|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
184.167.91.208
In Reply to: RE: Of Course It's the Problem......... posted by Todd Krieger on April 17, 2014 at 19:45:35
I always thought that Fiedler was the "best known orchestral conductor to the American mainstream". Montovani must have been right up there on the list too.
Follow Ups:
"I always thought that Fiedler was the 'best known orchestral conductor to the American mainstream'."
Maybe during the 1960s.... He was showcased on prime time TV too. The "pops" movement kind of faded, when concerts stopped including the classics, a trend started in the 1970. (At one time, you'll hear a Tchaikovsky or Beethoven piece in the programming. But not anymore.) The Boston Pops, in particular, has faded into obscurity. (Can anybody snap-recall who the current music director is?) Bernstein at least has had staying power.
"Montovani must have been right up there on the list too."
I personally don't know who this individual is.........
If the Boston Pops truly does fade into obscurity, classical music will have lost very little, saith Bob the Snob. The bad drives out the good, etc.
I think, as Krieger says, the media are part of the problem, FM radio in particular. You can't run a classical music FM station to make money and if you try you're becoming part of the problem. But even PBS stations have cut down on or dumbed down their classical music offerings -- 'to broaden our base,' I was told.
So where is the rest of the problem? It's in the culture as a whole, which has gotten the young attracted to music, movies, and TV programming that are incompatible with the kind of sensibility that responds to classical music. Works are too long, not exciting enough, and you can't dance to much of it, let alone hum it. I have five bright, well educated children now aged from 18 to 50, all of whom grew up in a household full of all kinds of music, mostly classical; and none care very much about classical music. They've been (brilliantly) drawn elsewhere, fed easier, more basic stuff. We getting back to where we were when a lot of this music was written, cultures in which most people found classical music too intellectual, too refined, or just for the rich. Social history is against classical music's returning to the piece of the mainstream it occupied in the 50's and 60's, I'm afraid.
It's probably time to see it as social history and stop trying "to take arms against the tide." Listen to the music you love and don't tear your hair out that you're in a declining minority. The music's not going away - in fact there a lot of extremely good young musicians and conductors who are coming from somewhere, perhaps raised by Tiger Mamas!
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: