Big Shows

I’m generally an evangelist for “Small Is Beautiful”. And I’ve never really been a big fan of “classical” music. But last night I watched a TV recording of a show by the very popular Dutch conductor and violinist, Andre Rieu. Mainly because some of my wife’s family had recently been to see him and his orchestra perform at the same venue in Maastricht, and were vouching for its brilliance.

It was big. But, despite my usual reservations, it was a very lovely thing. It visibly brought a lot of joy and life to many people.

Andre Reau’s gift is to prick the pomposity, and lift the life giving soul of the music out from the midst of something that must be a massive organisational effort. Not an easy thing to do, but he did it with aplomb.

I can get a bit sniffy about entertainment on a massive scale, films and music in particular, not because of their popularity, but because they often seem to be chasing the lowest common denominator down to the bottom of the well of mediocrity.

But when these Big Shows are done so well, and with such heart…well, I was won over anyway. I get it.