Hmm …

… What the Classical devotees get wrong about modern music | Prospect Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

[Scruton's] essay on music and the moral life insists that to be non-judgmental is itself an act of judgment, and that listening to music is an inherently morally charged act, because it is a form of education for one’s feelings. This is why for him the essence of music’s importance lies in its expressivity. Expression in music matters “because it is a manifestation of the moral life, a way of inviting us to shape our sympathies in response to a character imagined in musical form.”

It would be interesting to know what Scruton thinks of folk music, which has certainly had considerable influence on classical music.