Who's afraid of classical concerts?

The Lebrecht Weekly ^ | February 10, 2005 | Norman Lebrecht

[jalisco555]

I'm one of those that tried the symphony subscription route but gave it up. After a few minutes I wished for a good book to read while listening to the music. I love opera but I just don't want to watch an orchestra for two hours. A dying art, I'm afraid.

[cyborg]

I can listen to it on the radio, but I just can't sit through anything for more than an hour at a time.

[HairOfTheDog]

ping

[Conspiracy Guy]

I am terrified of classical music.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

I enjoy classical music, especially in the morning. I'm not a morning person and it's the only music I can stand to listen to when I first wake up. I also like opera, but I've never been to a show.

[Texas Chrystal]

I am a symphony musician and I agree! My concerts get LONGER and LONGER--we never get out of the hall before 10 PM! Shorter concerts are a good start, but better programming would do wonders. My main orchestra is so stale--the conductor never programs new work. BORING!
Our audience is so blue/grey it's a wonder we even survive.

[jalisco555]

The local cable radio franchise has several classical stations as well as jazz and we keep them on at the house as background music and music to relax by. Unfortunately, dressing uncomfortably and sitting in a cramped theater seat is no way to enjoy Mozart.

You should try attending an opera. I'll bet you love it and the supertitles make it all comprehensible.

[cloud8]

> I am terrified of classical music.

Take a look at Disney's Fantasia. If you find it terrifying, then turn off the video and just listen :)

[labard1]

"the conductor never programs new work. BORING!"

Apart from poor acoustics at many concert sites, I find the need of my local conductors to do so many contemporary works so unpalatable that I no longer attend. I love my classical CDs and my classical FM stations, and I do attend the occasional local chamber group, but find most orchestral performances less than memorable. I was spoiled in my student years by hearing Sir John Barbarolli and the Halle frequently.

[ladiesview61]

Classical music is beautiful..if you ever come to Western Massachusetts (haha) come to Tanglewood in the beautiful Berkshires and listen to the most amazing classical much every night or Sunday afternoon. See, there are good things in MA!

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

You should try attending an opera. I'll bet you love it and the supertitles make it all comprehensible.

I've tried to convince my husband to go with me, but he doesn't like opera. He likes classical music and says that he would be happy to go with me to a symphony performance, but he says that he can't stand opera.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I love classical music. Vivaldi, Mozart, and Wagner are my personal favorites.

[Texas Chrystal]

A lot of new work is pretty ear-shattering. Those pieces are no fun to listen to OR play. However, there are many new composers that write fantastic work. Maslanka, Dougherty, Tichelli and Michael Tilson-Thomas are some of my favorite. I'll also include Frank Zappa in that category although he is a little "older."
Check them out.

[yldstrk]

Me.

[cloud8]

The author needs to get out of London's smothering concert halls. I'd suggest getting out of England entirely and going to a classical concert at Tanglewood or Central Park.

I think what's killing classical music is that it's stigmatized as an art form that ended in the early 20th century. You can learn to appreciate practically any kind of music if you're willing to give it a good listen. You know what just might contribute to a classical comeback? The nearly ubiquitous I-Pod.

[labard1]

Sorry, but I view Beethoven's "Der Grosse Fuge" as at once a wonderful work, and the beginning of the end for great music. If we had no music post Beethoven, I wouldn't seriously miss it.

I like some Elgar, Faure, Joplin, Bernstein, Copeland-- but don't rank any of it with Bach, Mozart, Hayden or ancient music. It's a matter of personal taste-- I'm not trying to persuade you. Gorecki is interesting, but not someone I'd listen to if he weren't one of the best contemporaries.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

The only type of non vocal music I like is classical.

A friend asked me to escort her to a school of the performing arts at SHSU.

There was a small girl about 3 or4 dressed up in a gown and she had a toy violin.
I said to my self " Isn't she cute and when she gets to be 7 or 8 and gets violin lessons, she might be good".

My jaw dropped, she did a solo number and she could play.
The little violin was no toy.

[Bull Man]

I wished for a good book to read while listening to the music..."

If you are READING you are not listening. I teach music apprieaction to college freshman. Want to talk about a real nightmare? They assume music is easy, and come into the class with a bad attitude and expectation. I lose over half the class in just over a couple of weeks once they realize they have to listen to weekly assigned pieces and pass a listening quiz. The thought of spending a few hours a week listening (yes, just listening...not driving, reading, and/or computering while the music happens to be playing) is beyond their comprehension. I only wish music education was treated as seriously in grade schools as their obsession other social modeling. By first grade they know how to put a condom on a bananna, but have never heard an oboe. (insert evil grin) Now, maybe if they used an oboe in sex-ed?

[cloud8]

> come to Tanglewood in the beautiful Berkshires

My parents took me to Tanglewood when I was a kid. Leinsdorf conducting the Bruckner 4th, Liszt's Totentanz, Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus...yes, it made an impression :) Later I had a press pass and enjoyed the best seats in the shed. But I'd rather be out on the lawn with the hoi polloi and my picnic basket :)

[Capriole]

I've always loved classical music, even as a teenager. Part of the reason for this is that I was exposed to it from an early age: I lived in a town that had its own small but good symphony orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony, and kids were routinely taken to hear accessible music from the classical repetoire. I remember as a young girl going to hear the magnificent Chicago Symphony led by Carlo Maria Giulini in Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5, "Emperor." He seemed so sexy!

But today I can't dream of affording a ticket to the symphony. Our community recently celebrated the opening of a new symphony hall, and though I wanted to go to a concert, I was horrified at the cost--$100 per ticket for any seat from which one could actually see the performers. My own children aren't going to have the same exposure to the great minds of music that I had because there's no way I can take an entire family to the symphony. And playing CDs for them just doesn't cut it.

If classical music is going to survive as more than the pursuit of three or four eccentrics, it is going to have to bring up a new generation of classical fans. The only way to do this is to expose kids to classical music. They great concert halls and orchestras are shooting themselves in the head. If I were a rich lady, instead of donating millions to improve the city's concert hall I'd fork over to bring children from local schools to hear concerts, or send small chamber ensembles to the schools.