Beethoven has out-downloaded Bono, according to The Guardian today. This really is interesting. One correspondent quoted from the BBC's message board talks about 'the democratisation of high culture' and I think that's an excellent description.
It seems clear from the BBC's Beethoven symphonies download experiment, and also from a number of conversations I had with some very interesting people yesterday about Wagner (of which more shortly), that people DO want great classical music. They just need to be able to GET AT IT easily. That doesn't mean dumbing-down or doing crossover. It just means changing the means by which the best stuff is made available.
Meanwhile here's a review of that Walkure Prom from today's Indy.
I spent yesterday in the throes of a major, unexpected Wagner crisis which may have been prompted by that Prom (no pun intended!). More of this tomorrow...
2 comments:
Downloads are potentially a far more interesting medium for classical music broadcast than television, which still hasn't found a satisfactory way to handle concerts. People do want to get at this stuff, in their own time and, if possible, free at point of delivery. The extent of the licence fee mandate remains to be seen, but I hope this experiment will at least prompt record companies to be more adventurous in their online activities.
PS Intrigued by your 'Wagner crisis' - do tell...
In terms of the medium for classical broadcast being downloads, I've recently been thinking that cable tv would be a great outlet.
Most of us would rather see, hear & experience a concert on my large screen tv with the really good speakers while sitting on the sofa than on a little computer screen with tinny speakers while sitting at a desk!
We here in the US use the cable tv pay-per-view system for on-demand movies already, why not for concerts?
Post a Comment