What we’re entrusted with

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 to not so light pieces in his own style. It

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?