Quote:
Originally Posted by Zyrada
Do I think the music itself is irrelevant? Absolutely not. However, it doesn't help that the institutions of classical music are often mired in repeating the same classics at the expense of the genre's evolution. Sometimes, it's hard not to think classical music is irrelevant when you're going to concert halls and largely hearing the same dusty old pieces that have been being played for generations.
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The thing that makes classical music classical music is that it has a tradition. I agree that there are certainly popular "classics" that get played out more (or at least get funded more), but not every program is so conservative. Maybe it's because I live in a major metropolitan area (Los Angeles), but I can find entire concerts consisting of music written in the last decade on any night of the week. I rarely go to the LA Phil's concerts, but Jacaranda, Green Umbrella (the LA Phil's "new music" program), People Inside Electronics (PIE), and various ensembles, festivals, and groups that I follow are extreme;y active with new music programs during the regular season. The art is far from stagnant. The general public usually doesn't get Franco Donatoni, though. Instead, the institution of classical music thinks that music that was relevant in 1794 would be similarly relevant today.