Let us leave this depressing subject!
In the last few days I have been discussing musical fashions with some friends. I have been struck by the renaissance which is taking place today in the cornet style of the period 1850-1920 and in its Romantic virtuoso repertoire.
A few years ago those marvellous musicians Philip Jones and Elgar Howarth declared their enthusiasm and determination to improve the British brass-band musician by introducing him to a more developed and more scholarly type of music written by the best contemporary composers. At that time Great Britain was the only country to have preserved this small “pure brass” formation based on saxhorns and cornets which was so popular but which had fallen into disuse in other countries. By dint of great perseverance Philip Jones and all those whom he has motivated in this direction have now in a sense reached their goal: today brass music in Great Britain has a very developed musical language to deal with, one relatively close to the major evolutionary tendencies and one which brings the brass bands out of the sub-culture where they were formerly content to remain.
This is a most exasperating situation for anyone trying to make sense of the cycle of influences: all over the world people are digging out yellowing copies of the “Carnaval of Venice” and the mind-bending variations by those cornet heroes Herbert L. Clarke, Jean-Baptiste Arban and other F major and Golden Age virtuosos. Like a snake biting its tail, style forms a circle which just goes on turning...
Do you know what percentage of its overall budget the record industry devotes to classical music? Less than 5%! (This 5% includes the often astronomical fees paid to the big stars such as Karajan. What does this leave for young performers and avant-garde music?) Real jazz is in more or less the same boat. So 90% is devoted to light music, chiefly of course to big hits and trash.
There are those who claim that 90% of people want nothing more than the hit parade and that that is all they need be given. Others are convinced that it is the record industry that is maintaining the mediocrity cult (it’s so much easier to sell).
I don’t know what you think about this but I fell musicians would do well to keep their wits about them in this situation.