Loads of preconceptions about classical music

There are loads of preconceptions on classical music running amongst the people, not only the young audience. And these preconceptions are admittedly quite sticky. Before bringing a young audience (people in their twenties, thirties) into a Brahms concert, you first need to bring them to cross the front door, to like the place. This whole campaign is one single step into this direction.
That perceptive observation was added by the Philharmonie Luxembourg to the debate about their new promotional video. On reflection I think the Philharmonie is right, and that I, and other readers, were guilty of allowing preconceptions to unduly influence our judgement; plus it was not clear from YouTube that this video was the first of four in a structured campaign. The path that the Philharmonie Luxembourg is trying to lead young people down may not be immediately apparent, but it is certainly rich - 'Tristan goes to India' with Susanna Mälkki conducting the Tristan Prelude and Liebestod and Messiaen's Turangalila, plus Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan and Bernstein. So I plead guilty to preconceptions and hasty judgement, and wish the Philharmonie the best of luck and hope they keep us posted as their project develops. That header graphic from their project website could provide a new mantra for classical music - time for a change.

Also on Facebook and Twitter. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Pliable said…
John Bennett via Facebook -

"To continue your example about Brahms: it always amazes me that record companies persist in using images of the beery Victorian patriarch, hiding behind his immense beard, when there are many images of the young, virile, and (yes ladies), handsome young composer. In fact, you could extend this analogy to practically all composers of that period. Think Faure or Elgar, for example, and the images which come to mind are invariably of some dithering old Edwardian buffer from another world to our own. Hardly the images which are going to encourage a new audience to overcome its "preconceptions"."
7:11 am
Gavin Plumley said…
Play the end of Brahms 1 and the beards and the beer immediately disappear... I think you were right in the first place. Magic comes only with the sounding of the music.
11:44 am
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