Classical Music and Mr Hole  Yet again the notion that classical
music is elitist is in the papers, this time it’s
The Independent (  The wonderfully named ‘Mr Hole’—or to use his
even more outrageous real name ‘Max Hole’—assures the British
public that classical music suffers commercially because of its
elitism. He’s dead right, but he argues that this is a bad
thing. Great things are elitist by their very nature. While the
word ‘elite’ may seem to connote some kind of self-selecting
and privileged group, in music it ought evoke a truer meaning of
‘choice’ or ‘excellent’; from the Latin ‘eligere’, to elect. In
other words, something has been assessed and deemed to be
excellent. In Aristotelean philosophy this is seen as a good
thing. However, Aristotle clarifies that knowledge of something
presupposes analysis of it, not merely a casual encounter. In
short, in order for something to be assessed and set aside as
excellent, it must first be understood. Understanding music,
particularly art music (which is what