Don Satz writes:

>In music, the individual listener is free to reject any taste associated
>with music and suffer nothing in response.  As a result, taste setting has
>no impact on a person who is able to think as an individual and, therefore,
>breaks down quickly.  I would assume that taste setting would have no
>viability for list members.

This list and others like it are indeed expressions of pluralism and
independence.  Long may they thrive.  But in an age of increasing
centralization (Disney, Warner) pluralism cannot be taken for granted.
Seen in this light, the existence of Naxos and other strictly classical
labels is a positive sign, a strong indication that classical music can
still find its place in the marketplace.

We also need to make sure that the educational system (systems, actually)
helps prepare students to think as individuals - not only because the
survival of classical music depends on it, but perhaps the viability of our
culture and civilization as well.(Twenty years ago, who would have imagined
that public television would use Yanni and John Tesh to raise money?) The
educational system generally seems to avoid teaching thinking as it does
teaching values.  Otherwise I am sure that it is doing a great job.

Professor Bernard Chasan
Physics Department, Boston University