20 September 2007
The explosive rise of web video has seen an incredible amount of classical footage appear, for free, on the internet
When maverick Canadian pianist Glenn Gould boldly renounced the concert hall in 1964, the recording of classical music was in its heyday and the internet only existed in embryonic form. Soon after, Gould predicted the decline and death of live concert performance and – playing out the latter part of his career in the recording studio – devoted himself to promoting classical music by means of mass electronic media. In 2007, Gould’s prediction of the death of live performance remains unfulfilled, although warnings of the impending doom faced by classical music continue to echo redundantly. His views on the interaction between the future of classical music and technology, however, seem uncannily prescient. Imagine if Glenn Gould had still been alive forty-one years after he turned his back on the stage. Four long decades after Gould took his momentous decision, a new mass electronic medium ideally suited to promoting Gould’s vision of musical performance was unleashed on the internet. What would have happened if Glenn Gould could use YouTube? What would he need to know?
Well, Mr Gould: YouTube is a video-sharing website, accessible to anyone who can turn on a computer and master a mouse. Type in ‘classical music’ and you are immediately faced with a choice of over 44,100 video clips. Granted, you may have to wade your way through clips of home music lessons, conducting cockatoos and piano-playing cats, but choose the right search term and you might stumble across some wonderful contributions. Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Marta Argerich, Alfred Cortot, Jascha Heifetz and Arturo Toscanini are just a few of the performers featured.
The explosive rise of web video has seen an incredible amount of classical footage appear, for free, on the internet
When maverick Canadian pianist Glenn Gould boldly renounced the concert hall in 1964, the recording of classical music was in its heyday and the internet only existed in embryonic form. Soon after, Gould predicted the decline and death of live concert performance and – playing out the latter part of his career in the recording studio – devoted himself to promoting classical music by means of mass electronic media. In 2007, Gould’s prediction of the death of live performance remains unfulfilled, although warnings of the impending doom faced by classical music continue to echo redundantly. His views on the interaction between the future of classical music and technology, however, seem uncannily prescient. Imagine if Glenn Gould had still been alive forty-one years after he turned his back on the stage. Four long decades after Gould took his momentous decision, a new mass electronic medium ideally suited to promoting Gould’s vision of musical performance was unleashed on the internet. What would have happened if Glenn Gould could use YouTube? What would he need to know?
Well, Mr Gould: YouTube is a video-sharing website, accessible to anyone who can turn on a computer and master a mouse. Type in ‘classical music’ and you are immediately faced with a choice of over 44,100 video clips. Granted, you may have to wade your way through clips of home music lessons, conducting cockatoos and piano-playing cats, but choose the right search term and you might stumble across some wonderful contributions. Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Marta Argerich, Alfred Cortot, Jascha Heifetz and Arturo Toscanini are just a few of the performers featured.
Martine
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