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I realized I hadn't been in decades, and went last month; will try to do two or three more this year.
Though the recordings sell in <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR201001... numbers</A>, the real thing continues to thrive. Do you attend classical music concerts?
I used to go to five or six Tanglewood concerts every year, but have been turned off by three things. The inevitability of standing ovations these days seems fetishistic, you can sense the dismay in the wiser artists. The music on offer is getting worn out; I truly love the 9th (take your pick), but enough, already. The final straw for me are the over-strong perfumes of the blue-haired matrons on all sides. I am allergic and struggling to not cough during the quiet passages is a deal breaker. I now go to three or four chamber concerts a year. Everything about the more wieldy repertoire, and the smaller venues and audiences, feels more genuine and appropriate for where we find ourselves today.
Yes, I go a few times a year. I usually try to go to concerts that feature a favorite 20th Century piece (which are few and far between). I am so amazed that so many of the people leave in droves when a piece of 20th Century music is being played. When I saw the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Messiaen's Turanguilila symphony I would estimate that a third of the people headed for the exits! I don't understand that, since the music has such a variety of color and harmony.
Was once assigned to write a certain number of music reviews as part of a junior college course. The one condition was we had "to breath the same air as the musicians." I chose the Sacramento Symphony. It was quite enjoyable. I don't go anymore and I'm really a metal head.
I'm lucky to be in one of the few cities in Brazil that offers a wide variety of options, with good conductors, excellent ensembles, and one of the finest rooms in the world: Sala São Paulo. I try my best to attend to at least one concert a month there, not just for the enjoyment, but to support the scene, keep my ears fresh, and to remind myself of the wonders that can only be brought about by actual instruments. Recordings are great, we all love them, but they are not (and never will be) a live event. Oh, I'm 27 and I've been doing so since I was 23.
When I ran a classical music website, I attended concerts about twice a week. It changed my way of thinking about audio. Now I go to concerts perhaps twice a month, but the profound effects remain. I wish I could afford more opera. Then again, if I had the money I'd outspend live with recorded—there is so much available.
That's one reason I live in New York. My tiny but affordable space will barely hold my modest rig, much less allow an optimum arrangement, but I can walk to Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House—and those are some rooms.
I have been attending live classical music concerts in every city I have inhabited since I was an undergraduate at the University of Utah (Abravanel's Utah Symphony, at the Mormon Tabernacle, twice a week in season). I now have season tickets at Dudamel (sorry, I meant Disney) Hall. It is still a worthy musical experience, but not as transcendent as Salonen used to be. Memory of the live event is the only criterion I can use in evaluating home equipment. One of the advantages of being old is the vast number of memories.