Here's an excellent article by Scott Timberg of the LA Times on the horrible trend toward playing classical music in public spaces to ward off homeless people and loitering teens. I've been meaning to write a rant on this subject. While many organizations are working desperately hard to attract younger people to the music, here it's being used, as Robert Fink says, as "bug spray, as pest control." This is the perfect consummation of the entire decrepit philosophy of treating classical music as "good music," "serious music," "art music," and so on. On the good-news front, the Palm Beach Post reports that the demise of the Florida Philharmonic has led to an explosion of successful smaller groups all over Florida, to the point where there's a shortage of players. When the age of the dinosaurs ends, the age of the mammals begins. Both stories via ArtsJournal.
