Re: The Death of Classical Music (da capo, con brio)
On Apr 3, 2007, at 1:13 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
Doug Henwood wrote: >
On Apr 3, 2007, at 5:52 AM, Colin Brace quoted:
http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/story/0,,2048916,00.html
Vanishing acts Martin Kettle
What went wrong was partly the glut: with 435 versions available,
who needs number 436?More than partly.
This is just a special case of a general glut of the very great4st
works in every art form. Rising population and rising literacy equals way
too much not just good but great stuff for everyone to even begin to take in.
Yup. I’ve been listening to Kubelik’s recordings of Mahler’s syms,
the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Bach cantatas, the Juilliard’s Beethoven
quartets, Arrau’s Beethoven sonatas - all of them decades old, and
splendid. As long as they stay in print (and something like Arkiv
could keep things in print forever), why bemoan the dearth of newer
versions? There’s more great stuff than I could ever listen to.
And then there’s Hillis Miller’s question (also decades old) - with
so much Shakespeare to read, who needs Beaumont & Fletcher?
Doug