I believe that in this hypothetical musical catastrophe, the music community would instantly split in two groups of opposing views. First, those who can’t remember any music of the past, but do remember that it had a huge impact on their musical tastes and strive to dig through thousands of recently made songs for any interpolation or reference to past compositions. The second group, likely made of younger people, may remember the phrase “classical music” and perhaps the stereotypes of it, but seem to feel as if it didn’t hold much precedence in their lives, and don’t see the importance of going through so much effort to preserve it. I think that although I definitely understand how impactful and important classical music was to what music has become, I would bet that if you wiped my memory of any actual examples of classical music, I’d fall firmly in the category of those trying not to dwell on the past, and instead try to push music forward in to new territory.
Now I may be a piano player, but I’m definitely not a great piano player, but let’s imagine I have the ability to perform any modern piece for my own sake. Most pieces that I’d want to play wouldn’t be played alone,  Voices from the Killing Jar by Kate Soper comes to mind, as to me it represents such a wild and deranged modern sound.
Secondly, I’d want to cover some modern jazz, I’m a big Kamasi Washington fan, so a song like Final Thought is an incredibly fun example of how jazz, funk, and African rhythms have blended in the present day. Washington also covers Clair de Lune on this album, but I imagine the ghost of music past will take that away from us as well
As unfortunate as it may seem to me now, I think post-memory-wipe, the younger generation that lacks the appreciation for dead composers would win over time. The older preservationists would likely die off before completing the impossible task of recreating the masterpieces of Mozart and Bach, and we’d be forced to move on without it.
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