Roll Over Beethoven

[gurnemanz]

About 85% classical.

There is a lot of good rock, folk and jazz etc out there and I wish I knew more but, compared with classical music, there is a much higher proportion which doesn't appeal to me at all. I do sometimes listen to internet stations and am always grateful when son. daughter and friends point me towards stuff I might like.

[Richard Barrett]

... one reason for the decline in classical requests might be the collapse of cultural shame : time was when any politician, fr' instance, felt that she/he "had" to show an interest in / awareness of 'high culture' - called on to Desert Island Discs, they desperately claimed an abiding interest in Tchaikovsky or RVW - when their record shelves ar home wd have nothing but Richard Clayderman, the Monkees, ABBA, and Gracie Fields. If I'm right I think this new 'honesty' about what people really like is a good thing...

Although the "cultural shame" has been in many cases replaced by something worse, the inverted snobbery that led Gordon Brown to declare that he was a big fan of Arctic Monkeys when he obviously had never heard of them and the name had been whispered in his ear by a spin doctor (whose actual motives might be open to speculation). But this is a particularly Anglo-Saxon phenomenon among politicians I think. Angela Merkel has no problem attending Bayreuth. Theresa May on the other hand looks as though she'd never waste her time on anything so joy-inducing as music.

As I've said before I'm not keen on drawing boundaries between "classical" and other areas of music. They really have no relevance to my own listening habits and preferences and this goes for most people I know.

[ahinton]

Although the "cultural shame" has been in many cases replaced by something worse, the inverted snobbery that led Gordon Brown to declare that he was a big fan of Arctic Monkeys when he obviously had never heard of them and the name had been whispered in his ear by a spin doctor (whose actual motives might be open to speculation). But this is a particularly Anglo-Saxon phenomenon among politicians I think.

As far as I am aware, it is indeed a peculiarly Brit phenomenon, though why it should be so - or rather what might have caused it to be so - I have no idea.

Angela Merkel has no problem attending Bayreuth.

Or Berlin Philharmonic concerts.

Theresa May on the other hand looks as though she'd never waste her time on anything so joy-inducing as music.

Indeed she does; even the otherwise largely unspeakable Margaret Thatcher had a genuine love of the music of Bartók (and no doubt other composers) and made some effort to play the piano when time permitted.

[Serial_Apologist]

Indeed she does; even the otherwise largely unspeakable Margaret Thatcher had a genuine love of the music of Bartók (and no doubt other composers) and made some effort to play the piano when time permitted.

A case if ever there was one of no read across as regards appreciating the total man as being the source of inspiration - Bartok being a socialist and a conservationist in both best senses - other examples of the Thatcher esthetique partiellement manqué (or a.n. other comes to my mind) being in evidence in contributions across this forum.

[ahinton]

A case if ever there was one of no read across as regards appreciating the total man as being the source of inspiration - Bartok being a socialist and a conservationist in both best senses - other examples of the Thatcher esthetique partiellement manqué (or a.n. other comes to my mind) being in evidence in contributions across this forum.

Fair comment, of course, although my observation was not intended to address or embrace either Thatcher's or Bartók's political beliefs but merely as a response specifically to Richard Barrett's understandable remark about Theresa May and music; for the record, I'm not necessarily convinced that her occasional piano playing or tastes in music were ever really an intentional part of what you elegantly refer to as her esthetique partiellement manqué and whose existence in other areas I have no reason to doubt (although I'd be interested to read you revelation of the identity of said "a.n. other"!)...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I believe James Robertson Justice chose multiple Beethoven Quartets played by The Busch Quartet.

Did they actually play Busch Quartet versions, or replace them with "nice clean modern recordings"?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did they actually play Busch Quartet versions, or replace them with "nice clean modern recordings"?

When JRJ chose them, they were "nice, clean modern recordings"!

[vinteuil]

When JRJ chose them, they were "nice, clean modern recordings"!

... as indeed they still are.

[ to my ears ... ]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When JRJ chose them, they were "nice, clean modern recordings"!

What year was that?

[Serial_Apologist]

... as indeed they still are.

[ to my ears ... ]

I have tended to find that a lot of CD re-releases of recordings from earlier, lo-fi eras, retain their original imperfections; a case in point being a jazz recording from 1962 I picked up last week as a replacement for the vinyl I had retained since purchasing it when I was 18, wrongly as it happens in the belief that I had worn the latter out!