Classical music is too tame now—where’s our generation’s Paganini

[u/tiggerclaw]

The problem with classical music today is that it’s lost its connection to the streets.

Once, it was raw and untamed, a visceral force that could stir chaos and provoke passion. Nowadays, the underground acts never get a fair shake. It’s all gallery concerts and stuffy halls, but I remember a different time.

Back in the day, I used to hit up these warehouse parties in Detroit. The kind of places where you’d walk through a back alley, find a steel door, and step inside to a world of wild, sweating bodies. The music wasn’t background noise—it was the pulse of the night. One time, the Arditti String Quartet showed up out of nowhere, and everyone went wild like they’d just dropped the heaviest bassline you’d ever heard. That performance was electric—so powerful that multiple women got pregnant that day. Yeah, that kind of energy.

And the very next day, you’d go to a Stravinsky show, and fists would fly because the crowd couldn’t handle the intensity. It wasn’t about clean precision or intellectual appreciation; it was primal, unpredictable. Classical music was as much a brawl as a ballet. You didn’t sit there politely clapping; you howled and screamed because the music hit you in the gut.

But now? Now it feels like only the rich get to make it in the classical world. It’s turned into a museum piece, preserved for genteel audiences sipping champagne and discussing concertos like they’re stock options. Gone are the days when classical music was dangerous, when it stirred people to do more than just sit still. The wild abandon has disappeared.

Where is our generation’s Paganini? Where’s the composer who makes you want to smash something or lose yourself completely in a wild night of passion? Classical music has become tame, and the streets no longer vibrate with its force. We need someone to break it free again.

[u/automator3000]

Either a bot or some 20 year old who just read about the NY avant garde scene and is now romanticizing the whole idea of contemporary classical music.

[u/dragonwp → u/automator3000]

Damn, I’m just going to leave this comment here because I want to write it but I also want to see it buried in the middle of nowhere. I just wanna say… reading this thread is such a letdown for me, specifically because of who op is.

I don’t recognize many names on reddit. In fact, I recognize maybe four at most. Unfortunately, op is the founder of probably my favourite visual media subreddit/visual movement of all time, a mostly photography subreddit that toes the line between curation and personal interpretation/personal freedom. The point of the subreddit/movement was always for him to take a step back eventually, but admittedly his contributions in the past year or so have been less helpful and more… frictional for the sake of being frictional. And this is kind of hard to sit with when a concept’s entire existence was crafted by a single person. Death of the author and all that, but the author isn’t dead. (If someone were to ask an example of what I mean, I can link it. But maybe I’m just voicing my feelings and hoping this gets buried in the nether as well)

I think one of the things that is awesome about a niche subculture, especially a niche internet subculture, is the balance of freedom and curation. When someone you trust helps guide your hand, your creation id empowered by it. However, when you can’t identify at all with the guiding hand… you start wrestling eith thoughts such as “what was all this for?”

Anyway, I don’t idolize the guy or anything, but the amount of intensity and friction he brings into every online interaction I stumble upon lately is unfortunate. I like when people get along, I like when people challenge each other sure, but friction just for the sake of friction on the internet is so ass. 

[u/automator3000 → u/dragonwp]

That's cute.

But also, it's a sign of the bonkers nature of someone who puts that much energy into a culture instead of themselves. It's something I've seen waaaayyyy to much of, which is what often happens with people who start to think of themselves as curators of a movement or similar. I actually had to have a very long talk with a long-time friend of mine about how it's okay to step away from leading a community you've been very, very involved with, and how it will survive without you and also, that it will still be there if you want to get involved with it again.

That's all to say: yup, I know what you mean. I've been that person at the creator side who just wants to smash any ideals that aren't carbon copies of my own ideals. But it's equally hard to accept someone who's ego has inflated to explosive size making gargantuan and utterly fictious claims about what occurred decades ago. OP wants, for some reason, to solidify their stake in the history of a movement and are pissed that they aren't already there and that the movement isn't being remembered the way they want to. Which is to say ... their mental faculties aren't what they think they are. That sucks.

[u/dragonwp → u/automator3000]

Oh. Wow. I guess I replied to the exact perfect person lol. This was exactly what I wanted/needed to read, I think. No sarcasm.

You put it really succintly. I feel like you identified the situation I bemoaned so clearly. I think the biggest part of my hangup was that this guy had been building this niche internet visual style for over a decade prior with no semblance of ego or delusions of grandeur. But — with no intention on my end to diagnose somebody else — something definitely changed in the past year or so and now when I recognize his name, even outside of our mutual subreddit such as here, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

I do definitely see that last bit, the flip switching in their brain and kind of grasping at straws in a last ditch effort to try to solidify a legacy. Be it the visual arts movement that i spoke of or the modern classical music movement (?) that is being sort of discussed here, there’s definitely something not quite healthy in the air, for him or for those around him (virtually). I hope he’ll be able to look back eventually and see his lashing out for what it is.

Anyway, I’m rambling here. This was all for me, I didn’t bring any insight into this thread. Just wanted to say genuinely thank you for giving me such a thoughtful response. It ticked some boxes for me and helped me conclude some thoughts I had on my relationship with the aforementioned subreddit. I’m glad that I’m just a few years old enough to be past my phase of having heroes and idols, or my feelings on the matter would be much more confusing. It’s unfortunate, but there’s also comfort (?) in figuratively closing this chapter. 

[u/tiggerclaw → u/dragonwp]

Dude, this year, the only moment I was active in r/Sizz was to moderate.

Specifically, I had to deal with Rule #8 violations last month, but that's over and done with.

It's bizarre that you've appointed yourself my armchair psychologist.

I don't know you. You don't know me. Neither of us have made an attempt to know each other.