| You are on the right track and I want to add another thought. The "Period Performance" people have bullied, or whatever, conductors of "modern instrument" groups into a certian amount of blandness with the way the market and selfrightously thump their chests (or their publicists) about "hear (blank) the way (blank) would have"
I read an interesting book by Taruskin "Text and Act." and the more I think about it the more I agree with him the "period performance" crowd are not about the performance practices of the 17th through 19th century, but of the aesthtics and so on of the 21st. I personally don't care for a lot of what the period instrument people put out. (am subjected to it on public radio) I find it to be rather unmusical.
Another thing that is killing audiences is that audiences recognize that they are being handed s--- and eventually stay away particularly with ticket prices being what they are. You know "I paid $70 bucks for that." for a concert that was routine, nothing special happened. Part of what is to blame is the mass production of concerts, and part is the acceptance of medocrity as a great (or even good) conductors.
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