The future of classical music - again


Greg Sandow writes a high-profile blog on 'the future of classical music' and I received the following email this morning:

I thought your readers might be interested in this week’s post on the NPAC (National Performing Arts Convention) blog: Greg Sandow writes about how distinguishing between “high” and “low” art and “popular” culture versus, simply, “culture” limits audiences. All comments – agreements and arguments alike - are welcome.

Best, Amanda
Amanda Ameer
web www.firstchairpromo.com
aim firstchairpromo


As regular readers will know I'm very interested in the future of classical music so I checked out First Chair Promotions website which told me they are - 'a fully integrated firm devoted to supporting unique artists and their vast ranges of interests and talents. First Chair promises the most innovative iniatives in marketing and publicity and is committed to breaking down conventional media and collabaration boundaries.'

First Chair Promotion's clients include Hilary Hahn who is managed by leading music power broker and talent agency IMG Artists, singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane who is also contracted to IMG, bass/baritone Eric Owens who, sorry to be boring, is also with IMG, soprano Measha Brueggergosman who is, you guessed it, signed to IMG, England's own King's Singers, yes they are too, and 'critic/composer/consultant' Greg Sandow .

Just people doing their job, nobody is hiding anything, you can find it simply by Googling, and it is the future of classical music.
Photo of opening night of 2006 BBC Proms conducted by IMG artist Jiri Belohlavek and played by IMG ensemble BBC Symphony Orchestra (c) On An Overgrown Path. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Unknown said…
Is First Chair Promotions responsible for Hilary Hahn's new CD being at the top of the Billboard chart? If so, I applaud them! It's about time the Schoenberg concerto got the popular response it deserves!
Pliable said…
Samantha, I agree it is a wonderful work and I am delighted to see its sales success.

But look at this week's Billboard Classical Top 10. The current number one disc is, like the Schoenberg/Sibelius Concertos, released on Deutsche Grammophon and like Hilary Hahn, the artist on it, tenor Rolando Villazón, is contracted to IMG. Déjà vu?

Also note that five of the current Classical Top 10 five are from the Universal Group (the world's biggest record company which includes DG) and Denon is the only independent label represented -

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?g=Albums&f=Top+Classical+Albums

As I said in my post, it's the future of classical music.
JMW said…
This is the future? How boring. The biz has become colorless and corporate. Might as well be basketball.
Chip Michael said…
But the future is more than this....

IMHO, the Classical world is caught between the people wanting to push boundaries, and ultimately push them so far they push the audience away (ref: Milton Babbit's imfamous quoute) or they are so locked into the "standards" that new immerging artists struggle to get noticed.

It's nice to see what First Chair is doing - to give a voice to people who otherwise might not be heard.

Chip

Note - I tend to speak on this topic often on my own blog.
Pliable said…
Chip, thanks for that. But I'm not sure I'd describe an artist with a recording contract with the world's biggest record company and a management contract with the biggest talent agency as one of the "people who otherwise might not be heard".
Henry Holland said…
(ref: Milton Babbit's imfamous quoute)

If you're thinking of Who Cares If You Listen, the title wasn't his doing, it was his publishers; Babbitt's title was The Composer as Specialist.

I suspect you've never actually read Babbitt's piece, which is summed up nicely by Matthrew Guerrieri of Soho the Dog here:

And Brookes caricatures Babbitt's point, which was not that the audience didn't matter, but that just because the advanced serialism he was writing about wasn't attracting a wide audience didn't mean it was pointless or not worthy of being written. (Whenever Babbitt talks about the "composer" in the essay, remember, he's talking about composers, in his words, "of what we will, for the moment, designate as 'serious,' 'advanced,' contemporary music.") If you want to write populist music, have a blast—I will point out that Babbitt taught Stephen Sondheim for a period. (And apparently spent their lessons doing in-depth analysis of American popular song.)

Yes, Pliable, your last point is well taken, it's no different from the Sex Pistols proclaiming they were going to destroy the record industry whilst being signed to EMI > Warner Brothers or Rage Against the Machine ranting about the evils of corporations while being signed to Sony. By definition, if you're on a major label, you *are* the establishment, not some put upon indie.

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