Who's afraid of classical concerts?

The Lebrecht Weekly ^ | February 10, 2005 | Norman Lebrecht

[zarf]

If we had no music post Beethoven, I wouldn't seriously miss it.

You're nuts.

I could not imagine a world without Stravinsky, Bartok or Charles Ives.

[sevry]

The violin kids who play the NYC subway, and appeared on Live at the Apollo, like the classical. It just depends on what music is played. The modern stuff is typical of much 20th century art - ugly art, anti-art. But some good music has come along. And the old classics can't be beat, if one is in the mood. All music competes, however. You would think that as the boomers age, classical will again revive. Orrrr . . . the geezers might just stop listening to music entirely (some, but a lot will have classical on - constantly). Fear not.

[zarf]

.....or Gilbert and Sullivan!

[Maceman]

I think Henry Pleasants had the answer some 50 years ago, as he explained in his excellent book The Agony of Modern Music.

[najida]

I love classical music too, but like others have said, it is great 'background' music for other things...

Reading, napping, eating, those bi-annual forays into housekeeping,etc.

[Tax-chick]

Interesting. My kids like classical music, including symphonies, but it would be difficult for them to sit quietly and watch a performance for hours. It's nice to have the CD's in the car, so we can listen to a piece, and then talk about the parts we liked (or didn't) and what images the music brought to mind. "It was birds!" "No, it was butterflies!" "No, it was jellyfish!" "Jellyfish? You're WEIRD, Tom!"

[discostu]

I'm not sure about start times, rock and roll shows have similar starts. I think the two big problems are the tuxedos and the incredible lack of something to look at. The whole dress up atmosphere of the classical concert is anathema to modern entertainment, we're now deep into our 2nd (and fast approaching 3rd) generation that wears jeans and t-shirts to see their favorite musicians perform, there's really no reason to dress up in the audience area it's dark anyway, but classical music maintains the tradition of dressing up, and that tradition begins with the tuxedo clad performers. Even most magicians have ditched the tux, time for classical to move on, not saying they should come out dressed like Judas Priest, but something a little less associated with getting married would be nice.

Then there's the incredible lack of visual presentation. Lets face it, unless you know how to play one of the instruments, and have good enough seats to actually watch the technique of the players in that section, there really is NOTHING to look at during an orchestral or symphonic show. If you're going to go to an event in person you need something for multiple senses, if you're just going to listen you can stay home and put on a CD. Now I'm not really sure what the solution to this is, maybe Walt was onto something with Fantasia and hiring an animator to give a visual interpretation playing behind the orchestra would do it, maybe go totally rock and roll and bring in the pyrotechics, or go pop and bring in a dance troupe, but give them something to look at besides a bunch of people sitting in uncomfortable clothes.

[zarf]

If you're going to go to an event in person you need something for multiple senses, if you're just going to listen you can stay home and put on a CD.

Bingo. I'd rather buy multiple versions of a piece and enjoy it while listening at home on a killer sound system.

For the kids, why waste money on more concert tickets when you can buy a complete set of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert videos and enjoy them at home? There's more education in the Berstein series than going to 100 concerts.

[jalisco555]

You know what just might contribute to a classical comeback? The nearly ubiquitous I-Pod.

I have lots of classical music on mine.

[jalisco555]

If you are READING you are not listening.

I suppose you're right. But, good classical music is great background for reading (or Freeping).

And now I have to get the image of the oboe and sex ed out of my head!

[ArrogantBustard]

Our community recently celebrated the opening of a new symphony hall,

Strathmore? I was looking forward to going there (I loathe the Kennedy Center) ... $100/tix is kinda high.

[cloud8]

> ...there really is NOTHING to look at during an orchestral or symphonic show.

Come to Boston on July 4th and you can look at the fireworks.

[Cosmo]

I think the bigger problem for the Classical music world is the comparative lack of quality of the current crop of musicians.The Classical music industry has been trying so hard to work the sex angle in recent years that they've effectively rewarded mediocrity in the interest of attracting a younger audience. Watch the Van Cliburn competition when it comes on PBS and I think you'll agree: the talent pool is shrinking . I was once being groomed to play the international competition circuit when I was at Juillliard and I'm pretty certain that most of the performances I've heard from Van Cliburn finalists in recent years wouldn't have gotten me past the preliminaries in the 80s.

The most recently recorded classical CD I've purchased was Murray Perahia's Goldberg variations (from 2000I believe). He was peaking when I was a student but has continued to evolve, and his Goldberg variations might very well be better than Gould's. Otherwise, few musicians have impressed me in recent yearsI haven't heard any pianist in the current crop that can touch Perahia or the rest of those great pianists of 15-20 years ago. The violin pool is in an equaly sad state if you ask me. Gil Shaham looked to be the next great hope but Josh Bell and his sexy coiffeur seems to have eclipsed him (in spite ofthe fact Bell can't reallly hold a candle to Gil)

While the classical world is failing in their attempt to sex-up the industry, they are also driving more discriminating fans away. It matterrs little to me that concerts don't fit into my schedule. What matters is that the music has suffered. I'd rather listen to my old CDs and LPs in the comfort of my own home.

[discostu]

And I bet those shows are better attended that most, which puts it line with my idea of "go rock and roll and add pyrotechnics". Unfortunately I bet your hardliners that make up the majority of the classical audience hate those shows as sellouts that lack purity.

[labard1]

You've got me on Gilbert and Sullivan. Of the others, I find Ives sometimes interesting, but could do without Stravinsky and Bartok without a moment's hesitation.

But then again, I'm a nut.

[Billthedrill]

Part of the reason for the decline of classical music is the ubiquity of music itself these days. In Mozart's day a concert by professionals was a rare treat, and you didn't fill the interim with TV, radio, home stereo, and elevator music; in fact, unless you played an instrument yourself you pretty much went without.

Times were slower, people were more patient, and things were just plain different. To dump an ordinary citizen of the period in today's environment would put him or her into sensory overload inside a day.

[Cicero]

Classical music was originally played on festive occasions: as liturgy in churches, at royal banquets, at garden parties, on barges along the river, and so forth.

It began to change around the time of Beethoven, when orchestras got larger and larger and then huge, and when it moved from ducal banquet chambers to public concert halls.

One of the few great developments in the classical music scene over the past thirty or forty years has been the return to ancient instruments and the return to chamber orchestras, instead of everying being done on the scale of the Boston or Philadelophia symphony orchestras.

I had a seat at the Friday afternoon concerts of the Boston Symphony for about eight years, and it was a real pleasure, but one I would not want to return to.

That's why Tanglewood is so pleasant, or the operas at Glyndebourne, because venues like these are more like the way music ought to be heard--at a festive occasion, during dinner, at Mass (although regretably the liturgists who presently control the music are idiots, so the real experience is now very rare), where the music honors God, or the King, or a family or village festivity.

[Texas Chrystal]

It's cool. I like all kinds of classical music from plainchant to stuff written yesterday but I totally understand your opinion. Do me one small favor--check out Wagner's "Prelude and Liebestod" from the Opera "Tristan und Isolde." I know you'll love it.
Beethoven went through quite a change in his life--from very classical ala Haydn/Mozart to very romantic ala early Brahms so I'm sure your tastes are still pretty diverse.
In my orchestra, we rarely get to play a Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Mahler, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, etc. Symphony. We NEVER play Wagner and R. Strauss. That is what I miss.
Gorecki is not something I listen to.
;-)

[SaveTheChief]

I used to perform with various community groups, some of them quite good. My main complaint (that I kept to myself) was that there seemed to be a lot of music on the schedule that only a very small percentage of elite die hards would enjoy. Most folks don't want to pay forty bucks to hear a performance in which half of the concert is comprised of atonal, experimental contemporary music and other odd stuff.

I have always had the belief that music is one of the most uplifting forces invented by man. I love attending concerts which keep the audiences interested and engaged in the art as it happens on stage. You simply cannot lose with the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahams, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Dvorak, and Copland. I am skipping some, I know.

Want to mix things up? Have a chamber music night. Do a vocal work -- The Brahams German Requiem for example -- Have talented soloists lined up for performances, play more pops concerts and lighter music of the Strauss family, for example. Perform a suite from a ballet (there are a lot of wonderful works out there that go without being performed, but I think are accessible to an audience. Occasionally do a Mahler symphony.

There are many ways to keep an orchestra's season interesting, exciting, and uplifting. But a focus on challenging audiences with music the orchestra itself struggles to comprehend loses every time.

Hardly anyone gets excited about a concert in which the most accessible piece is the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.

I've ranted enough. I realize tastes in music vary greatly, but I really believe a great performance of the classics never loses. There will always be an audience for Beethoven symphonies as well as lighter fare.

[SaveTheChief]

It's funny. People like what they like. When I was in college, I played in a baroque ensemble and played a lot of Italian music. It's absolutely wonderful, but fortunately I didn't get to the point where I didn't appreciate, or enjoy playing the rest of it.

Beethoven is among my very favorites, and his piano concertos and violin concerto are monumental works, IMHO.

I agree that once Beethoven came along, music changed dramatically, but the musical shot heard round the world was the "Eroica" Symphony. Once that came around, nothing was quite the same.