Creative Concert Music

I like the term. My only qualm is with the "creative" modifier. It's a little exclusionary.

It's one thing to attach labels like "romantic" and say that "Mozart was not a Romantic composer". Even though one might be able to find elements of romanticism, it's not the defining characteristic of his work. But I think it's potentially dangerous to call current-era music "creative", because it suggests "Mozart was not a Creative composer," with which many, myself included, would take issue.

The problem with labeling current-era music is that composers are no longer trying to write according to a particular style. It's a complete free-for-all. The more accurate terms "new" and "modern" were applied so long ago that they aren't literal anymore, and we've had to invent oxymoronic terms like "postmodern".

I don't have a solution to offer. I think I'm going to start referring to "concert music of the past 100 years", but I need a nickname for it. The problem with that term is that it shifts - it won't mean the same thing tomorrow as it did today. But it ought to do until I think of something better.

I very much like the addition of the word "concert" to our term. I hope we don't run into problems with it as some of our contemporaries attempt to erase borders between concert and pop by performing in pubs and bars...