Home Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

That's all true, but...

KUSC is God's blessing to me compared to classical stations in St.Louis and Pittsburgh where I used to live. There could be nothing more boring than a classical station run by people who don't care about music. At KUSC they all care and they can tell good from bad. For this, I am forgiving them their erratic personalities and ideosyncrasies.

One has to step in their shoes. They run the station for an average classical Joe, and under certain business rules. They have to play workhorses, otherwise average Joe would be turned off (In fact, I wished they played less contemporary American music than they do). Soundtracks and musicals? I would not blanketly dismiss them all. The line between these genres and bona fide classics is quite blurred, and, applying criteria too strict one may end up discarding some good music. Shostakovich and Prokofiev, for example. And where an average Joe is supposed to hear Hermann or Rosza? On country station? Playing separate movements instead of the whole piece is no mortal sin to me. There is nothing wrong in treating classical music casually, it is not Catholic mass. For a conoisseur, it is not hard to imagine that there were extra movements before and after the one that you hear, and for average Joe the shorter, the better. Obnoxious commercials? Sorry, have to disagree, KUSC is a virtual ad-free heaven compared to commercial mudslides elsewhere in the media. They broadcast to accomodate car or clock radios? Oh, no, they should stop this bad practice and accomodate to 2 tube receivers in LA, one of Bambi B and the other of sser2. Gory comments? Maybe, sometimes. Yesterday there was a comment that Schumann was in depression phase of bipolar disorder when writing his 2nd symphony, which reflected in the music. I listened to the music and could not disagree more - creative ability is the first victim of real depression. So comments may be interesting sometimes. Anyway, music is no simple matter to discuss, especially on the fly.

KUSC is as good as it gets. It could be worse.


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  • That's all true, but... - sser2 19:41:51 03/16/07 (0)


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