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Read on to discover how classical streaming has damaged our knowledge of classical music…<\/strong><\/p> Like Jaques in Shakespeare\u2019s As You Like It<\/em>, I divide my life into seven ages. Unlike Jaques, I define those ages by the ways in which recorded music entered my life. The first age, back in the late 1950s, was when I became aware of my dad\u2019s prized collection of 78rpm discs. As thick as dinner plates, they required you to leap from your chair every four minutes to turn the disc over or start the next one. Listening to Handel<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Messiah<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, my dad maintained, was a great way to keep fit. He had Malcolm Sargent\u2019s recording on 19 separate 78s. You leapt up 38 times if you wanted a complete performance.<\/p> And the other six ages? LPs arrived in our living room in the early 1960s, followed by 45rpms (\u2018singles\u2019) during my teenage love-affair with what was then called \u2018the hit parade\u2019. After that I consumed recorded music via cassettes, CDs, mp3s and now, almost entirely, by streaming \u2013 a medium which, I guess, may outlive me.<\/p> Obviously, the gain in convenience has been extraordinary. From leaping up 38 times to listen to Messiah<\/em>, I can now access 38 different interpretations simply by scrolling down a list on my phone.<\/p> Just as dramatic has been the gain in shelf space. When I was 30, my LP collection occupied an entire wall of a bedroom. Now my weird need to have a recording of every Haydn<\/a><\/strong> symphony and Byrd<\/a><\/strong> motet within reaching distance is a naughty secret between me and my computer, freeing up vital bedroom space for my wife\u2019s essential collection of exercise bikes and running machines.<\/p> So that\u2019s all gain. But there\u2019s been loss too. Those wonderful LPs I collected in the 1970s came with extraordinarily erudite sleevenotes. At a time when historical authenticity was becoming a big thing in Renaissance<\/a><\/strong> and Baroque<\/a><\/strong> performance, up-to-date scholarship was presented almost as an add-on bonus when you bought the latest Hogwood<\/a><\/strong> or Harnoncourt<\/a><\/strong> recording.<\/p> But as recording formats became smaller, the accompanying information packs also shrank, or disappeared altogether. Classical cassettes and CDs still came with sleevenotes, though usually in type so small that a free magnifying glass should have been provided. But when we entered the era of downloads and streaming, it was as if buyers were cast adrift from the world of scholarship. You were lucky if you got basic information about the titles of the pieces and the names of the performers, let alone erudite essays about the music.<\/p> Yes, you could argue \u2013 as record company execs and their champions in the press often did \u2013 that such information was by this time readily available through Wikipedia and other online encyclopaedias. But how many first-time listeners went down that route? To make matters worse, the trend towards minimising or dispensing with sleevenotes and booklets coincided with the closure of specialist record shops and record libraries, staffed by people who could advise knowledgeably, and the decline of music teaching in schools.<\/p> It\u2019s good news, then, that one leading classical music streaming site, Apple Music Classical<\/a><\/strong>, has just added 50,000 digital \u2018album booklets\u2019 to its website. Of course, the reality is that classical music is increasingly being consumed track by track, especially by the young and others who are exploring the classical repertoire for the first time. But you hope that newcomers then move onto discovering whole symphonies, whole operas \u2013 in other words, whole albums. And that\u2019s when the listening experience can be deepened by album booklets.<\/p> Before classical streaming… the seven ages of recorded music, from 78rpms to mp3s<\/h3>
Classical streaming… so very convenient and space effective<\/h3>
Classical streaming… adrift from a world of scholarship<\/h3>
Classical streaming… death of the booklet note<\/h3>