Is Classical music doomed ??

[Megan]

In my opinion, It depends very much what people want inside their own heads.
People are responible for the content of what goes into their minds and they can choose whether they want Thrash Metal, or Mozart. Surely the difference is in the repertoire of responses that different kinds of music elicits. If somebody wants to listen to rock thats fine, but no one can even pretend that it has the richness and many faceted content of classical music, again it's fine for people stuck in rock music, but then I often think why do they make those chairs in infant schools so small, because when you are an adult, you are not meant to go back there anyone, and you don't fit there.

Link to interesting article.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/9483625.stm

[Cocchini]

Why can't one like BOTH?

[Megan]

Why can't one like BOTH?

You can like both if you want, but the question put, is classical music doomed and is rock or heavy rock music driving it out?

[Peter]

I used to be pessimistic about the situation, but I'm not so sure now. There are still plenty of talented young people going on to Music college. I think it is inevitable that generally speaking young people will be more attracted to the instant gratification of popular music, (this has probably always been the case) but as they get a bit older their tastes can change and often do as several members who post here have shown. It is a shame that so much these days is simply about image and it is that alone that puts the barriers up for most young people - to that extent yes I think Rock is stopping many from widening their horizons and experiencing the wonders that we know are to be found in music such as Beethoven.

[Roehre]

I concur with Peter. I see quite a lot of people around me who "hated" everything that even remotely reeked of classical music, and who now are a kind of connaisseurs (losing hair might help in some cases I'm afraid )

[Sorrano]

I've mentioned this before, but there is a PBS radio program that features up and coming young people (performers mostly) who are involved in Classical Music. The host had a feature on the demise of the demise of Classical Music. On the negative side there are economic issues with some of the major orchestras that need to be resolved, as well.

[Peter]

There again you only have to look at the line up for the Classical Brit awards to see what is going on - generally speaking a glorification of mediocrity over real talent, but then who takes these silly awards seriously?

[Cocchini]

There is an interesting discussion about this at:

http://www.violinist.com/discussion/...e.cfm?ID=11573

: 7 )

[Roehre]

There again you only have to look at the line up for the Classical Brit awards to see what is going on - generally speaking a glorification of mediocrity over real talent, but then who takes these silly awards seriously?

But that's why it has been renamed/restyled(?) Classic Brit awards

[SR]

I think 2nd and third tier symphony orchestras are doomed like newspapers. Getting too expensive to keep an orchestra on payroll in Phoenix. I can't afford live concerts of the LA Phil any longer because of inflation. I remember they were doing B's 9th a couple years back and I was going to go but with the money a pair of tickets would cost I could buy a CD of virtually every recorded performance in existance instead.

I think a couple tier 1 orchestras will survive but seriously now, there is not much new "classical" music other than film scores worth listening to and how many recorded versions of B's 9th do we really need ?

Steve

[Peter]

I think 2nd and third tier symphony orchestras are doomed like newspapers. Getting too expensive to keep an orchestra on payroll in Phoenix. I can't afford live concerts of the LA Phil any longer because of inflation. I remember they were doing B's 9th a couple years back and I was going to go but with the money a pair of tickets would cost I could buy a CD of virtually every recorded performance in existance instead.

I think a couple tier 1 orchestras will survive but seriously now, there is not much new "classical" music other than film scores worth listening to and how many recorded versions of B's 9th do we really need ?

Steve

Good to hear from you again Steve - yes I think you're right, but on the other hand just think how much people are prepared to pay for a sports event!