For some bizarre reason, Theodor Adorno's name seems to be coming up a lot in conversation lately. Stranger still, he seems to have a lot of unlikely defenders, including Robin Varghese of 3 Quarks Daily and saxophonist Josh Rutner.
My position on Adorno is pretty simple -- I think he's an insufferable wanker whose toxic influence on music and music cricitism lingers still. I highly recommend this very sharp, entertaining piece by Alex Ross (originally published 2003). Ross harbors considerably more sympathy for the guy than I do, but nevertheless cuts to to the heart of the matter.
[xposted at Secret Society]
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