San Diego.com
By Kenneth Herman
January 16, 2010

The anniversary celebration of the birth year or death year of great composers is a questionable enterprise. Two years ago, some adventurous music presenters took the bold step to honor the centennial of French composer Olivier Messiaen’s birth with performances of his less familiar works, a great service to adventurous music lovers. In New York City, for example, the organist of St. Thomas Church played all of the composer’s works for organ in a daunting series of six weekly recitals.

On the other hand, did we really need all of the hoopla about the 250th anniversary of the death of J. S. Bach in 2000, especially since recording companies (remember those?) and performers had gone all out to fete the 300th aniversary of Bach’s birth in 1985? Bach is not a composer who has languished in obscurity, at least in our lifetime.