Is crossover really the price we have to pay for good music?
Appalling recordings have tormented us since the beginning
James McCarthy 11:47am GMT 25th January 2013
Just to be clear, when I say ‘crossover’ I mean this:
Now, you didn’t watch all of that, did you? Not to worry, the anger and bewilderment will fade with the passage of time and I’ll add another video at the end of this post as an antidote to wash away the last dregs of bitterness and regret.
Every few months the incessant barrage of ill-considered, cynical nonsense thrown at as by the larger record labels suddenly breaks the normal reserve of those of us who care about good music and causes us to write angry blogs about the insidious effect of ‘crossover’ on serious music-making. Entertaining though these opinion pieces can be, I’m afraid to say that these feelings of despair are nothing new.
In May 1929, the problem for Gramophone’s first editor, Compton Mackenzie, was the ‘whining American songs’ which seemed to fill the release schedules of the recording companies of the time, pushing classical music to the periphery. It is rewarding, believe me, to quote Mackenzie at length:
'It is no use shutting our eyes to the fact that the sales for big musical works are depressingly small, and that, if it were not for these wretched theme songs and the mass production of musical rubbish generally, the recording companies would not be able to give us any big works at all. Our present civilization is based on successful commerce, and it is no use expecting a recording company to be more altruistic than an artificial silk company. I regard a civilization based on commerce as disastrous, and I am old-fashioned enough not to be able to improve on the old platitude that money is the root of all evil.
‘When beyond the Isle of Skye I turn on the wireless and listen to the reports of speeches made by notable personages it nauseates me to hear nothing but their sordid remarks about commerce and industry; but if millions of sheep are determined to bleat round a golden calf I am not going to invite the directors of HMV [the record label] and Columbia to retire into the Egyptian desert like St Anthony and there practise the major austerities. I should be the first to applaud Mr Alfred Clark or Mr Louis Sterling if either of them took it into his head to fast upon the top of a column like St Simeon Stylites and despise the material world of today; but I am not going to suggest to either of them that he should do it because I know perfectly well that if they do the shareholders of HMV and Columbia will at once look for new managing directors, and that the new managing directors will take care that plenty of new theme songs are published every month.
‘I really cannot see why we should expect big commercial concerns to show an idealism which the average individual is incapable of showing himself or even of appreciating in others. I am afraid that I am writing as if I were disillusioned, but a bitter wisdom is not necessarily disillusionment.'
Wonderful, isn’t it? So, here’s my point: the next time you are in a supermarket and you see someone casually fling a sugary crossover album into their shopping trolley, rather than going at them with a French breadstick, console yourself with the thought that a penny of the income that will be derived from that sale by the record company just might go towards a new recording of some serious classical music. It might not, of course, but that is a possibility too bleak to countenance at the moment. So let’s just stick with ‘it might’ for the time being.
Now, here’s the film I promised at the start. Feel your sense of anger and crushing disappointment subside. Feel inspired.
Comments
We must remember the baumol index that says its the same number of musicians who play a symphony 100 years ago as today, only the cost of labor is greater. Crossover might help sales; but there are "crossover" projects with integrity, such as ClassicalRock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEK0H1F4kZM
Some others might be considered. What is one mans's trash is another man's treasure. The issue is that the cost of classical music remains so high, but the public still represents less than 2.5% of market share. So if you plan to only argue for high quality art, which is subjective, you must realize that it is impossible to afford, unless there is crossover to help subsidize the investment. With this in mind, we can criticize less, and appreciate more that classical music performance can survive, costs included, when there are projects that appeal to a wider public.
Interesting point, Christophe. But it doesn't take into account the fact that there are dozens of great independent labels (Hyperion, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, to name just three) who don't rely on cash-in crossover projects to remain solvent and yet keep producing brilliant recordings every month.
The point is this: that the larger a record company gets the more it needs to indulge in stocking the supermarket shelves with demeaning nonsense in order to feed itself. Sometimes, as Compton Mackenzie so eloquently argued, small is beautiful.
True too that the promotion of vulgar big tune romanticism like the 'Rach 3' in your second film works against the promotion and creation of serious music. It is a pity that these crowd pleasers, heavily promoted by orchestras and record companies alike, exert such a block on creativity and change.
"the promotion of vulgar big tune romanticism like the 'Rach 3' in your second film works against the promotion and creation of serious music"
Romantic? Definitely. "Big-tune" - a good pejorative term to express your disdain. "Vulgar" - dmitri, you're gazing down from the summit and concluding that only your conception of the best is worth recording. A recipe for losing money. Only not for profit organizations will stick solely to serious esoterica, and only those with your taste in music will buy it.
In training the ear of my 23 year old daughter for classical music, I have begun with vulgar big-tune Mozart and am now introducing a bit of big tune Beethoven and J.S. Bach. How else to go about the task of undoing 15 years of commercial pop music? And yes, she'll love luscious Rachmaninov just as I did when I began as a child. This is how many people are attracted to classical music initially, and it's what keeps them coming back for more even as their tastes become more sophisticated. Warhorse? Of course. Vulgar? That's all in the mind of the beholder.
These "big-tune" pieces have staying power because the music has depth, I can find something new at each listening to learn and enjoy. Take Argerich's Rachmaninov recording: I hadn't heard this recording before. I immediately noticed something special about it - the counterpoint between the piano and orchestra stands out beautifully because the recording seems to have been well thought out. So now I'll locate and buy the recording, and spend an hour immersing myself after so many years in this gorgeous over the top vulgar piece which I've known and loved since my childhood.
My approach? Intellect is secondary, let your heart be the first to judge.
All the best.
Is there any real "crossover" music? Can anything or anyone stay for too long on the borderline. Soon or later, it/he/she/they lean towards one or the other side of the border.
So, if the "artist(s)" involved managed to truly crossover, they would become some sort of second or third rate "Classical" stuff. If not, they would remain the "refined" rubbish of pop culture. So, stick to the real thing, no matter what.
Parla
<cite>In training the ear of my 23 year old daughter for classical music, I have begun with vulgar big-tune Mozart and am now introducing a bit of big tune Beethoven and J.S. Bach. How else to go about the task of undoing 15 years of commercial pop music? And yes, she'll love luscious Rachmaninov just as I did when I began as a child. This is how many people are attracted to classical music initially, and it's what keeps them coming back for more even as their tastes become more sophisticated. Warhorse? Of course. Vulgar? That's all in the mind of the beholder.</cite>
I agree entirely with your comments, kencohen, but as a parent you shouldn't have let those 15 years accumulate in the first place. Our children think all pop music an abomination, having been brought up in a pop-free zone. Parents need to star the ear-training early (in the womb is a good place to start) and keep at it, ignoring the snide remarks of cultural so-called liberals who'll accuse you of brainwashing. The real brainwashing is going on at society level, as the article here implies.
Oh gosh! Those cufflinks!
Thanks for posting the Argerich performance, so we can all feel a little better.
I'm actually turned off by the hybridization of music, although my interest in classical music followed soon after seeing Fantasia. I play classical music recordings at home and although our daughter does not particularly like all that she hears, she has slowly been more receptive to hearing some of the different composers. Also, because she sings and plays piano, she has had to learn some classical pieces (much to my delight). Classical music has made her more aware of the quality of the popular music she enjoys. Will she take the plunge like the rest of the gramophone readers? Maybe, like her father, she is waiting until she enters college to begin immersing herself in music that encompasses ancient and current compositions.
I do so agree about "crossover music" However I also take strong exception to the almost universal rather snide comments about other forms of music. I have a large collection of what your contributors would say is "proper" music but also have an equally large collection of what Highland Thing deigns to call "an abomination". No wonder so many people find find Classical Music lovers elitist & frankly offensive about the music that is important to them. I have grown up with amongst others The Beatles, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Brel, Tom Waits & a huge variety of Blues, Jazz & Folk music These provide the background to my life for 64 years & by which I remember most of the significant events of my life. I think there is only good music & bad music & frankly I feel offended that I should think my music tastes demeaned by these comments. I never thought that I would have written to Gramophone on such a subject but felt impelled to do so.
I would further add that I attend the Verbier Festival yearly & regularly attend concerts at our excellent Turner Sims Hall in Southampton in addition to other forms of live music