "New York's Vital New-Music Scene." Reports the magazine's Alex Ross, "Forty years ago, New York had just two full-time new-music ensembles: the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the Group for Contemporary Music. Now there are more than forty such outfits, from Alarm Will Sound to Wet Ink. Although these groups sometimes play in the uptown concert halls, they more often appear downtown and in Brooklyn."

Somehow this has happened without a Mayor's Office of New Music and without a special tax break for new musicians. It has happened despite all the moaning about the decline of the traditional record industry, which complains that sales of music downloads haven't made up for the loss of revenues from CD sales. It has happened despite all the caterwauling about how the closing of one venue —CBGB — was a harbinger of the death of the downtown music scene. It has happened despite all the reports about how artists are being priced out of New York City by the lack of "affordable" housing. It has happened organically, through both the capitalist interests of the bars and promoters hosting the music events and through the private philanthropy at places such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, which, the New Yorker reports, are starting to host the New Music at their smaller venues. And from the passion of individual musicians and listeners.

Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall both benefit from some government support. Some listeners will like this new music, and others won't. But the new music revival, overall, is a reminder that the dynamism and vitality and creativity of New York City have a way of sprouting and burgeoning on their own, which is one of the reasons that generations of geniuses have chosen to make their music here.