The following arrived as a comment on my ongoing online book. But as the
anonymous writer said (I’m guessing he’s an orchestra musician), “This is more
of a response to your ‘Main Street Sessions’ blog entry.” So I’m taking the
liberty of posting it here, instead of on the book site.
When classical musicians play other
styles of music they generally play that music in a very pure form whether it
is bluegrass, jazz, or whatever. The common thread may be that there is a
certain refinement technically but the product is true to its origins. I am
sure there are some exceptions. However, the reverse is not true as you
mentioned with Aretha Franklin. Ms. Franklin may have not been offered a
leading role at the Met but she has performed with orchestras on their pops
series singing a few arias along with her own stuff. Her fee is very high and
she is very difficult to say the least. Another example of a pops fixture is
Doc Severinsen. He plays and conducts
class=GramE>many light
ranges from the comical to the embarrassing depending on the night. The big
band stuff is usually great. However, on one occasion when he attempted a
certain late romantic composer the performance literally drove a member of the
orchestra to tears because the performance was so bad.
Who is going to say no to him and
others like him. They put bums in the seats. But is
this really what we as classical musicians have been entrusted with?
There’s no doubt that orchestra musicians have to play — not
to mince words — a lot of crap on their orchestras’ pop concerts. It can also
be painful to play orchestra gigs with pop stars, because the orchestral
arrangements of the pop stars’ music can be rudimentary.
Who’s going to say no to this? How about the musicians? They
need more power in their orchestras. Then they could say, no, sorry, we’re not
playing this crap. Or, on the other hand, after examining the situation
closely, they could say, “Well, we need to sell these tickets, to pay for our
classical concerts. So we’re going to swallow our pride and play the crap.” At
least it would be their decision.
As for classical musicians playing other
musical styles with pure understanding, well, sometimes yes and sometimes no.
Sometimes they don’t get the style in any way at all. Sometimes they mimic its
external sound, without getting the feel right. Sometimes they play the notes
with no sense of groove. And sometimes they do everything brilliantly.
class=GramE>Which figures — same thing can happen when they play various styles of classical music!
Of course pop stars can be difficult. So can classical
stars. Pavarotti, anyone? Jessye
Norman? Make your own list.
But how about times when classical musicians play with pop
stars, and have a wonderful experience? Some musicians from the Orchestra of St.
Luke’s once told me once about playing a concert with Elton John. They thought
he was a fabulous musician, and really enjoyed playing with him.
And in any case, I was really talking about something
else—classical musicians and pop musicians sharing the same program, but each
doing their own thing. There’s no reason the pop musicians can’t be smart and
edgy. The London Sinfonietta has done this, pairing
members of Radiohead, for instance, with performances of composers like
class=SpellE>Xenakis
But the key sentence in this comment, for me, is the last
one: “Is this really what we as classical musicians have been entrusted with?”
This is where my heart goes out to the person who wrote this. I understand the
impatience, not to say pain. Being a classical musician is supposed to
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>mean something. You’re supposed to
uphold high artistic standards. And now you’re asked to share your programs
with pop?
If the pop is crap, or the orchestra’s role in it is crap,
then of course there’s reason to despair. But why shouldn’t the pop be smart,
artistic pop?










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