Steve Schwartz writes:

>The hell of it is that at least one US Senator has fulminated against
>PBS as "elitist." So the Tesh and the Yanni are now the property of
>the "elite." I just finished reading a review of symphonies by Fibich
>(contemporary with Janacek, but died around 1900), written by Wilfrid
>Mellers on www.mvdaily.com.  Folks, we don't even show up on the radar.

But then, why was this topic about "dumbing down" classical music? If
PBS is "elitist" (this in spite of Barney, Yanni, innumerable Lawrence
Welk re-runs, and other programming designed to be popular enough to gain
funding from their "viewing audience"), what's **wrong** with an "intro
to classical composers"? All of this raises another question:  I wonder
exactly *which* composers are "great" enough to make the cut.  How many
will be featured? Does anyone know? I'd guess after Mozart and Beethoven,
the shoe-ins would be Bach, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky.  Possible candidates,
in no particular order:  Wagner, the Strauss family, Chopin, Liszt, Copland
('cuz he's a popular American, you know, "Beef - it's what's for dinner!"),
maybe Rossini.  Long shots:  Dvorak, Berlioz, Stravinsky, Shostakovich,
Vaughn Williams, Verdi, Puccini, Haydn, Vivaldi.  Extremely unlikely:
Schoenberg, Sibelius, Mahler, Janacek, Smetana, Nielsen.  "I'll-eat-my-35"
TV":  Bruckner, Rubbra, Moeran, Pettersson.

Mark  [log in to unmask]