EUROPEAN CLASSICAL MUSIC IN TODAY ’ S WORLD Dedicated to Robert Freeman Jan

The end of each century, and especially the end of a millennium, is characterized by a " fermentation " of thoughts and the asking of alarming questions aimed at the past history and future. Thus the ghost of decline of " European Classical Music " affected western countries. Even Central Europe will not be able to avoid similar considerations despite the fact that the situation here after the fall of the Berlin Wall is specific and until today (for the better?) has not yet crystallized. The last exclamation was the book from 1997 Who Killed Classical Music? by the influential London music critic Norman Lebrecht. In Chapter 11, entitled " The Day when Music Died " , Lebrecht contrives a fictitious New Year's Day concert in 2001, when in Vienna at the presence of celebrities, kings, presidents, ambassadors, entrepreneurs , bank officials and ship owners from all of the world, and dozens of annual subscribers who sit in the same places as their family ancestors during the time of Kaiser Franz Josef and Gustav Mahler, a concert takes place " that is to end all concerts. " Hundreds of newspaper reporters, with the ever present paparazzi, are crunched together in the foyer who up to now have never before had such an opportunity to follow such a huge and juicy quarry. The Wiener Philharmoniker under the direction of Carlos Kleiber first perform waltzes by Johann Strauss. Then follows a doyen from among living composers, Luciano Berio, as he conducts the world premiere of his orchestration of an early violin sonata by Richard Strauss. Each movement will be performed by a different violinist: Midori, Itzhak Perlman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter. After the intermission, Lorin Maazel, noted as the " highest-paid conductor in the world, " conducts a medley of opera arias sung by Plácido Domingo, with the everlasting Kiri Te Kanawa joining him in Verdi's Otello. The anticipation increases for there is a rumor that at the end Luciano Pavarotti will perform unexpectedly, who especially for this occasion will interrupt his retirement in Modena. A hundred million viewers watch this concert in a live TV broadcast. It is also forecast that at least a million of them will additionally buy a recording of this concert, exclusively released by Sony on a recording medium the size of a credit card. Only the critics reflect the anti-diluvial program, whose majority of pieces were hits …