Shostakovich and 20th Century Music

I know enough people disagree with me to make this worth my while, so I will make it known that I prefer Classical and Baroque music to Romantic and Contemporary.

Baroque and Classical make sense. There is a rhythm, it is strict, and you know what is going to happen. This is not to say it is not suspenseful; it is. Listen to Beethoven's 5th or 6th or 9th. They are amazing. If there is a dissonant chord in Baroque or Classical, it is a 7th chord. Progressions always lead up to the I or V chords, depending on where you are in the piece. There is a specific place to which you are going, and you always get there. Everything is resolved.

This does not happen in 20th century music. Take Mahler for example. Though much of his music is either powerful or beautiful or both, it never leads anywhere. As if you are running for your life through a dark alley while a mugger is chasing you with a knife, and suddenly you become a little girl with curly hair in pigtails playing tag with her brother. Some contemporary music just seems to be strange chord progressions full of even stranger chords.

Romantic music isn't bad. I don't mind listening to it at all. It's not the best to play, however. With so much rubato, it is hard to keep a steady tempo. Well, it's written in not to have a steady tempo, which is why I'm not too fond of it. I like mathematical styles. Romantic music is not mathematical at all.

I have no problem with people liking 20th Century music at all. A good friend of mine seems to be in love with Shostakovich, and I know a few young ladies who like Mahler themselves. It's a matter of opinion, really. But if I am wrong, and I am never wrong, classical and baroque dominate.