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   CLUB SANDWICH 85

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            But I rather suspect that when young Mozart was wowing the court and the crowds with his stuff, the reaction was not a polite "Good show, Mozart". I rather suspect that the response was "Right on, Mozart!" - ie, that the reaction he received back then was the same as I am witnessing now and that this fanfare from the common man has been modified and compromised and hushed up by critics who want classical music to be urbane and beyond the common man.
            The point I'm trying to make is that instead of being in any way alarmed by all of this yelling, or worried that "it's not the done thing", all those associated with Standing Stone should be gladdened by it because The People are reacting to it. Here, in the seventh week of what would become Standing Stone's 11-week run at number one on the Billboard classical chart, are The People going mad for it.
            And who, pray, is classical (or any) music for if it is not for The People?
            It's surely not for the critics. You'd be mad to do it for them. Mad and bankrupt - since they don't pay for their seats and get their CDs for free.
            No; music is for the punter, not the pundit. And the punter is voting with his voice. And, also, with his pennies - at the time of writing, EMI has sold 246,000 CDs of Standing Stone, which is, in classical circles, an extraordinary number of albums.
            I mention this because the purpose of Standing Stone is to be more than just a commission to mark the 100th birthday of EMI. The purpose of Standing Stone is that it has brought and is bringing people to classical music who otherwise might not have known it. Standing Stone, through its composer, is popularising previously un-popular music.
            And that should be the residual memory of Carnegie Hall. It matters more than the five curtain calls they gave him in the end. It matters more than the fact that Carnegie Hall has never seen anything like this reaction in the previous 1800 concerts. The point is not how Standing Stone sounded here this night, nor how it was received.
            The point is what Standing Stone has started. Mark these words.

Club Sandwich 85