What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Wednesday, October 02, 2002

WHO LOVES THE DEAD WHITE GUYS?


At the record store, I've started laying claim to the jazz section, which is so understocked it reminds one of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree -- tiny and wretched. Many people I know avoid jazz because they find it too daunting a genre to wander into. I can understand that, since I have a similar but stronger reaction to classical. Classical music is frustrating because, even when you listen to enough of it to discover composers or periods that you're fond of, you then have to contend with a dizzying array of different versions from various conductors and orchestras! Meanwhile, most "greatest hits" albums feature abridged versions or poor sound quality.

All this has kept me from really getting into classical music for years now but I was happy to discover this week a line of CD's that feature some of the best recordings of individual composers' most popular or accessible works on a roomy two discs apiece (the Bach set looks particularly attractive). This Panorama series looks like a pleasing collection and a great help to a beginner like me.

Having started this push to further broaden my musical tastes, I was a bit disappointed to see an article from composer Joshua Fineberg entitled Classical Music: Why Bother? This is a bit like enthusiastically stepping up onto a train platform and being told that the trains have stopped running. Fineberg's article is terrific, however -- blunt, compelling and downright scary when he explains how the decline in classical music interest is merely the forerunner to similar declines in jazz, in pop and even in other fields, like film. It's all yet another reminder that, in the rush for new sounds and experiences, we can't just toss our history to one side...