Sony Walkman cheapened music? (II)

My friend Raymond wrote in a comment on my previous entry on Norman Lebrecht that: "Following his logic, gramophones, radios and LP hi-fi are also cheapening music".

Good point! This is exactly what I am planning to write as a follow-up on Mr. Lebrecht's snobbish view on technological innovations which he regarded as cheapening music.

No one would dispute that listening to a Bruckner symphony by the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikvereinsaal is a wonderful experience. But how many people can have the time and money to do that? Should we not also experience Bruckner by other leading orchestras in leading concert halls in other parts of the world? How many people can do that? What if we want to "re-live" a certain memorable concert performance we attended years ago?

The numerous audio technological innovations over the past hundred years of ago served more or less the same purpose - greater accessibility - allowing more people to listen to more good music without having to be physically there (including music performed in the past). That many people use them to listen to "trash" music is not the point. No one forces you to follow them.

Sure, Mr. Lebrecht attends lots of live performances. But he does listen to the Walkman as well, since he said in his article that "I once heard Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on a vertical Alpine train as a thunderstorm crashed all around. In unforgettable settings, music acquired unsuspected dimensions." Exactly, if a man of good musical taste uses such technological innovations to his advantage, music does acquire unsuspected dimensions in unforgettable settings.

As for the other billions of ordinary people, you can't rule out that some might, for whatever reason, come across a piece of classical music and fall in love with it. I was one of those.

If critics including Mr. Lebrecht do a better job in bringing classical music to the mass, may be one day you would find millions of people listening to a Bruckner symphony, using Walkmans or iPods, on their way to and from work. Wouldn't it be wonderful?

(Incidentally, he wrote about Carlos Kleiber in his latest column: Carlos Kleiber: Not a great conductor)