What we need is classical music radicalism


If classical music spends much more time debating what audiences want and don't want, it will disappear up its own rear orifice. For decades established religions have chased congregations by diluting their essential message. The hard facts give the lie to that strategy: in 2015 for the first time ever attendance at Church of England services dropped below one million. But radical religious groups have bucked the trend. In the States evangelical Christians have retained their share of the population, while mainline Protestants and Catholics lost 3.5 percent and 3 percent of their population share respectively between 2008 and 2015.

What we need is classical music radicalism. Classical music is about making great, challenging and rewarding music. It is not about chasing audiences. If the audience comes, that is great. If it doesn't come and a financial crisis ensues, the current bloated celebrity-centric business model will have to go through a painful (for some) but much-needed correction. During the 1793/4 Reign of Terror in France, executions by guillotine were a popular entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators. Think about it...

Read about Jean-Luc Fafchamps' classical music radicalism 'Sufi Word YZ3Z2Z1S2' for soloists, ensemble, and electronics in From post-modern to post-everything. No review sample used. Any copyrighted material is included as "fair use" for critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Also on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments

Opus Alba said…
Look, hardly anything great, rewarding or challenging from my local hall:
http://www.sagegateshead.com/tour-dates/classical-season-2016-17
Guillotine the programmers, though they may just grow a few more heads.

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