I read that Eschenbach was leaving at the Gramophone site last week.
I wonder what was going on with such a short tenure. Boy! the world
of classical music has really been turned upside down in our life time.
Tower closing down, conductors pushed to the side, orchestras without
recording contracts, halls going empty, I fear for the future. The days
when a Columbia Records or RCA would keep a stable of classical artists
on the payroll for the prestige are certainly gone. The corporate types
having taken over and the bottom line is all that counts. One Brittany
Spears CD out sells the entire Classical output for the year. The
egalitarian movements of the last 40 years has the masses thinking their
tastes are the equal of the upper class snobs who use to dictate the
cultural standards of our society. Their idea of high art has displaced
centuries of refine culture in a mere 4 decades.
Ed