In a typically thoughtful contribution to my post Why not play the premier league composers more often? Richard Bratby - who is professionally involved in classical music - mused "speaking solely from my own experience - there is a very noticeable falling-off in ticket sales when a symphony orchestra programmes pre-Beethoven repertoire, irrespective of the quality of the performance or the music, or the energy with which it is marketed. But why?" Now Kea has answered Richard's question with the following comment: Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, etc, all sound more or less like film music (or -- more accurately -- film music sounds more or less like recycled bits of Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, etc) and therefore don't require any intellectual involvement or serious effort to listen to. Understanding the music of Bach, Mozart or Haydn, etc (or for that matter Schumann, Brahms, Webern, Cage, etc) actually requires people to listen actively rather than being pulled alo...
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3152886/WITH-LEGAL---53-million-Securitas-Robbery-orchestrated-by-two-cage-fighters.html
The full headline explains why the story has been selected -
£53 million Securitas Robbery orchestrated by two cage fighters
Thanks for noticing our humble class blog. The writing on the blog is by students at Thomas More College (in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, USA) who are enrolled in a first year seminar class called "Listening to the Silence: John Cage and Experimental Music." On an Overgrown Path is, of course, on our required reading list. Indeed, the many thoughtful posts on Cage I found on this blog were a major source of inspiration for the course syllabus.
Best,
Jerome Langguth