[lbo-talk] The Death of Classical Music (da capo, con brio)

Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Tue Apr 3 18:34:04 PDT 2007


On Tuesday 03 April 2007 06:49 pm, Doug Henwood wrote:


> Oh please. I love being able to hear the music I like when I want to.
> I don't want to wait until your amateur bass is available to hear The
> German Requiem or Bach's Cantata #33, which I'm listening to now.
> What a weird notion of authenticity.

Music is different things to different people. For me, it's not so much a question of "authenticity" -- a thing quite unobtainable in any case -- as a question of, what, aliveness?

Music, like sex, is something people do among themselves, or even by themselves. Of course there are different attitudes on this subject too.

I've had a bit of a progression in my own life. I used to like listening to recordings. Then that started feeling a little cold, and I went to live performances a lot. Now, I'd rather sit down with a score and stumble through something at the keyboard.

Not for everybody, I know. But if the record companies are not gonna be there for you... well, take good care of that CD of Allein zu dir. And when it finally bites the dust, after the median CD lifetime of three months -- you live in New York, right? When my gang works it up, I'll let you know.

-- --Michael J. Smith --mjs at smithbowen.net

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list