> The bigger problem might be that younger people are not taking up
> classical music, and even boomers rarely listen to it except as
> upscale mood music. That's sad, but aside from blasting out some old-
> fartism, I don't know what to say about that.
I have no data to draw on and can't make generalizations, but here in the 'nether' parts classical music seems to be thriving (generously subsidized by the State purse of course!) At the Concertgebouw, about twenty minutes walk from my house, you can hear classical music practically every night of the year and two or three concerts a day on the weekends. The opera is as busy as ever and has improved a lot over the years I've lived here. Tickets for popular productions are hard to come by.
I haven't read Lambrecht's latest screed, but I wonder whether he makes a distinction between the performance of classical music and its production/distribution by the music industry. No doubt the latter is languishing, but there seem to be alternatives arising. The Amsterdam opera has mounted very successful Ring cycles in recent years and plans to bring them out on DVD themselves later this year. If they provide subtitles in several languages, I expect it will do rather well among opera fans (OK, we are not talking about millions...). Obviously the DNO doesn't have the marketing muscle of Bertelsmann or Sony, but they also don't have their immense overheads. I've also read that the Concertegebouworkest is looking into publishing its own recordings.
I also think evolution of classical music in the 20th C is partly to blame for its loss of popularity. For me, the party ended around about Stravinsky; thereafter it became sterile and academic. For me, I'd rather listen to various jazz groups, tango orchestras, and Latin big bands from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, rock and and soul from the 1960s, salsa from the 1970s and 1980s, and some of the groovy ambient chill-out stuff from more recent years than any "serious" music from those respective time periods.
Well, that would be my blast of old-fartism.
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Colin Brace
Amsterdam