[Trombone-l] Gilbert Kaplan's guest appearance

[George Carr]

> The public has grown
> so undiscriminating in its tastes and choices that the ability discern
> true artistry is gone at the group level and only exists among
> individuals.

I'm not sure I agree here.  When was this golden age, when the masses
had discriminating taste for true artistry in instrumental music?  As
far as I know, ever since classical music has been made accessible to
anyone outside the wealthiest classes, it has been struggling for
funding and popular appeal.  So while I agree that the public is not
particularly discriminating -- and that's one of the powerful values
for classical music to society, to prove the cultural worth of
sophisticated taste and discrimination -- I'm not sure it's any
different from the past.  But I'd love to hear differently, if there
was some point in history when farmers laid down their plows to go
hear Paganini, or something of the sort.

George