The New Romanticism?

Lots going on here tonight. How to begin to reflect on the colossal scope of this chapter? So much is lumped together but I should talk about Rzewski because I was only familiar with his piece for 8th Blackbird, Pocket Symphony.

Wow. I just spent the past hour listening to Rzewski's People United and am so glad I did, especially with the score available.

What an amazing piece. There is something here for everyone! I love the unified narrative structure that unfolds through various different idioms, jazz, atonal fragments, minimal, Romanticism. He is so creative, developing ideas satisfactorily then moving on at the perfect time, giving each variation a sense of closure within a larger hierarchical structure. The form makes total sense, and I feel various degrees of fulfillment as the work unfolds. I was skeptical during the very Les Mis-like theme (harmonies are like the standard All The Things You Are), but just as in Beethoven, the more comprehensible and memorable the theme, the greater flexibility afforded.

There is lots of Paganini and Rachmaninov in the Romantic virtuosity, but that helps make this work seem really accessible to a large concert-going public. Especially the piano recital crowd who does not expect to hear anything written after 1890. Given its length, this would require incredible stamina of the performer.
There is so much interesting music in this work! Dazzling colors, cool effects, driving rhythms that appeal on a physical level. Staggering beauty, savage brutality.
Maybe I just like it because it's simple enough for me to understand.

Interestingly, Rzewski seems to have uploaded many of his own scores to IMSLP. He has a piece, Satyrica, for jazz combo and band, but I can not find any information on it beyond a decent recording [here]. This work is over an hour and seems less interesting although I did not get all the way through.

I wonder, does a composer make his work stronger by including a political agenda? Or does this weaken the music, or distract from its power?

The Gann text is suddenly conversational, blatantly presenting his opinions along with bad jokes. 
I think the entire New Romanticism term is more problematic than even minimalism was. I think what Gann really means is Music That More People Like to Listen To era.