I just finished a really good novel. It's about the state of contemporary classical music, which is a rare bird. It's called "Jophiel."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542579554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486816085&sr=8-1&keywords=jophiel+brennan
It's by Gerald Brennan. A composer.

Here's ad copy from Amazon. It's a pretty good summary.

Jophiel, the "Angel of the Beauty of the Divine Presence," incarnates in a mid-western town to a lovely woman and her outlaw husband in this tale set in near-future America. The Arts and Sciences are in decay and the Angel Jophiel comes to the aid of a
young composer, guiding him in the making of a new Renaissance, offering a fresh creative impulse for a world on the brink.
Beauty is vanishing from the Earth. The Western World is in upheaval. Cities are in turmoil. Culture is in decay. The Arts are dead. Science and technology are worshiped. Matter is the only reality. Humanity alone doesn’t have the power to defeat the
enemy arrayed against it.

Anyway, not much new out there on the subject, but this was worth my time. Also posted this on rec.music.classical.

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