Comments on There's more to music than music: An Orchestra's relevance isn't relevant?

That's the thing though. You say Rieu has brou...

2010-06-25T20:41:53.604-04:00

That's the thing though. You say Rieu has brought orchestras to thousands, if not millions. But is there any indication these people moved on to more legitimate, if you will, orchestras? And like I said, he actually turned me away from classical music even more.

I saw this horrible production of Queen music in the Netherlands a few years ago. Tremendously cheesy stuff. Just like

Very interesting, Marc! And I love your story. Yes...

2010-06-25T12:48:11.204-04:00

Very interesting, Marc! And I love your story. Yes - Andre Rieu's product isn't what most would consider 'high' or 'great' art, but he's brought millions of people into contact with the 'orchestra' - let's use what he's done to educate/ share/ build on.

I appreciate the metaphysical analogy but we're still missing the first point... the

Stephen, thanks for continuing the conversation. I...

2010-06-25T11:33:57.218-04:00

Stephen, thanks for continuing the conversation. I think I have to agree with you that the four questions cannot be effectively considered independently. And like I said on Twitter to Ian David Moss, I think it might be a story of chicken vs. egg.

Now that we’re talking chicken vs. egg, I might be getting too metaphysical. But I am thinking about Spinoza’s world view. I see the

Surely Andre Rieu provides a bridge, though, for t...

2010-06-24T10:28:08.632-04:00

Surely Andre Rieu provides a bridge, though, for the presenters of 'great' music (which I agree shouldn't be dumbed-down)? He's had too much of an influence on classical music audiences for us to ignore and not take advantage of/ learn from his marketing (both what to do and what to not do)! It's a self-focused ivory-tower "they're not good enough for us"

But Andre Rieu's success shows two things. Fi...

2010-06-24T10:09:10.413-04:00

But Andre Rieu's success shows two things. First, the average listener will always have below average taste, and a chilling portrait of what orchestras would become if we dumb them down the average listener's level instead of bringing the average listener up to the level of great music. If Andre Rieu is the future of "classical" music, I'm throwing in the towel.