I'm not opposed to modern "classical" music, per se. I have broad, and to some, annoyingly eclectic tastes when it comes to music. I have a strong liking of Satie, for example, but somehow cannot wrap my mind around Schoenberg...
The observation of music being performed for the sake of shaking up the "scene" to create attention is, I feel, valid. It is often very easy for a new or upcoming coductor or director to make a name for himself by being "daring" and performing "disturbing" or "disquieting" pieces. Here, in Los Angeles, our big headache is the tendency of the Philharmonic to pad out their programs by performing movie theme music, usually someting like "Star Wars"; it fills the seats and sells the tickets...
If any of you are interested, there is a very good (and, in recent years, only) classical station in Los Angeles. It is run by the University of Southern California (USC) as a public broadcasting, non-profit (no commercials) station. The on-air staff is very good and has a great sense of humor. There is virtually none of the severe, grave intonation of the compser's name and composition one hears on other classical stations. A couple of the staff are given to making rather outrageous puns and sly jokes. The station is avialable on the 'Net at KUSC.org. Right now, they are going through a fundraising drive, so you might want to sample the station after the end of the week; however, the staff has atendency to get a bit silly and loopy as the drive goes on and acn be very entertaining. Oh, and Frau, it is a tradtion of the station to end their drives by playing Beethoven's 9th...
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