Classical music enjoys brush with relevance

When the New York Philharmonic played a concert in Pyongyang this week, the ample media coverage talked about how an isolated corner of humanity was being brought into contact with the wider world. Oddly enough, these stories seemed to be talking about the North Koreans rather than about the classical musicians. While a few elite orchestras routinely play to full houses, this doesn’t alter the fact that classical music seems increasingly isolated from modern life for most people.