by natchaitkin | Jun 25, 2014 | Uncategorized
The other day, an American got thrown out of a concert in Britain for crowdsurfing – surely not the first time that’s happened. Here’s the catch – it was at a performance of Handel’s Messiah, and the offender was a Stanford University expert in “non-equilibrium molecular reaction dynamics.” Weren’t expecting that, were you?
The concert was at the Bristol Old Vic, on a series designed to be “accessible and informal” according to its director, Tom Morris, who tells his audiences: “Clap or whoop when you like, and no shushing other people.” The audience stands in a mosh pit in front of the stage and beer is allowed.
The offender, Dr. David R. Glowacki, told the Irish Independent: “Classical music, trying to seem cool and less stuffy, reeks of some sort of fossilized art form undergoing a midlife crisis…Witness what happened to me when I started cheering with a 30-strong chorus shouting ‘praise God’ two metres from my face: I get physically assaulted, knocked down to the floor and forcibly dragged out by two classical vigilantes.”
Once you’ve stopped giggling, there are some things to talk about here. First of all, good for Mr. Morris and the Bristol Old Vic for encouraging audiences to show their appreciation for what they are hearing. Why not try it?
For those of you who disagree and say that clapping and whooping while the music is playing is simply out of bounds, I offer you a letter from Mozart to his father, rejoicing in exactly that behavior at the premiere of the “Paris” symphony. So there.
Seriously, the idea that concertgoers should be quiet and well-behaved is a recent phenomenon – here’s a description of what went on at Baroque Opera houses during performances – some of it would make Silvio Berlusconi blush.
But what about Mr. Glowacki, and the audience members (not the staff of the Old Vic, mind you) who took it upon themselves to toss him out for his behavior? Were they right? Going forward, it appears Mr. Morris has decided to let the crowd decide: “The Bristol Proms are contributing to a ground-breaking way of thinking which will pave the way for a new kind of classical concert. But by allowing an audience to respond in whatever way they want, you also allow an audience to self-regulate, as we discovered.”
Sounds reasonable to me – what do you think? Let’s not forget, audiences already “self-regulate” – anyone who’s ever disturbed a concert hall with a cell phone or cough drop wrapper can attest to that!
So who crossed the line here, if anyone? Did Mr. Morris, by having beer and a mosh pit at the concert? Mr. Glowacki, for trying to crowdsurf? What about those two audience members who threw him out? Maybe they crossed the line from being scolds to, as Mr. Glowacki so vividly termed them, “classical vigilantes.” I’m not sure where I stand on this, but I do like that it’s being talked about! What do you think? Please post your comments!
by natchaitkin | Jun 19, 2014 | Uncategorized
Recently, Sir Mix-a-Lot appeared with the Seattle Symphony to perform his signature song “Baby Got Back,” with orchestration by Gabriel Prokofiev (composer and grandson of the famous Russian). Video of the performance has gone viral on Youtube, with over 2 million views in less than a week.
The concert was a special occasion, for two reasons. It was part of the Symphony’s Sonic Evolution series, premiering new works inspired by pop and jazz legends with a local connection, including Bill Frisell and Jimi Hendrix. It was also part of the League of American Orchestras annual convention, and was offered as a model for new audience development, something orchestras need desperately.
The Sonic Evolution series looks like a very good idea – kudos to Seattle and its music director, Ludovic Morlot, for committing to it over the last few seasons. I assume it’s successful and hope it continues to be.
What I’m interested in here is the appearance by Sir Mix-a-Lot and the reactions it has provoked. As James Oestreich put it in his NY Times review of the concert: “No question, many orchestra managers present must have positively drooled at the energy in the hall and the number of teenagers in the audience.” And let’s not forget those 2 million youtube views – how often does an orchestra concert get that kind of attention?
When you look at the media coverage of the concert, much of it is about the novelty of having Sir Mix-a-Lot and the Seattle Symphony on the same stage – the incongruity was the main attraction.
Later in his review, Oestreich writes: “I won’t presume to review things so far outside my ken as Sir Mix-a-Lot. But I am left to wonder what a symphony orchestra can meaningfully add to this kind of repertory…And how any of this may speak to the future of American orchestras I have to leave to those more visionary than I. Presumably there were some in the audience.”
I hope those orchestra administrators are thinking about Oestreich’s question – I think orchestras and hiphop could do a lot together. What if the next step was a more substantive collaboration between Prokofiev and Sir Mix-a-Lot? Maybe some of those first time visitors to the hall would come back to see what they produced together.
Most pops concerts are designed to bring fans of the headliner to the concert hall – what’s difficult is getting those folks to come back for Mahler the next week.
Making the connection from one to the other is tricky, but as someone who gives programs designed to build that bridge, I’ve got some ideas about how this might work. Good hiphop is imaginative in combining sounds, attentive to words and their rhythm, and often has a strong social message. You could say the same thing about much of Steve Reich‘s music – a piece like his “Different Trains” would be a perfect way to start.
What about a program featuring works of composers who work with sounds and words the way hiphop artists do, like Reich, alongside pieces by hiphop composers themselves?
What about a concerto for DJ Spooky, who’s already collaborated with classical groups like Brooklyn Rider and the Telos Ensemble, or DJ Rekha, who’s sampled late Beethoven Quartets in her work? So, let’s hear some ideas, people! If you are a composer, who from the “pop” world would you like to work with? If you are a pop fan, who would you like to see featured in a collaboration with an orchestra?
by natchaitkin | Jun 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
“Quit thinking like a classical musician and start thinking like a rock musician.” So says Ivan Trevino, one of the cellists in the band Break of Reality. In a blog post on the website of The Strad magazine, Trevino shares his thoughts on how classical musicians can learn from the rock world.
His best observations are about the over-thinking we classical players do, and how it can hurt us. “Rock musicians understand rejection and don’t fear it. Most classical musicians don’t have that mindset…We believe, because it’s how we were taught, that there’s a perfect way to do things, and we can’t settle for less.”
Trevino urges classical musicians to play more gigs: “Just look at most local rock bands. They have show after show lined up. Every weekend, they are playing in a new bar or club. They’ve got their albums for sale, their email list out, and they are slowly but surely growing their fan-base. Meanwhile, classical musicians who have been playing their instruments for decades, who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in their musical training, don’t have this same mindset.”
Some savvy classical musicians have embraced this idea of getting out there more – the great cellist Matt Haimovitz plays Bach in bars regularly, and the Classical Revolution movement has taken off in many cities. But on the whole, we aren’t really succeeding in this area – we need to do more.
Trevino’s suggestion to “start thinking like a rock musician” got me thinking – when did we stop thinking that way? Some of the biggest names in classical music history thought (and acted) like rockers – Paganini, Mozart and Beethoven all come to mind.
Music is supposed to be challenging, in your face and uncompromising – all rock musicians know that. Beethoven certainly wrote his music with that mindset, and sometimes acted a lot like a rock star, throwing food at his housekeeper, etc. Mozart certainly partied like a rock star, and you could argue that he paid the price, dying at 35, at least in part because of his “lifestyle choices.”
Franz Liszt may have been the first rock star – at his concerts, women tore his clothes and fought over broken strings from his piano. He even got to be played in a movie by a rock star! The picture above is from it – Roger Daltrey of the Who portrayed the great pianist in “Lisztomania,” which also features Ringo Starr as The Pope (who knew he had such range?).
Let’s just say this movie is NOT an example of the inspiration I’m hoping classical musicians will get from rockers – skip it. Still, in 1975, someone thought enough of the idea to back it financially, and it got made – I doubt that would happen today.
Bad movies aside – no one performing Liszt’s concertos today gets the kind of reception he did – is that good or bad? So what happened? One possibility is that Liszt was a rock star because there was no “pop” music to compete with in his day – classical music was pretty much it, and everyone knew its stars. As other styles of music emerged over time, classical music became pigeonholed as something for certain people with “taste” and “sophistication” (an idea that Mozart and company would probably think was complete nonsense).
There’s a great book about how classical music (and other art forms) got separated from more “popular” styles – “Highbrow/Lowbrow – The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America” by Lawrence Levine – required reading, in my opinion, if you care about great music and its future. Classical music doesn’t have to live in isolation – that’s a recent development, and a really bad one, I think. Trevino and others like him are trying to bring it back into the mainstream – let’s get to it! Please post your comments and thoughts about how we can (re-)learn from rock musicians!
by natchaitkin | Jun 5, 2014 | Uncategorized
From the New York Times review of the Budapest Festival Orchestra concert on Monday: “(The orchestra) was almost halfway into its performance of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 8 (Op. 72) on Monday evening when Gaspar Szente, one of its percussionists, ambled through the string section to the front of the stage. Sitting down on the stool that had been placed there for the next concerto’s solo cellist, he calmly reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a tiny brass cymbal. Another leisurely gesture brought forward a mallet. With his head cocked attentively, he waited for his entrance. Then he played, intermittently producing delicate, pealing notes that improbably became the music’s emotional focus.”
If you are a regular at classical music concerts, you know that this sort of thing qualifies as a major upheaval – the idea that an orchestra player would (gasp!) change seats during a piece! I can hear the cries of disapproval already. “It’s too showy.” “It’s inappropriate.” And my personal favorite: “It distracts from the music.”
In this case though, that last argument doesn’t work – it sounds like Mr. Szente’s move highlighted the music in a way that might not have happened otherwise! This is a tiny bit of stagecraft, but a very good idea, and it’s the sort of thing Fischer and the Budapest players do a lot.
Bean bags in the middle of the orchestra for the audience to sit on. Programs picked by drawing papers from the bell of a tuba. Flutes and violins switching seats. These are all things you might see at a concert of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, a group described as having a “disruptive approach to the business of putting on concerts.”
Returning to Mr. Szente’s little walk to prominence for a moment, isn’t it amazing (and a little sad, frankly) how little it takes to be called disruptive in the classical music world? Think about it – a reviewer went out of her way to note that someone on stage changed seats!
If that’s all it takes to get some attention, why do so few orchestras do this sort of thing? I’m trying to picture a major American orchestra doing something like this – if you know of some examples, please post them in the comments!
One of my favorite music writers, Alex Ross of the New Yorker, profiled the BFO and its music director, Ivan Fischer, in last week’s edition. If you want to know more about what thoughtful, creative “disruption” looks (and sounds) like, read it! It gives me hope – may every group start trying things like this!
Till next time,
Nat
by natchaitkin | Jun 2, 2014 | Uncategorized
Yesterday, I played on a concert of opera favorites with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the excellent soprano Sarah Coburn. The program included the famous Rossini overture to “The Barber of Seville,” which frankly is hard for me to get through without giggling – I can only think of Bugs Bunny torturing Elmer Fudd – “Ehhhhhhhh – next!”
Besides being the soundtrack for perhaps the greatest cartoon of all time, the overture features the famous “Rossini crescendo” (aka “Rossini rocket”), where a passage is repeated several times with new voices joining each time, until the orchestra is playing full blast.
From Ravel’s Bolero to Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” the gradual buildup is one of the most powerful forces in music, and it’s the subject of today’s playlist. Bach, The Who, John Philip Sousa and King Curtis are among the artists on the list – please add some more of your own! What’s your favorite buildup?
Till Wednesday,
Nat
by natchaitkin | May 27, 2014 | Uncategorized
Last week, I got my copy of the Juilliard Journal in the mail, and I was very proud to see this article about Bach and Boombox. A big thank you to Susan Jackson for taking an interest in what I’m doing, and giving it such a nice write-up! It got me thinking about my time at Juilliard Pre-College, and how much the school has changed since then.
Juilliard has always produced great performers – many of the world’s top soloists studied there, and the competition is fierce. Being around future superstars both inspired me to do my best and reminded me that I wasn’t destined to be one of them! So, what next?
Many young musicians past and present have a few traditional options to pursue – winning an orchestral audition, joining a chamber music group, or landing a teaching position.
All of these are wonderful careers, but pursuing them is nearly as competitive as becoming a soloist, and in my experience, music schools, Juilliard included, didn’t offer much guidance to those looking for another way.
Nowadays, things are different, and Juilliard is leading the way in encouraging young players to think differently about the kind of career they will have, with courses in music entrepreneurship and career management, in its Center for Innovation in the Arts.
The school has also created a wonderful partnership with Carnegie Hall and the New York City Department of Education, called the Ensemble ACJW, where gifted young performers get the chance to build careers “as top-quality performers, innovative programmers, and dedicated teachers who fully engage with the communities in which they live and work.” This is a typical mix for most musicians – it’s great to see that being nurtured at such a prestigious institution.
Another great thing happening at Juilliard is the teaching of Greg Sandow, who writes a blog everyone interested in the future of the music business should read. He teaches a class called Classical Music in an Age of Pop, and you can read the syllabus here.
Greg asks many of the tough questions our business needs to answer, and he offers some great advice: “Understand and respect the culture outside classical music.” That this needs to be said at all should tell you a lot about how the concert world works! This idea ruffles a lot of feathers in the business, but I’m especially glad that it’s being advocated at Lincoln Center! If Juilliard is moving this way, the rest of us should be too!
Till next time,
Nat
