[Nicolai P. Zwar]

What the heck is “untrue” music?
I am sure I wouldn’t know the difference if it bit me ìn the nose.

Wouldn’t you though?

By “true” as far as pure music is concerned, I meant music that is honest, music that strives, music that refuses to hide behind effect or posture. Music that commits to an idea and follows it through, that doesn’t flatter the ear but earns its impact through necessity rather than ornament.

Now if you object that that’s all subjective and personal, you’re right, of course it is. Music is objectively neither “true” nor “untrue”, which is why I used it in quotation marks. It’s my personal reaction to music, it’s “true” if it rings “true” to me, and it’s “untrue” or phony if I find it kitsch or surface without substance, when orchestration, effects, or production are used to disguise weak material. Or when it’s generic, music with no specific identity.

It’s subjective. I’m not claiming music as such is objectively “true” or “untrue”.