Monday, March 14

Classical Muzak

Update about music (via Tim Cavanaugh): In subscriber-only Missing Pieces, Stephen Budiansky cites Dan DeVany, the general manager of WETA
While insisting that there is no "rigid code" at WETA on what not to play, DeVany acknowledged that he was influenced by the general results of industry surveys in which listeners were played various snippets of music and asked to rate how "positive" or "negative" an "experience" each was. Vocal music was consistently a big negative. So was most chamber music. DeVany believes that's because chamber music "is an extremely intense musical experience." He explained, "In some cases, when you're doing other things, it demands attention, and that may become an irritant--just by the nature of the instrumentation."
And Jim Allison, the WGMS program director says, "Organ is a radio turnoff, big time."

I've got to admit that aside from choral music, I don't like most classical vocals. I just can't stand the vibrato. On the other hand, I'm quite fond of chamber music, which makes me pretty eccentric. As for organ music, I love it, but I demand a decent system to deliver the bass. (And not just classical; the Hammond B-3 is nice, too.)

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