Come to the edge!

Twenty-one years ago I wrote about an article on NewMusicBox that forecast the age of music streaming, and included the following quote from the article:

A world where music is available via the latest technologies for a single monthly subscription charge. A world with unlimited access to a huge range of music. A world where the music business will explode and reinvent itself. A world where listeners are empowered, and the reach of new music is limited only by your own imagination. A world where the major record companies aren’t invited to the party. A world where music becomes a utility on tap, just like gas and electricity. A world where music is like water. 

It can be argued that streaming has empowered consumers by offering instant gratification. But two decades ago, in my post I expressed concerns about the advent of 'music like water' with these words: "Music-like-water won’t bring a utopia where every recording, of every work, by every composer from Evaristo Abaco to Johann Zumsteeg, is available via the technology of your choice. What will happen, no what is happening, is the new utility companies become gate keepers". 

As explained by Hegel, anything existing for long enough becomes its own opposite. Fanciful promises of streaming empowering audiences by creating a digitally-enabled 'long tail' of music have not been fulfilled. In fact the opposite has happened; because instant gratification always gravitates to the lowest common denominator. As the streaming gatekeepers - Spotify, Apple Music, etc - relentlessly chase revenue and audience numbers, a narrow monoculture of instantly gratifying playlists is the result -  Choral Chill, Classical Commute, Melancholy Strings, Classical Chill, etc. etc..

Fortunately a few adventurous musicians and courageous record labels continue to expose audiences to the vital ingredient of serendipity. In another post more than twenty years ago, I quoted adventurer John Ridgway as follows:  

For so much of our brief time on earth, we are content to exist in the secure and predictable laminar world. However, when we face the demons at the edge of chaos we can sense the tiny whorls of creative thought as they come spinning out of the blue...."

These increasingly rare whorls of creative thought can be found on the Amsterdam Sinfonietta's recordings for Channel Classics. Their most recent CD Spiegel im Spiegel ventures from the laminar flow region of Pärt, Vaughan Williams, and Vasks to the edge of chaos created by Estonian composers Veljo Tormis (1930-2017) and  Lepo Sumera (1950-2000). In Raua needmine (Curse Upon Iron) Veljo Tormis combines Estonian folk elements with a strident anti-war message which cannot sit comfortably with the increasingly vocal populist-right cohort in the classical industry - full performance via this link.   

The secure and predictable laminar flow region is very well (too well?) catered for today. Candida Thompson, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Netherlands Chamber Choir who perform Veljo Tormis' Raua needmine are not afraid to face the demons at the edge of chaos. Today we desperately need more like them coming to the edge and pushing. As Christopher Logue explained in Come to the Edge.   

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It's too high!

COME TO THE EDGE!

And they came,

and he pushed,

And they flew.