The World of Classical Music versus the World of the iPod

Have you ever had the feeling that the worldwas swimming with the foreignness of it all, you pop
Beethoven was 'talking' about in his music just doesn'ton a CD with his music playing?
exist anymore? Have you ever watched a movie thatClassical music fits badly into the Walkman world, and
used Schubert as a soundtrack and entertained theeven worse into the iPod world. For one thing, the
thought that Schubert didn't even know what atechnology doesn't suit it very well. Try listening to an
soundtrack is? If you have, you will be able to relate toopera on an iPod, and you'll discover the software puts
the tension and incongruity between modernity anda gap between tracks, which is pretty annoying if
classical music that columnist Ivan Hewett describes inyou're trying to enjoy the dramatic flow of an opera
a recent article for the Telegraph.scene. And just try searching for your favourite
Nor can it [classical music] be plucked fromBeethoven trio on iTunes, which is designed to search
cyberspace, because it doesn't come from there. Itfor "song" and "artist", and copes badly with keys and
comes from a real space. OK, I know my recording ofopus numbers.
a Bach cantata was made in a studio, but the fact thatPerhaps that is why classical music is so attractive; it
we can hear 30 people all doing something togetheropens a portal into the idealized version of a world that
immediately evokes the real, social space the musicis no longer to be found. When we listen to it, we have
originally took place in.the best of both worlds - a temporary escape into the
But that's not the space we live in now. We prefer thebeauty of the music, and a guaranteed return to the
solitary, nomadic space of trains and airport lounges,private mobility of our modern world, with all its
which seem to be the places we feel most at home.challenges and perks.
And we like the space of privacy and home, the oneClassical music doesn't belong in this private, mobile
conjured in all those home makeover programmes.space. It was created in a space that's vanishing - the
Have you ever daydreamed about driving Mozartpublic space of churches, libraries, debating societies
around in a car, showing him the cities, the bridges,and concerts. That's the real reason it's so hard to
airplanes, skyscrapers etc., and just when his mindlisten to it on a Walkman or an iPod.