The Great Classical Dumb-Down Comes To Oz

In Australia, some devotees of classical music are worried that some of the world’s greatest art is being reduced to the level of a pop song, and that those intending to broaden the audience are, in fact, insulting its intelligence. “To be sure, classical music needs to reach out to new audiences if it is to survive in this country… But we are not going the right way about fixing the problem. Instead, we are dumbing down classical music through the constant release of ‘best of’ CD compilations and with programming that replaces quality with quantity. The main culprit is none other than the traditional champion of classical music in this country, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.”