Richard's Poor Almanac by Richard Thompson for September 18, 2015

Transcript:

richard's poor almanac - by richard thompson whither classical music? weta radio's recent betrayal & abandonment of classical music was yet one more blow to this mighty yet faltering art form. weta radio guy: scram ya high-maintenance fancy-pants! musician: but - maybe the trouble started when people tried to quantify classical music's "therapeutic benefits," reducing it to dieitary fiber for the brain. oop: look at him! he listens to mozart all day & he's learned squat! waste of time i say. the collapse of the recording industry sure didn't help! nowadays stores hide their puny classical cd section in the men's room, next to the baby changing station. and the bins are infested with "new age" stuff (this is known as "yanni-creep"). guy: yanni? eurgh. so, is there a place in the future for classical music? one word: ringtones. man: it's mahler's third. it rings for an hour and forty minutes before i hafta answer. woman: whatev, nerdo.