Post by Stephany on Apr 27, 2007 10:18:23 GMT
Hello everyone,
A very interesting article has been published in today's issue of "The Daily Mail" about 'crossover' classical music.
Hayley gives her opinion on the critics.
Enjoy,
Stephany
A very interesting article has been published in today's issue of "The Daily Mail" about 'crossover' classical music.
Hayley gives her opinion on the critics.
Enjoy,
Stephany
Snobs are out of tune
By Paul Connolly
27 April 2007
Daily Mail
(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
Classical crossover stars may be mocked by purists, but they'll get the last laugh at next week's classical brits.
Listen, you can probably hear them now. It's the same this time every year. A pomposity of elitists (that's the correct collective noun, isn't it?) huffing into their beards about the vacuousness and general awfulness of next week's Classical Brits and 'crossover' classical music. Just the mere proximity of these last three words is enough to make most of these politically correct duffers erupt with boils and their beards spontaneously combust. 'Crass populism,' they harumph. 'The end of civilisation,' they snort.
Baritone Sir Thomas Allen made clear his opinion of crossover classical music when he claimed that popular classical artists such as Katherine Jenkins, All Angels and Bryn Terfel -- nominees this year -- were a symptom of an inexorable cultural decline.
Another critic of the popularising -- or to use the elitists' favourite phrase, 'dumbing down' -- of classical music has intoned portentously: 'We have reached a position of peril in the arts where we actually need a new elite.'
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, pathetic and short-sighted. The Classical Brits, and everything with which they are associated, are all that stands between classical music and commercial oblivion.
Nicola Benedetti, the Scottish violinist who has been nominated for three Classical Brits this year, thinks that those who view the awards with disdain are missing the point. 'I hate the phrase, "dumbing down". It doesn't mean anything. The music is what's important, not the image.
'What is vital is that we spread the message of classical music -- not argue about how it's presented. The Classical Brits can show people just how marvellous this music is.'
Former nominee, soprano Hayley Westenra, is also surprised at the fulminations of the classical establishment.
'Surely more people becoming interested in classical music is a good thing? I know of many of my fans who have taken up the violin or piano because of my CDs. They would never have taken an interest in classical music otherwise. How can these critics see an upsurge of interest in classical music in any kind of poor light?'
Benedetti and Westenra have a point.
For years, interest in classical music among young people had been in steep decline. However, the past decade has seen an increase in children choosing to learn a classical instrument.
The educational and outreach work undertaken by orchestras and individual stars has played its part, but surely the high profile of crossover artists such as Charlotte Church and G4 has been significant?
The Classical Brits awards show, which takes place next Thursday at the Royal Albert Hall and will be televised on May 13, is the annual celebration of all forms of classical music.
As well as performances from commercial artists such as Katherine Jenkins and Sting, the serious end of the spectrum will be represented with appearances by Dr Vernon Handley CBE and Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang.
For too long the presentation of classical music has bordered on the fusty. Apart from The Proms, when do classical concerts ever welcome all comers? At Glastonbury in 2004, I was among the 60, 000 festival-goers who engulfed the field in front of the main stage to see the English National Opera perform Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries. It was an astonishing hour and proof that if you present classical music in an accessible manner, you will drag in new people who will hear the magic and investigate further.
The Classical Brits offer another route in for those who have been intimidated by the elitist image of classical music.
Viewers may tune in to catch Sting or All Angels, but might stay on and be entranced by Lang Lang or the London Chamber Orchestra.
Sadly, the trouble is that for the critics, any change is bad. Their mindset seems to be: keep things as they are, close your eyes and maybe those horrid young people might go away and leave us alone with our music.
How wrongheaded can this bigotry be? Without the revenue generated for the record companies by crossover artists, highbrow classical practitioners might not find an outlet at all.
As it is, most of the larger record companies tacitly admit that their serious artists are loss-leading 'prestige' brands.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that crossover artists are good for classical music, and maybe it is this that so enrages the snobs -- they actually rely on the popularisation of classical music for the continuation of their favourite art form. How that must hurt.
So more power to the Classical Brits.
By Paul Connolly
27 April 2007
Daily Mail
(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
Classical crossover stars may be mocked by purists, but they'll get the last laugh at next week's classical brits.
Listen, you can probably hear them now. It's the same this time every year. A pomposity of elitists (that's the correct collective noun, isn't it?) huffing into their beards about the vacuousness and general awfulness of next week's Classical Brits and 'crossover' classical music. Just the mere proximity of these last three words is enough to make most of these politically correct duffers erupt with boils and their beards spontaneously combust. 'Crass populism,' they harumph. 'The end of civilisation,' they snort.
Baritone Sir Thomas Allen made clear his opinion of crossover classical music when he claimed that popular classical artists such as Katherine Jenkins, All Angels and Bryn Terfel -- nominees this year -- were a symptom of an inexorable cultural decline.
Another critic of the popularising -- or to use the elitists' favourite phrase, 'dumbing down' -- of classical music has intoned portentously: 'We have reached a position of peril in the arts where we actually need a new elite.'
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, pathetic and short-sighted. The Classical Brits, and everything with which they are associated, are all that stands between classical music and commercial oblivion.
Nicola Benedetti, the Scottish violinist who has been nominated for three Classical Brits this year, thinks that those who view the awards with disdain are missing the point. 'I hate the phrase, "dumbing down". It doesn't mean anything. The music is what's important, not the image.
'What is vital is that we spread the message of classical music -- not argue about how it's presented. The Classical Brits can show people just how marvellous this music is.'
Former nominee, soprano Hayley Westenra, is also surprised at the fulminations of the classical establishment.
'Surely more people becoming interested in classical music is a good thing? I know of many of my fans who have taken up the violin or piano because of my CDs. They would never have taken an interest in classical music otherwise. How can these critics see an upsurge of interest in classical music in any kind of poor light?'
Benedetti and Westenra have a point.
For years, interest in classical music among young people had been in steep decline. However, the past decade has seen an increase in children choosing to learn a classical instrument.
The educational and outreach work undertaken by orchestras and individual stars has played its part, but surely the high profile of crossover artists such as Charlotte Church and G4 has been significant?
The Classical Brits awards show, which takes place next Thursday at the Royal Albert Hall and will be televised on May 13, is the annual celebration of all forms of classical music.
As well as performances from commercial artists such as Katherine Jenkins and Sting, the serious end of the spectrum will be represented with appearances by Dr Vernon Handley CBE and Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang.
For too long the presentation of classical music has bordered on the fusty. Apart from The Proms, when do classical concerts ever welcome all comers? At Glastonbury in 2004, I was among the 60, 000 festival-goers who engulfed the field in front of the main stage to see the English National Opera perform Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries. It was an astonishing hour and proof that if you present classical music in an accessible manner, you will drag in new people who will hear the magic and investigate further.
The Classical Brits offer another route in for those who have been intimidated by the elitist image of classical music.
Viewers may tune in to catch Sting or All Angels, but might stay on and be entranced by Lang Lang or the London Chamber Orchestra.
Sadly, the trouble is that for the critics, any change is bad. Their mindset seems to be: keep things as they are, close your eyes and maybe those horrid young people might go away and leave us alone with our music.
How wrongheaded can this bigotry be? Without the revenue generated for the record companies by crossover artists, highbrow classical practitioners might not find an outlet at all.
As it is, most of the larger record companies tacitly admit that their serious artists are loss-leading 'prestige' brands.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that crossover artists are good for classical music, and maybe it is this that so enrages the snobs -- they actually rely on the popularisation of classical music for the continuation of their favourite art form. How that must hurt.
So more power to the Classical Brits.
