From: Erik Gaderlund (erikg@macconnect.com)
Date: Tue Oct 15 2002 - 03:25:36 CEST
At 09:09 -0800 11/12/02, Steven Catanzaro wrote:
>My feeling is that if classical music is "dead" the fault lies not with lazy
>audiences but with the "system" that produces the so-called classical music.
>
>For instance, the Salon writer makes a point that when President JF Kennedy
>went to the symphony, he had to have an advisor to tell him when to applaud
>so he wouldn't look foolish.
But, it is nice to be able to listen to the music rather than the
loud lady behind you talking about her cheating husband! And, by all
accounts during Beethoven's time and earlier, they whole
audience/court would be gossiping and playing cards not really paying
attention to the music. Just go to your local Elementary/Middle/High
School band/orchestra concert and watch the parents and younger
siblins talk through the entire concert--just like they were watching
TV or a Video.
>But, what's really foolish is the "artistic" community proscribing when and
>how people should respond to the music! You'd probably feel more liberty of
>self-expression at high mass at St. Peter's Basilica than at your average
>symphonic concert, and this wasn't the way it was in Beethoven's day.
>
>When Beethoven premiered his 7th symphony, and got finished conducting the
>second movement, the crowd applauded wildly.
>
>What did Beethoven do? Scowl at the crowd like many modern day classical
>artists are known to have done? Heck no. He turned around, bowed graciously,
>and repeated the second movement over again from the beginning! The crowd
>went wild!
>
>What would've been foreign to Beethoven is the sacrosanct pall that the "art
>community" has cast over the so-called classics.
>
>MEMO to classical musicians. If you want people to start coming back to your
>concerts... a) compose some new music that people actually like, and b) when
>they start to respond with applause, don't glare at them like they're rubes
>and idiots...
So we get more of the Metallica and Orchestra, I'll pass. Certainly
here in Silicon Valley we've been doing a whole lot of soul searching
with the demize of the San Jose Symphony. You'd think one of the
'formerly' richest areas in the US if not the world would be able to
support some form of culture, but, we seem to rather go watch the
latest 70s cover band then go hear interesting music. I would hope
there would be room for all tastes, but, as us 'acid-jazzers' here in
the US find we can't just walk into any record store and find music
we want, much less actually records.
I rather dislike the way the mass market here in the US had giving us
_LESS_ choice, not more.
We just got to hope that lists like this may be able to keep some of
the good stuff alive.
erik g
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