But let’s consider that business of asking five of my friends to give classical music a try. “Classical music” generally means concert music written between, say, 1100 and today. That’s a lot of ground. A friend who can’t bear Wagner might love Messiaen. A friend who can’t bear Messiaen might love Bach. Just asking people to give it a try isn’t enough; there’s so much repertory and so much of it is good, and it’s not all that predictable who will like what.

Not only that, if I’m asking friends to give a particular repertory a try, I buy them tickets to live performances. There’s no substitute for being there, especially if you’re taking someone to the opera or symphony. The impact of a voice or instrument or ensemble in the house is a big part of the experience.

Read the whole thing over at Lisa Hirsch’s blog.