Should one suppose that, as no recent symphonies have been mentioned, English composers who still contribute to the medium no longer write "Second-Tier" examples?...
"Recent symphonies" stand in relation to the established tradition, either by way of reaction against or extension of, - right? By "first-tier" I simply meant to suggest those composers and works that provided the historical and musical foundation any successors would have to familiarize themselves with and respond to in a deliberate and self-conscious way (that a listener could discern in some fashion), - not NECESSARILY some measure of quality in relation to which the "second-tier" is considered inferior or deficient by whatever defined standards, - though that might be true case by case.
Is musical composition (and music appreciation) like the sciences now, where practitioners can intelligently and productively excel without any substantive knowledge of and engagement with what came before within flexibly circumscribed contexts?
