What is unfair about the usual comparison?
A common complaint holds that popular music is shallower than the classics. The comparison is usually between the best of the past and the average of the present, which is unfair. Time has done a good deal of sorting: we remember the symphonies that survived and forget the thousands of dull ones that did not. If we compared like with like, the best popular music of today with the best of any earlier age, the verdict might be less clear. This does not show that all judgements of quality are mere preference. It shows only that those who make them should be careful about what they compare. Disagreement about music is not a sign that no standards exist; it is the way in which standards are argued about.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. It sets the best of the past against the average of the present
- Step 1: The passage says the comparison is between the best of the past and the average of the present.
- Step 2: That is unfair because time has sorted past music.
Answer
It sets the best of the past against the average of the present.
Why not the others: The unfairness is setting the best of the past against the average of the present; nations, recorded music, painting and age of listeners are not compared.
Practise more Music and taste.
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