I saw this show a few years ago, and it was incredible, if you didn't know any better, you would have swore there were five or six other musicians there.
Posted on 08/26/2014 9:41:04 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
A scuffle at a Connecticut opera reveals the bleak future of the orchestra pit
This August's production of Richard Wagner's four-opera Ring cycle in Hartford, Conn., has been postponed.
Rather than hiring pit musicians, producer Charles M. Goldstein had intended to accompany the singers with sampled instrument sounds, played by a computer. Not a CD, not a synthesizer; the computer triggers the playback of individual notes (“samples”) originally recorded from real instruments.
The reaction of professional musicians—and, of course, the musicians' union—was swift and furious. New York City's Local 802 president called it operatic karaoke. Hate mail poured in. In the end, the opera's music director, as well as two of the stars, withdrew from the production.
I know exactly what Goldstein must be feeling right about now. For my first 10 years out of college, I worked on Broadway shows as a musical director and arranger. In 1993 the group now called the Broadway League (of theater owners) contacted me. They wanted me to demonstrate how well computers and samplers could serve a live performance.
I was flattered that powerful producers were seeking the advice of little 30-year-old me. I was all set to help out—until I started getting anonymous threats on my answering machine.
It turns out, the Broadway League and Local 802 were at the bargaining table, and the league wanted to use technology as leverage. The unspoken message: “If we can't reach an agreement, our shows will go on—without live music.”
I bowed out. I was a Local 802 member and employed by a Broadway producer; I was in no position to choose a side. Even today, though, I'm deeply empathetic to both parties.
Musicians and music lovers argue that live orchestras are essential. Nobody buys a ticket to listen to a CD; there's something thrilling about musicians working as a unified artistic element. Of course, the musicians' unions also have a less noble interest: keeping their dwindling ranks employed.
For their part, producers often argue that there might be no show at all without a digital orchestra; live musical theater is expensive. Just look at the list of U.S. opera companies that have closed in the past few years: Opera Cleveland, Opera Pacific, San Antonio Opera and, shockingly, New York City Opera.
Do we really want to eliminate opera altogether or watch it with a piano accompaniment—a live player, yes, but a puny sound? Those outcomes serve nobody, including the public.
As technology has marched on, the musicians have lost two additional arguments: that fake music doesn't sound as good as real players and that audiences demand live players.
These days you can't tell a live but amplified orchestra from a high-end sampled one. And—tragically, to me—it doesn't seem as though, in the end, showgoers care much. During a 1993 musicians' strike, management at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., announced that its production of The Phantom of the Opera would use taped accompaniment. About 90 percent of ticket holders attended anyway.
It's likely Goldstein is correct that a full live orchestra would make his Ring cycle too expensive to produce. But if we let him proceed, what's to stop producers from running with that argument, eventually replacing all live players to save money? It's a fraught situation, rife with potential for abuse on both sides.
History is not on live music's side. Canned music has largely replaced live players at dance performances, restaurants, school plays and community theaters. Nobody seems to bat an eye.
Further, the efficiencies and economies of digital technology have destroyed the old models in other creative industries: book publishing, moviemaking, pop music recording, and so on.
The battle between technology and live music will rage on for years, with passion on both sides. But as a musician and a live music fan, it's painful for me to say it: the long-term future of live pit musicians doesn't look especially upbeat.
This article was originally published with the title "Unsettled Score."
“Do we really want to eliminate opera altogether?”
Hmmmmm,,,, I love the music, but can’t stand operatic voices!
“Which is better? A real drummer or a drum machine?”
How can you tell if the stage is level without a real drummer?
Those who don't understand history are condemned to repeat it...
I enjoyed some blues and jazz places some time ago. The down side is later life when the hearing gets less distinct.
I prefer to watch Blu-rays or DVDs of better performances at home.
But I have every Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Who, Blacksmore’s Night, Berlin, Loreena McKennitt, George Straight and a miriad of other artists concerts and videos on Blue Ray and DVD.
And they all get me right on stage and sound a LOT better than the “colliseum” or many other live experiences.
The down side is later life when the hearing gets less distinct.
Digital media is for me.
I have a huge vinyl collection and, though I really love the whole “experience” of playing them and have darned nice playback equipment, there is no way I’d say they sound better than digital. They are better than digital in the same way a horse is better than a car. But few people I know take a horse to work.
Thanks, I'll have to look into that history.
Back in the day Electric Light Orchestra was sued over their use of recorded strings during a show at Cobo Hall in Detroit.
Like, did they really think they could bring the London Philharmonic on tour with them?
Cosi Fan Tutte was on one of the local PBS stations over the weekend. I had it on for a while as background, having missed the beginning, and therefore the English subtitles to follow the story.
One problem is that the video stream is mixed like it was done by a three year old with ADD. The maximum attention span of the editor is about three seconds.
One of my cousins is a very good piano player and plays other instruments. She worked at many studios and orchestra’s over the years. Played for 3 years in a Phantom of the Opera production. She says she got out of the business when the pay went way down. She once played at a big celebs wedding with some others and was there for many hours. She figures it worked out to $10/hr.
I saw this show a few years ago, and it was incredible, if you didn't know any better, you would have swore there were five or six other musicians there.
I’d rather have my high ticket price go to fund musicians who actually provide entertainment than those unionized stagehands who command outrageous salaries for little or no work.
LOL! Of course, no two Cage performances can ever be the same.
As for a sampled Wagnerian orchestra - yikes.
Along the “audiophile perspective”, I’m a distributor of high-end audio from Europe. At one time I imported a line of amplifiers that included $350k monoblocks from Japan.
Even with those ultra-expensive designs, it still lacked the ultimate reality of the real thing. It did sound quite stunning though designs from my Italian design partner are far more affordable and sound more real than the Japanese products.
Bottom line, it’s gonna be a long, long time before true reality is reproduced in the home.
It's likely Goldstein is correct that a full live orchestra would make his Ring cycle too expensive to produce. But if we let him proceed...Overlooked in the comments is the notion that union goons "let" creators proceed with their creations.
“Bottom line, it’s gonna be a long, long time before true reality is reproduced in the home..”
I went to a Nana Mouskouri concert decades ago and found what seems prevalent today. Her studio recordings were so replete with multitracking, that it was impossible to reproduce her really good stuff on stage. The “reality” of much of what one heard on her records and over the radio could ONLY be reproduced in the home on the stereo.
Reminds me of “auto-tuning” to tweek bad voices into good, on-key vocals...ala Brittany Spears.
IIRC, it was Cher who first used “auto-tuning”.
I put on a play in Chicago some years ago. I had to deal with the unions and everything else. It was blackmail. I learned my lesson, never to underwrite a performance in a union town again, using the best people union and non union.
The way live theater gets around this is by using amateurs mainly students, studded with professionals. Directors are in charge of many companies. In the end you have watered down performances that are more expensive than ever.
the theater guild unions, not only the musicians and other performers, and their work-rules and wage demands, will be the death of ....................the theater guild unions after they destroy “live” performances by their demands
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