DOWNTOWN

“DOWNTOWN” (1970s). This epithet, based on New York City geography, arose initially in talk about classical music to distinguish work produced below 14th Street from that more typical of “uptown,” which refers pointedly to culture produced on the West Side between Lincoln Center in the south and Columbia University to the north. If uptown composers were affiliated with institutions such as universities, those downtown were customarily independent. Audiences at uptown concerts tended to be older…