iTunes knows what’s up

Entertainment Weekly might have ignored classical music in their year-end review, but iTunes didn’t! I was impressed to see that the New Music Tuesday email from iTunes included “year’s best” lists for classical and jazz in addition to the usual suspects (twelve categories all told). The Staff Favorite lists in the iTunes Store also showed a wide range of genres, featuring Dvorak’s Serenades and Mozart Symphonies mixed in with Justin Timberlake and Neko Case (love!). I think it’s safe to say that a lot of young people prefer to mix it up a bit when it comes to their listening choices; I don’t know many people who only listen to one type of music. How boring would that be? As for me, I got an iTunes gift care for Christmas (didn’t we all?!), and I plan to buy Romeo et Juliette (Slatkin, Domingo, Swenson), Cold War Kids, and Stevie Wonder (still a toss up between Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life). I don’t know the numbers, but I’m guessing that most iTuners are on the younger side of the music-buyers’ spectrum, so this is yet another indicator of classical music’s continuing life. If we kids are still buying it, well, then, it must be doing alright!