From: "Randy H" 

How many performances of Mahler's 9th do you have?

"Gene McAloon"  wrote in message
news:4brmevkv78b4fh5u0dm6nu7phejn2d3d0i{at}4ax.com...
> On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 09:24:57 -0500, Bill Lucy 
wrote:
>
> >That's just plain bullshit, Gene. I'm from a small town. The first time I
heard a
> >classical orchestra live, I was 25 years old. But I had a collection of
vinyl
> >*because* I heard Beethoven, Bach, Copland, Brahms, Rachmaninov, and
others
> >commercially.
>
> Commercialization of classical music has been around a long time and yet
both
> sales of recordings and attendance at concerts has fallen off steadily.
> Obviously the commercialization has done nothing to advance appreciation
of the
> music.
>
> I grew up listening to classical music from a very early age. Did I learn
to
> love it? No. I liked some of it and mostly ignored the rest. Classical
music is
> not likely to appeal to kids and seldom does. When my much older
half-brother
> started buying recordings of big band music, I couldn't get enough of it.
>
> When I got my first apartment I bought only pop recordings. What I was
hearing
> on FM in those days was the usual Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, etc, the
stuff I
> had been brought up on. I had no interest in hearing that old stuff again.
A
> bit later most of FM was going to rock from the older pop and I had and
have
> little interest in rock. Luckily, it was at about that time that Mahler
was
> becoming popular and was getting a play on what few  FM stations were
still
> doing classical. To me, Mahler was a revelation.
>
> I started buying classical recordings and spending tons of money on stereo
> equipment. I still do. With the exception of a jazz piece here and there,
I
> haven't bought anything but classical in the last thirty years. Is that
because
> I grew up listening to classical used commercially? Hardly. I despised
hearing
> it used that way. I still do. Was it because I grew up listening to
classical?
> Again hardly. Classical isn't for kids. They can't be expected to
appreciate it
> and few do.
>
> You, my friend, are the exception. Very much the exception.
>
> Gene
>

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