In London, demand for concerts was so strong in the Depression that the city went from one full orchestra in 1930 to three in 1939 and five by 1945. The first cultural act of the US administration in war-ravaged Berlin was to found an orchestra. So, is the classical effect repeating itself in a credit-crunch universe?
Early soundings show strong responses in Europe and Asia, more cautious ones in the US.
At English National Opera, lines snaked around the block for David Alden?s revisionist production of Benjamin Britten?s Peter Grimes. ?It?s not often these days you see people outside waving 20 pound notes for tickets,? says artistic director John Berry. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra reports that ticket sales are up 13% since September, income risen 24%, and subscriptions leaped 53%?in a city where whole streets have boarded-up shop windows and office blocks stand vacant. In the UK, the classical boom is palpable. One in four at Liverpool?s Philharmonic Hall is a first-time attendee. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is planting pianos on 31 street corners this month to encourage passers-by to perform.
At high-end events in Europe, there has been no decline. Salzburg this week reported a 5% rise for its Whitsun Festival. At the Lucerne Festival, all tickets have been sold for Claudio Abbado?s three opening concerts, starting with the premier rows at $271.52 a seat.
In the US, with opera houses and orchestras suffering endowment crashes, some events have been canceled and concertgoers are thinking twice before purchasing?even at Carnegie Hall. What sells are the big events with heavy marketing support. Carnegie Hall played to full capacity for all 10 concerts of a complete Mahler cycle with Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez, while the Kennedy Center sold 92% of seats for a three-week festival of Arab arts. Hopes of a 1930s-style revival ride on the likes of Gustavo Dudamel, the high-octane Venezuelan set to take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Classical recording is bucking the industry slump in key areas. Sales are on the rise in France and Poland, where they constitute 9% of the market, in Austria and Hungary at 11%, and in Germany and Australia at 6%.
The biggest surge is in China were one in six recordings that are legally traded is of Western classical music. In South Korea, the share is 18%. In the US, the classical share of record sales is just under 1%.
It?s in the young tiger markets, more than at the mature American concert halls, that classical music is finding its future. The signs are that recession is once again accelerating the need for the spiritual consolation that only a symphony can deliver.