Good News from American Orchestras

Two days ago, the Minnesota Orchestra finally approved a new three-year contract, ending a 15 month lockout that brought the major US orchestra to a standstill.  For those of us who were keeping watch throughout the impasse, this is definitely welcome news.  Although the orchestra can finally move forward and create music, it's important to look at the severe damage that has occurred.

To begin with, the return of the former music director, Osmo Vänskä, is still uncertain.  Aaron Jay Kernis also left his post as the Director of the Composer Institute, an innovative program within the Minnesota Orchestra that provided opportunities to up-and-coming composers throughout the country.  Kernis has previously stated he believes the Composer Institute will take a lot of reviving work to get it running efficiently once again, depending on whether or not the program is even continued.  His future with the program is also uncertain.  The lockout also resulted in more than 15 musicians leaving for other orchestras.  Finally, in spite of no concerts occurring and no musicians to pay, the Minnesota Orchestra managed to lose $1.1 million during its last fiscal year.

This is definitely a moment of truth for the Minnesota Orchestra.  It's plainly obvious they are a group of talented individuals (while the lockout was occurring, they were nominated for a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance).  However, the key to their future is how the organization chooses to run itself.  The issues that created the deadlock revolved around a deep mistrust and lack of understanding between the administrative Board and the members of the Orchestra.  Only time will tell whether they can work together and help the organization safely get back on its own two feet.

In spite of this uncertainty, they can find inspiration out there from other American orchestras.  The Detroit Symphony Orchestra went on strike during the recession, and after what many saw as the death throes of a once great organization, everybody came out of talks with large pay cuts, but also more accessibility for the suffering citizens of the Motor City.  Last December saw the DSO finally balancing its budget for the first time since 2007.  And just yesterday, eight months ahead of schedule, the DSO ratified a new three-year contract. 

This positive work between administration and performers is just the vision the Minnesota Orchestra needs to take up.  Let's hope they can.

Duchen's List: Women Conductors Brought to the Fore

An article in the Guardian prompted a firestorm of controversy in the classical music world. "Male conductors are better for orchestras, says Vasily Petrenko" read the headline.

The principal conductor of the National Youth Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic has provoked outrage by claiming that orchestras "react better when they have a man in front of them" and that "a cute girl on a podium means that musicians think about other things".

(It's since been noted that Petrenko's comments were taken out of context from the original Norwegian newspaper article).

And while criticism was quick to follow -- especially on social media sites -- music journalist and author Jessica Duchen was prompted to do something constructive. She began tweeting the names of women conductors to show that such a thing wasn't unheard of. And soon others were joining in on the conversation.

She's compiled a list of over fifty names of professional women conductors from around the world. Duchen's posted that list on her blog, JDCMB, and is still updating it. The list, titled Fanfare for the uncommon woman conductor, is very much a work in progress.

As Duchen notes on the page: "The women conductors I know are heartily sick of being asked why there aren't more women conductors - mostly because there are [as this list proves]. They would like, please, recognition first and foremost and, ideally, only for their work as musicians, regardless of gender.."

A very positive response to a very negative opinion.

Note to local readers: yes, Maestro Kate Tamarkin is on the list!

Blurred Lines blurs lines -- John Beckwith vs. Robin Thicke

You'd think the cover art would give it away.

It turns out that the biggest scandal in the pop world -- Miley Cyrus' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards -- had an impact in the classical world. Because of all the attention Ms. Cyrus created twerking with Robin Thicke as he sang his hit "Blurred Lines," downloads for the song spiked.

As did downloads for any track titled "Blurred Lines," including the work for violin and harpsichord by Canadian composer John Beckwith. It was on Jalsaghar, an album by harpsichordist Vivienne Spiteri.

According to a post at Classic FM,

Suspicions were roused after staff at the contemporary music record label Centerdiscs spotted a sudden increase in international hits, as thousands of visitors flocked to their site to hear the composition [Blurred Lines]. It seemed odd that only the one track from the album was being downloaded, until they realised the music shared its title with the summer anthem.

Sonically, the quarter-tone contemporary classical work has virtually nothing in common with its commercially-produced counterpart.

I wonder how listeners who were expecting Thicke and got Beckwith reacted to the music?

Perhaps we've found the opposite of twerking.

John Beckwith - Blurred Lines
Hear it here.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (just the original song)

Newly-Disovered Mozart Sonata Premiered 246 Years After Composition

It's always big news when a previously unknown work by a major composer is unearthed -- especially if that composer is Mozart. In this case, it was a short Allegro for piano, composed around 1766-1767 by a very young Mozart.

According to the Mozarteum Salzburg Foundation, the work was discovered in a 1780 notebook kept by a village music teacher. The book contained a variety of keyboard compositions, including some by Mozart's father, Leopold (the more prominent composer of the two at the time).

Once scholars verified the authenticity of the work, the Foundation began planning the world premiere. On March 23, 2012, Florian Birsak performed the Allegro in Mozart's Salzburg home, on a fortepiano owned by Mozart -- now that's authenticity!




Realistically, the work's a minor composition. The Allegro isn't a lost masterwork -- it's not likely to join or supplant any of the core repertoire of Mozart piano works. It doesn't foreshadow or provide insight into any of the composer's major compositions. It's simply a very pleasant and tuneful little piano piece. With the name Mozart attached to it.

And perhaps that's enough.

Contemporary Classical - worth contemplating

Anne Midgette wrote an excellent article recently in the Washington Post providing an introduction to new music for the novice. Contemporary Classical: A Primer explores some of the major trends, such as minimalism, neo-traditional, and alt-classical. As she explains:

If you’re a longtime orchestra subscriber, you may be passionate about Brahms but leery of the unfamiliar names and sounds that occasionally emerge onto concert programs. And chances are, whatever you like, you are equally passionate about what you don’t like. This is not a “best of” guide, but rather an aide to orientation: Whatever your individual taste, these are pieces worth exploring.

In addition to outlining the three trends, she also includes a list of suggested works at the end of the article that I found quite good (and even had some surprises for me).

Not all the composers are dead. They're not all European, and they're not even all male. And the music they're writing is far removed from the prickly dissonances of mid-Twentieth Century avant-gardists that everyone seems to assume is still the norm for new music.

So here's the question: what would you like to hear more of on WTJU? Minimalist composers like Steve Reich and John Adams? Neo-traditionalists like John Corigliano and Jennifer Higdon? Alt-classical composers such as Nico Muhly and Mason Bates?

Of course, if you listen to my program, "Gamut" you'll probably hear all of the above and then some. But there's a lot to like in new music, and someday, some of those work will be considered standards of the repertoire.

Anne Midgette provides a great place to start your musical exploration, and we promise to help you along your journey!

Rapturous Classical Music

The big news this past weekend was the prediction that the Rapture would take place on Saturday, at 6:00pm local time. For those not fully up on Christian theology, the Rapture is when God gathers the elect up from earth to spare them the tribulations that are to come. For some, this is the sign that the Apocalypse is about to start.

One of the more interesting threads on Twitter bore the hashtag #apocalypsemusic. It was a series of suggestions for music appropriate to the event. For a while, the thread was hijacked by classical music folks, and several suggestions -- both obvious and subtle -- made their way into the conversation. (Some blogs also took up the task and made some good suggestions - see Miss Music Nerd's column for example).

So what would be appropriate classical music for the Rapture and the coming Apocalypse? Here are some of the best suggestions from the postings. What would you add?

Richard Wagner - Götterdämmerung(of course)

Hector Berlioz - "Dies Irae" from the "Symphonie Fantastique" ("Dies Irae" means "Day of Wrath, and is part of the Latin funeral mass that references the Judgement Day. Most any Dies Irae from any Requiem would probably work, too.)

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

Franz Schmidt: Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (The Book of the Seven Seals) (an oratorio based on a key part of Revelation)

Ludwig van Beethoven - "Les Adieux"

And I had a few suggestions myself:

Franz Schubert: Abschied from Schwanengesang (The Swan Song)

Leos Janacek: The Diary of One Who Disappeared

Edward Elgar: Dream of Gerontius (tracks the journey of the soul after death)

Franz Joseph Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony (Symphony No. 45) (If you prefer to leave quietly rather than with a bang)

Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Toward the Unknown Region" (Everyone was ready to leave Saturday, but to go where?)

Charles Hubert Parry: Symphony No. 1 "From Death to Life" (Which is how Christians view death)

I understand the event's been rescheduled for October 21. So there's plenty of time to send in your suggestions. Maybe we'll have a special show that day...

A random act of culture

What if you were shopping in a crowded Macy's and the person next to you suddenly started singing Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus? Right. I'd begin shuffling away as quickly as possible. But what if it wasn't just one shopper, but 630? And what if they were accompanied by one of the most famous organs in the world?

Now that's a different situation.

The Knight Foundation has been funding a series of guerilla performances under the rubric of "Random Acts of Culture." The idea is take the arts out of the stage, concert hall and other venues where they're isolated from the general public, and place them right where ordinary people congregate.

The "Hallelujah" chorus project was the foundation's most ambitious project to date. The Macy's Departmant store in Philadelphia is home to the Wanamaker Organ, the world's largest pipe organ. Over 600 trained choristors (the core coming from the Opera Company of Philadelphia) from the area were recuited to mingle among the holiday shoppers. When the organ started the introduction, magic happened -- as you can see from the following video. Sorry I don't live in Philadelphia!

Beethoven: The Darth Vader Variations

Richard Grayson is a talented pianist and composer who's just burst onto the Internet. The video below has been making the rounds through the classical stations in the public radio system.

As a composer and performer, Grayson's equally at home with high and low culture, and has developed a fairly unique talent -- in his concerts and recitals, he often improvising ina classical style, transforming popular tunes in the process.

The following video is a good representation of Grayson's art. The subject of this theme and variations is "Darth Vader's Theme" by John Williams. The treatement is pure early Beethoven, and the result, while perhaps not strictly classical, is a very enjoyable listening experience and great fun besides.

Sound quality isn't the best, but just let the video run. It won't be long before you'll hear through the distractions.

Brendel In Retirement

The Gramophone Awards ceremony took place October 1, 2010, in London. Recipient of a richly deserved lifetime achievement award was the great pianist Alfred Brendel, an Austrian born January 5, 1931, in the former Czechoslovakia, who has lived for many years in London. Recently retired in 2008, Brendel explored the great Austro-German piano repertoire to the delight of audiences around the world for almost a half century. Some listeners have characterized his playing as being analytical or cerebral. He has said that he believes the primary job of the pianist is to respect the composer's wishes without showing off himself, or adding his own particular stamp on the music. "I am responsible to the composer, and particularly to the piece," he has said. He cites Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Kempff, and the conductors Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwängler as particular influences.

Fortunately we have a memento of his art at the conclusion of his career with a superb recording of concert performances in Halle and Vienna, the latter in Vienna's magnificent Musikverein, with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of the late Sir Charles Mackerras, who died July 14, 2010. The recording features music of Mozart and Schubert, two of the composers at the core of his repertoire. Brendel fortunately left a vast recorded legacy.

Brendel performed many times at the Salzburg Festival, where this writer had the privilege of hearing him. If there is one indispensable Brendel recording, it would be his own selection of live performances from Salzburg in 1960-61, released on the Festival's own label. The program includes Haydn, Andante with variations for piano in F minor, H. 17/6, and Keyboard Sonata in C major, H. 16/50; Schubert, Piano Sonata No. 14 in A minor ("Grande Sonate"), D. 784 (Op. posth. 143); and Piano Sonata No. 15 in C major ("Relique"), D. 840; and Liszt, Isoldens Liebestod: Schlußszene aus Tristan und Isolde, transcription for piano (after Wagner), S. 447 (LW A239).

Brendel is at the peak of his powers. The Liszt transcription comes as close to the performance of a great singer as a pianist can manage. The sound quality is warm and resonant. Brendel's Schubert is matched by few and excelled by none. He has recorded the sonatas and other piano works a number of times, but the live performances recorded in the 1980s of D575, 894, 959 & 960, released on Philips are among the best. For those listeners who are just discovering Brendel, you will hear one of the great pianists of his era.

The Power of Music

So what good is classical music, anyway?

It's a question many ask, and the answer, "classical music sustains the spirit," never seems to satisfy the naysayers. But consider the remarkable story of violinst Romel Joseph.

Joseph is no stranger to extraordinary challenges. This blind Haitian musician, born in poverty, won a Fulbright, and graduated from Julliard with a degree in violin performance. After training with the Boston Symphony, Joseph turned his back on a promising concert career to return to Haiti and open up a music school.

The recent earthquake collapsed his school, pinning the violinist under the rubble. So how did he survive, buried by debris, waiting for rescue that may never come?



Romel Joseph prayed, and pictured himself performing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. And after that, another concerto.

"I know I picked the Brahms, the Franz, the Sibelius. I picked several," Joseph said later. "I know a lot of concertos for violins. And I picked the longer ones. I pictured walking on stage and playing to a full hall. And you start playing up to the end"

Eighteen hours later, rescue workers pulled him from the debris.

Romel Joseph has dedicated his life to music. In addition to his New Victorian School in Haiti, he also established the Miami-based Walenstein Music Organization to nurture young classical music performers. He's already working on rebuilding his school.

What good is classical music? Ask Romel Joseph. In the darkest hours of his life -- as it always has -- classical music sustained his spirit.

The Ever-Expanding Repertoire

My program on WTJU, "Gamut," is one of exploration. When I started the program, I decided not to repeat any work -- each show would have music that I had never aired before.

One of the questions I'm repeatedly asked is, "Won't you run out of music?"

Not likely. We're talking about 1,000 years of music, and more being written every day. And there's more being discovered, too.

Last week, two piano pieces by Mozart came to light. Sure, they're over 200 years old, but no one's heard them since they were composed, so the music's certainly new to us!

The music resided in the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg, and was only recently authenticated. Mozart wrote a finite number of works, and its natural to assume that his catalog of works was set shortly after his death. And even if there are early works and unpublished manuscripts not found initially, that the chances of finding them would dramatically decrease over time.

After all, these manuscripts would be stored (most likely) in central Europe. The places where they resided would have had to survive the ravages of the Napoleonic Wars and two World Wars. Not to mention fires, floods and other natural disasters. And the inevitable decay of the paper itself, becoming more brittle and fragile over time, the ink fading as it chemically breaks down. And the custodians themselves -- some consider old documents a historic treasure; some just so much waste paper to burn.

It's natural to think that after two centuries whatever was going to be found has been found. But the world continues to surprise.

So I'm not worried about running out of music for "Gamut." I haven't even played all the Mozart currently available, and after last week, I need to add two more works to my list!

- Ralph