[atlantaprog] Re: Fwd: [ARTNEWS] the death of classical music


It's always been my impression that online listening hasn't really caught on in classical music -- does anyone have different information? I hardly ever download music anyway, and when I do it's a rare prog cut here and there, so I have no clue what's out there, esp in classical music. Does anyone else know if there are classical versions of Napster and the like out there?



I would be surprised if downloading has done anything to classical music CD sales. The whole reason for trying to get collectors to buy the SACD and DVD-A versions is because classical music collectors (for the most part) are big time sticklers on sound. THat being said, possibly the production and the flaws exposed by digital recording/reproduction (the mentioned hearing the subway beneath a music ahll on CDs, and poor editing as well) are a large part of the reqason too. I don't know, since I am not a collector or anything. Maybe there are no new artists or recordings that people really like. For example, as a novice classical music fan, I bought a double-CD set of Mozarts violin concertos by Yehudi Menuhin for something like $7.99 brand new. Yehudi Menhuin is probably the most amazing (classical) violinist that I have ever heard. I have this, and know that I will never have to buy another CD of Mozarts Violin concertos. Anything else would probably be a let down. But, what do I know? I am barely a classical music fan. There are certain composers and pieces that I really love, and most of the rest bores me.

Possibly the reason that DVD-A and SACD sales are not huge, is because there is no emerging standard. People don't want to go out and buy a player only to have it's catalog limited by a standard that ultimately will go the way of the BetaMax. There are som players that will play both.

Also, I wonder if the classical pieces being released onto these formats are really doing the format justice (I am asking cause I don't know)? There are 2 things that really set this format apart from regular old CDs. 1) Higher bit-rate, which means better sound reproduction 2) 5.1 surround

It's easy enought to remaster at a higher bitrate, esp. if the original masters are analogue. Re-mixing to 5.1 may be a different story. I just don't know. One of the flaws of DVD-A is that "normal" movie type DVD players won't play DVD-A discs. Some people may have bought a DVD-A disc only to find out that it won't play in their DVD player (a reasonable mistake since they are both "DVD" and most DVD players will play audio CDs). They get pissed about it, and say "screw it, I'll stick to my CDs. THey are good enough. Besides, it's not like I have 5.1 surround in my car, and I can't take my new SACD or DVD-A discs in my car and play them there"

I still don't quite understand why DVD-A isn't just a regular old DVD w/o the video content. DVDs are 5.1 so that would have made sense to me, but I don't know the rest of the details why they created a separate standard (just to support the higher bit-rate maybe?). Maybe if classical music was released on REGULAR DVDs (remastered in 5.1) with either no video material, or just still screens stating the name of the peice, current movement, and some historical data about the piece, then they would have sold better? I regtularly see at Media Play classical concert DVDs. I wonder how they are selling in comparison. Of course, Media Play is just about the ONLY place that I see those. I certainly don't see them at Best Buy or Circuit City.

I don't know. Just random thoughts...

Alex F/Brain21


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