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In Reply to: RE: Thanks, Todd. posted by rbolaw on May 16, 2016 at 12:09:10
Not about the conspiracy aspect so much, but about the role media play in shaping audience receptiveness and expectations.
In Europe and Asia, classical music is widely available on radio, television and public performances -- all because the state government supports and funds it. It is considered (along with other arts) a cultural investment. And people go/watch/listen because they grew up in a society that values and funds its cultural heritage of music and the arts.
Every person I have ever met from Germany is very familiar with their classical music heritage. In the U.S., you are lucky to find anyone who can even name an American composer. Maybe, if you prompt them, they'll say "Gershwin? Oh, I heard of him," because they saw the American In Paris movie or something. Is it a media conspiracy? No, it's a product of the societal decision as to the arts.
Part of the larger problem is that we never really had a strong *American* music culture with lots of *American* classical composers that everyone grows up listening to. And the government has never invested in supporting the arts (with the exception of a few museums and a few assorted grants). That would be "socialism."
So, it does not surprise me that classical music reviewing and criticism has declined to the point of puff pieces about Lang Lang and Yuja Wang. Previous decade it was Bell and Hahn who got the press.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Follow Ups:
"In Europe and Asia, classical music is widely available on radio, television and public performances -- all because the state government supports and funds it."
While the governments there are "socialist" like ours has become, I think the interest running the politics in those countries are not "removed from the people" like it has become in the US. (Although this appears to be changing rapidly for the worse.)
"Every person I have ever met from Germany is very familiar with their classical music heritage. In the U.S., you are lucky to find anyone who can even name an American composer. Maybe, if you prompt them, they'll say 'Gershwin? Oh, I heard of him,' because they saw the American In Paris movie or something. Is it a media conspiracy? No, it's a product of the societal decision as to the arts."
Heck with Gershwin..... Most people under 30 don't even know who Jimi Hendrix is..... Or Miles Davis..... Or Charlie Daniels..... The only thing the national media feeds the masses today are the recent "prefab" acts that fit its "cultural formula". A formula which again I say is for shaping preference, rather than reflecting it.
"Part of the larger problem is that we never really had a strong *American* music culture with lots of *American* classical composers that everyone grows up listening to. And the government has never invested in supporting the arts (with the exception of a few museums and a few assorted grants). That would be 'socialism.'"
Some socialism has some residual interest in the masses, but not all. (Socialism is rule by elites, with varying "freedoms/privileges" allotted to the people.) With some of the chaos with the "refugees" from Syria "immigrating" to Europe, the cultures in European nations have also begun to decline rapidly.
"So, it does not surprise me that classical music reviewing and criticism has declined to the point of puff pieces about Lang Lang and Yuja Wang. Previous decade it was Bell and Hahn who got the press."
Like other types of music, what the media has pumped up in the classical world have not exactly impressed me. Like I've stated many times here, I believe Japan's NHK symphony is the finest symphonic institution in the world today. Yet over 99.9 percent of Americans and most Europeans have probably never even heard of this institution.
I didn't mean to imply that a country has to be socialist in order to support the arts. I was just voicing why I thought government support for the arts never has had any traction in the U.S. The argument commonly heard is that it is "socialism" for tax dollars to support the arts. In the "free market" (as if one exists), if the arts have value, people will voluntarily contribute or pay to support them. What we have now is the result of that thinking.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
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