[iLoveOncall]

> I'm a little surprised at people here who claim to be classical music aficionados and yet haven't heard of him.

How about they heard of the composers that he played the music of (Bach, Massenet, Schubert and Ponce), but not of the guy that played?

When I go and buy a Big Mac, I care that it's a Big Mac, not whether the cook that re-heated it today was Bob or Joe.

[attractivechaos]

Concert soloists have their own characteristics. They often play the same piece with subtle differences and confer different feelings. Some may sound more convincing/touching than others. When I hear a version I like, I may check who is the soloist and may buy his/her album. Then I will naturally remember the name.

[iLoveOncall]

Cool, but I asked for a Big Mac, and so did 99.99% of the world.

You're just in the 0.01% that would have stopped and listened, just like you're in the 0.01% that would buy his album or go to his concert.

My point is that classical music soloist is a niche hobby, just like my playing cards collection is a niche hobby, and that to expect that more than 0.01% of the world would stop on their way to work to look at my playing cards collection is simply laughable. This whole article is a joke.

[attractivechaos]

You quoted "classical music aficionados". I was mainly reacting to that part and explaining what an aficionado would do. A random person buying a Big Mac is not an aficionado. Also from the article, 2.5% paid, 0.6% listened and 0.1% recognized him. This is more or less in line with my expectation. I certainly know classical music is a niche hobby. When I go to some chamber music concert, I often see a room of elders, very few young audience.