tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post7930439056198434316..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Bestselling ClassicalBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-26504210901637208492016-06-29T15:48:17.792-05:002016-06-29T15:48:17.792-05:00Thank you very, very much for the compliment on my...Thank you very, very much for the compliment on my prose style!<br /><br />Reading the reactions to Brexit has been very illuminating, hasn't it?Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-89342846633455469622016-06-29T14:52:27.738-05:002016-06-29T14:52:27.738-05:00Here in Eugene the New Age market is flourishing, ...Here in Eugene the New Age market is flourishing, lest any despair. :-)<br /><br />I saw Norman L. worrying the other day about the lowest classical sales ever according to Nielsen (no US release sold more than 100 copies); what actually made that stick in my head was his dismissive sneering at the fact that-- I didn't go look myself-- evidently two recordings of Gregorian chant by actual monks are at the top of 'the enfeebled sales chart'. I'm sure it can be argued that e.g. The Sixteen's version of XYZ may be in some ways superior to Abbey N.'s, but I just can't figure him out. <i>And so it's </i>possible<i> that he </i>wasn't<i> indulging in 'dismissive sneering' &c: one of the many qualities of The Music Salon that I appreciate is that you, Bryan, write in straightforward English without continual, habitual recourse to the ironic mode, like the post-modernists do.</i> :-)<br /><br />But it <i>has</i> been very amusing watching Brexit make certain arts people (not to mention politicians &c) fall onto their fainting couches with much weeping, wailing, and lamentation.Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-34402121098456584302016-06-28T08:17:55.947-05:002016-06-28T08:17:55.947-05:00I hope you are right about the waning New Age mark...I hope you are right about the waning New Age market, but I'm pretty sure that while people are attracted to the order and symmetry of classical music, the complexity is only attractive to a small minority.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-40275734636237182172016-06-28T00:19:59.022-05:002016-06-28T00:19:59.022-05:00Lobotomy by sound....mmmmmmm.
yeah, I've also...Lobotomy by sound....mmmmmmm. <br />yeah, I've also noticed that lately the culture is acknowledging that classical music specifically has this value, of providing relaxation and relief from our hectic, noisy, modern lives. Notwithstanding the Windham Hill intrusion, it would seem to me that the New Age side of the "relaxation niche market" is on the wane. These classical compilations are cherry-picked and sort of cheesy, but maybe they function to keep art music on the general public radar to some extent. <br /><br />Ok, that's a start, I'll take it. <br /><br />I like to think that deep-down, people are attracted to the order, the symmetry, the complexity. <br /><br />Jephnoreply@blogger.com