In Sunday’s (6/9) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin writes, “It is a grim vision of the classical music concert: a sea of hollow-eyed faces in the dark, shushing the slightest peep during boring evenings stifled by ritual. The antidote? Audience members should be able to laugh, to clap in midperformance and to whoop with joy, if so moved. … Such is the vision laid out in a recent article in The Huffington Post, ‘The Awfulness of Classical Music Explained.’ The writer is not an angry young pop star, not a pierced-and-tattooed rebel, not even a frustrated contemporary composer. He is the chief executive and managing director of the 155-year-old Brooklyn Philharmonic. … [Richard] Dare’s article generated a vigorous response, including nearly 400 comments. Mr. Dare said in an interview that many critics had missed his point: a case he made in a follow-up piece in The Huffington Post, dated Thursday. … ‘I’m keenly interested in not dismantling the experience we have now. I’m interested in making it relevant to more people.’ … Robert Spano, the music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who once held that position at the Brooklyn Philharmonic, defends the need for audiences to keep silent and listen attentively in the concert hall. ‘That’s the precious thing about classical music. If we do anything to violate that, we’re not nurturing the art form in the way that we cherish it.’ ”
Posted June 12, 2012
