When the Music Stops: Managers, Maestros and the Corporate Murder of Classical Music

This book is also known by the title Who Killed Classical Music in the U.S. The prose is dry but the case for the historical demise of classical music as a mass media is well-made. The nutshell is that the music could not survive the compartmentalization of mass-marketing and the greed of the recorded music industry. Lebrecht doesn't hesitate to label good guys and bad guys. The worst bad guy for Lebrecht seems to be Herbert van Karajan, whom he describes as an unrepentant Nazi who, unlike Mengelberg, is welcomed at the end of WW2 and conquers classical recording more thoroughly than Hitler overran Europe. The good guys aren't even all that good, record execs who had shifty business ethics but at least had the idealism to back musical greats like Duke Ellington and Stravinsky. You may disagree strongly with Lebrecht's position or his hit list but there's no doubt he's done his homework.The book isn't all gloom despite its two titles. Lebrecht ends with some optimism about low-budget and independent labels like Hyperion and Naxos that go for obscure and local music or for affordable prices. Lebrecht definitely thinks classical music is in trouble as a music business but he does offer alternatives to the status quo.