Re: "...do you really think that a man like Reich can have any ego to speak of? His music is modern, spiritual, timeless.
Is it not the case that the people who ruin it are the mainstream critics, historians and the dealers, and not the artists?..."
With all due respect, sat_chit_anand, the world of art is what it is. I'm sure it was the same exact way three thousand years ago. Most all of the artists are infantile egomaniacs with amazing talent, and the "business" surrounding the artist is loaded with parasitical "flesh peddlers"; all of whom with egos so grandiose that they actually believe that "they" are responsible for the work of the artist.
This is the way it is from the very height of the profession, all the way down to the level of a grade school amateur theatre production.
"Everybody wants to be in show business."
I have met and worked with individuals praised throughout the world as "genius"..."brilliant"..."cutting edge", who were so incredulously stupid as to be incapable of intelligent conversation, having to be "pampered" and "taken care of" 24hrs/day by others doing everything for them. Most of the time artists speak only of themselves. Regardless of the subject matter at hand, they always immediately change the conversation to themselves, demanding that all consider them the actual center of the universe.