consonance, composers' concordance

Among the recent posts regarding the dominant seventh chords and
extended tertial chords, I found the post by Jay Williams to be
particularly interesting. As a person who, as a youth, used to carry
around Stravinsky's _Mass_, at all times, I will agree that it seems
that "context" is everything. The final chord of the "Sanctus" with the
dominant 7th and the 11th in it really wants to "stay put."

It makes me think that much of this "consonance," "concordance" business
is really psychological... a matter of composer and cultural
conditioning. This is a topic that Margo Schulter seems to be bringing
up all the time.

A set of compositional considerations can actually CREATE and enforce
stasis even in a dominant-7th chord in 12-tET, seemingly.

Correspondingly, the "biases" that Ms. Schulter cites regarding cultural
norms in chords come clearly into play. It is not hard to believe that
someone who is conditioned to hear 5-limit, 3 or 4 note chords would
reject 3-limit chords stating... well, that's not really a chord, it's
"only" counterpoint!
____________ ______ __ __ _
Joseph Pehrson