class nature of classical music

[Sam Pawlett]

Hi Eric. Thanks for your reply.In response, Lebrecht stance and outlook are,
generally elitist-aristocratic.Well ,maybe not _everything_ is controlled by
the business class but barring significant drastic change it soon will be.What
examples would you give of sectors of society that aren't penetrated by
capitalism? and what examples would you give of sectors of society that aren't
under the control of or ,are heavily influenced by, the business class in one
way or another? As for Naxos, it is a budget classical label founded by a
fellow named Klaus Heymann, a German, who intended to sell the recordings in
Asian countries at very low prices.Heymann is a businessman with little
knowledge of music. Naxos is as few years old now and has recorded pretty much
the whole canon of classical music including some very obscure modern
composers. Heymann uses mostly E.European artists and orchestra's which have
proved to be a kind of farm team for the big labels as many artists who
initially recorded for Naxos subsequently got contracts with Sony and EMI. As
of 1994, Naxos was selling 10 million discs a year with a 50% a year growth
rate. One in five classics now sold is a Naxos. Because of this low budget
competition, many of the big labels are now offering a series of discs in the
6-10$ range( EMI's red line and DG's "classics"). Naxos discs, here in Canada
sell in the 6-8$ range. Most of the Naxos discs I've heard were of decent sound
quality and pretty good performance quality too. (the info. is from
Lebrecht,1997pg 212-7).  If you can't locate any emotional content in cl. music
I suggest you try Gorecki's symphony#3. Its kind of an acquired taste I guess.
I know what you mean though. Holliday's recording of "Strange Fruit" and her
last recordings are devastating. As for 'Trane, my faves are Ole' and
Transition. Trane can come off as pretty cold sometimes though.  For emotional
impact and sheer power, Art Pepper's Galaxy recordings are second to none. I
also wrote a little review of Eric Nisenson's book "Blue;The Murder of Jazz".
If anyone's interested, I'll post it.
Sam Pawlett.

rayrena wrote:


> Eric,
>
> Interesting review. Thanks for kicking down some previously unknown
> knowledge and uncontemplated thoughts. I got a few specific reactions
> though...
>
> >    Lebrecht blames the sad state of classical music on the greed and
> >selfishness of the agents and their clients who care nothing about the
> >music, its tradition, nor do they believe they have any duty to the
> >public(1).
> [...] >1) Lebrecht often falls into an elitist-aristocratic type critique
> >accusing businessmen of being philistines who know nothng about music
> >and therefore should not be "running the show" so to speak. Classical
> >music like everything else in today's hyper-capitalist world is
> >thoroughly controlled by the business class.
>
> Does Lebrecht fall into "an elitist-aristocratic type critique" only
> because he is defending something that has the reputation of being elitist
> and aristocratic, ie, classical music, or is his basic outlook and critical
> stance elitist-aristocratic? It's not clear to me. It seems too easy, not
> to mention wrong, to label someone who is passionate about classical music
> an elitist, if indeed that is what your are doing. I mean, Edward Said
> adores classical music but i dont think he can be called elitist. Also, I
> don't see that *everything* is controlled by the business class...or maybe
> I'm just hopelessly optimistic.
>
> >Naxos has, in effect, taken over the market through its excellent prices
> >and decent recordings of unknown performers from the former Eastern bloc
> >countries. Lebrecht goes into the fascinating story behind the rise of
> >this label.
>
> As a reader of your review, I want to know more about this Naxos. At least
> a few words. Ya left me hanging.
>
> >     Lebrecht gives us no hint as to why the audience for classical
> >music is shrinking and why that diminishing audience is composed
> >primarily of petty-bourgeous and bourgeois types trying to show that
> >they are sophisticated and ":cultured" and in the process distancing
> >themselves from the hated unwashed masses. The truth is that most people
> >who attend concerts do so for the social prestige and to be "seen".
>
> I dont think that is necessarily THE truth. In fact, probably the biggest
> classical music fans i know are a part of the great unwashed, at least
> economically, and these are people who really do appreciate the music and
> have never touched a tuxedo or opera glasses in their lives. But my
> evidence is purely anecdotal... sort of like yours.
>
> >     Lebrecht does not criticize today's music from a musical point of
> >view. He could have pointed out that today's music is often played cold
> >and clinically with most of the performer's attention and effort spent
> >on technical details rather than the emotional and psychological aspects
> >of the music.
>
> Maybe I am a complete Philistine, but I have never been able to locate any
> emotional and psychological aspects in classical music. I have tried. My
> girlfriend constantly tries to get me to hear it, but I can't. I  get more
> emotion and feeling out of Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" than all of
> Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Verdi,etc. combined. (And I haven't mentioned
> Monk, Mingus, Ornette Coleman, oh I could go on...) As I said though, I am
> probably a total derelict.
>
> eric