Legendary wilderness survival expert and author Tom Brown, Jr wrote that "Safety, security, and comfort are euphemisms for death". It is only too evident that the priceless artform of classical music is struggling to survive fundamental changes in culture and technology, yet it remains puzzlingly wedded to the fatal dogmas of safety, security, and comfort. Just one example is the reactionary brouhaha that greeted the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's experimental challenges to classical comfort zones. Yes, some of those experiments were obviously misguided and doomed. But the classical nimbies would do well to remember Søren Kierkegaard 's assertion that "Everyone wants progress, no one wants change". Change in the classical lexicon all too frequently means experiments with lighting, visuals, and social media targeted at young audiences. Or it means emphasising the zones of safety, security, and comfort by programming "classical light...
Comments
I had occasion to listen to various Beethoven piano interpretations recently, and this is indeed a class in itself.
I've ordered that CD.
It is a measure of my conditioning and prejudice that I nearly didn't listen to it because of Suzie Quatro. It was only the knowledge that Michael Berkeley never makes a dud programme that prompted me to listen on earphones while cutting the lawn.
Glad I did ...
MB has an extroadinary ability to draw out of non profesional music lovers some remarkable insights.. often they are more interesting than composers say.