Soothing the savage beasts (my critics)

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Friday was halloween and WQXR played a lot of what they called "creepy" music in the spirit of the holday. This is a usual practice for classical music stations which play pieces specifically written for halloween or those whose subject or title refer to the macabre or death or haunting or the devil himself. There is even a compostion called "The Devil's Trill" which has nothing to do with the devil other than it is devilishly hard to play.
One of the compositions played was The Erlking, or Erlkonig in german, the Goethe terror tale set to music by Franz Schubert. Its basic story is that of a father riding home with his child presumably through woods, when the child senses the presence of the malevolent Erlking, a mythical being that preys on children. The Erlking entices the child to play with him but when the child hesitates threatens him instead. The father, disbelieving, tries to comfort the child by discounting what the child sees and hears but ultimately, when he arrives home, the child is dead in his arms. It is a chilling tale on its own but Schubert's ethereal music adds yet another turn of the screw..
I must admit that it is one of my favorite pieces and my children can attest to my infatuation with the song. I can remember one of my sons, spoofing me in some unremembered way, shouting " mein vater mein vater!" and singing dada da dada da dumm dumm dumm, as part of his spoof.
The singer has to simulate 4 different voices; the father, the child, the erlking and the narrator. Thus the singer makes the music. The particular recording WQXR played on Friday was touted by the disc jockey as being such a wonderful performance, I didn't find it that great since the voice of the erlking was a bit namby pamby rather than the frightening voice it is supposed to be. Marian Anderson was terrific in her performances of the song and so was Fisher-Dieskau.
Classical music is the drug of the mind. Nothing quite gives me a high as the performance of a piece I have grown to love such as Schubert's trout quintet, Smetana's Quartet #1 and countless others too difficult for me to single out. I think music reached its high point in the period starting from the 18th century to the end of the 19th century. That is not to denigrate some of the musical forms which came before and after this period. Certainly some recent compositions in the modern era, although they sound quite strange to the unused ear will certainly achieve classical status: that which withstands the test of time. I can't imagine that the popular music of today will be around 10 years from now, much less 200 years from now.
The same will probably hold true with jewish music. There are some classics, such as Mooz Zur and Kol Nidre which has stood the test of time because they contain the spiritual purity and unity with the words. However aside from some of the Carlebach favorites and the Werdiger opuses, truly great compositions, the tunes that are wildly popular today will fade away and only be of interest to those nostalgic types who can't grow up or who have a real agenda to keep the past alive because they think it was far more wholesome than the present.
I remember melodies which were sung at every wedding which would sound archaic were they performed today at the same occasions.
So for those of you who just want a rollicking good tune, keep listening to the hopped up cacophony that is the state of chasuna music today, but if you want the music to elevate you to another plane, you'll have to turn to the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries.