Great job!

I’ve complained often enough about classical music publicity

and press releases. So it’s wonderful to see someone doing it right. Though as

it happens, this isn’t a press release, but instead a newspaper item about an

upcoming concert, printed today in the Times-Herald

Record, the really fine local paper for New York’s Mid-Hudson region:

Beethoven and the yaks

There may be no greater musical

treat this season than what’s happening at

w:st="on">Bard College

today.

The college’s Conservatory Chamber

Orchestra will present a free program in the Frank Gehry-designed

Sosnoff Theater at 3 p.m.

Michael Gilbert will conduct

Rossini’s "Overture to Cinderella," C.P.E. Bach’s "

class=SpellE>FluteConcerto in D Minor," featuring soloist Tara

Helen O’Connor, and — the piece de resistance — Beethoven’s glorious

"Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92."

Beethoven himself conducted the

premiere of his work on Dec. 8, 1813. It was a hit, but subsequent judgments

haven’t always (incredibly enough) been kind.

Richard Wagner, knocked out by its

lively rhythms, called it "the apotheosis of dance." But composer

Carl Maria von Weber, after hearing the first movement, said he thought

Beethoven was "ripe for the madhouse."

More recently, conductor Thomas

Beecham said "What can you do with it? It’s like a lot of yaks jumping

about," prompting the unanswered questions, "Do yaks ever really jump

around? And if they do, do they really sound like Beethoven?"

Find out for yourself. It’s

first-come, first-served. Call 758-7900 or visit www.bard.edu/conservancy

Isn’t this marvelous? Remember its purpose — it appeared in

a regional newspaper, and the point was to get readers interested in the

concert. Obviously a press release

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> aimed at classical music connoisseurs

would be different. But for general readers, most of whom wouldn’t normally plan

to attend a classical concert, this is fabulous. Makes you want to hear the

piece, and (this is the really great part) form your own opinion. You’re not

bludgeoned with empty superlatives, killing all thought as they tell you how

great Beethoven is. (There was one small problem. Can you spot it, especially after you read to the end of this post?)

Kudos to whatever Record

staffer wrote this. For comparison, here’s Bard’s own press release, not

offensive, in any way, but completely bland, with eye-glazing empty bios of the

conductor and soloist:

BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC PRESENTS THE CONSERVATORY CHAMBER

ORCHESTRA AT BARD’S FISHER CENTER

ON DECEMBER 3

style='mso-tab-count:1'>

Free Program Features Flute Soloist Tara Helen O’Connor with Michael

Gilbert Conducting the Orchestra

w:st="on">ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.

– The Bard College Conservatory of Music presents a concert featuring the

Conservatory Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, December 3. The program, free and

open to the public, begins at 3:00 p.m. in the acoustically stunning Frank

class=SpellE>Gehry-designed Sosnoff Theater of

the Fisher

w:st="on">Center.

Michael Gilbert conducts the

Conservatory Chamber Orchestra in performances of Gioacchino

Rossini’s Overture to La Cenerentola (Cinderella); C.

P. E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in D Minor, H. 425 (W22), featuring soloist and

Conservatory faculty member Tara Helen O’Connor; and Ludwig van Beethoven’s

Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92.

Conductor Michael Gilbert served

for many decades as a member of the violin section of the New York Philharmonic

Orchestra. He retired from that position to pursue a busy schedule of guest

appearances, especially with youth and conservatory orchestras, in the

w:st="on">United States

and abroad.

Tara Helen O’Connor received a

Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with Samuel Baron, Robert Dick,

Keith Underwood, and Julius Levine. In 2001, she was awarded the Avery Fisher

Career Grant. She is a founding member of the New Millennium Ensemble, which

won the Naumburg Award in 1995, and flute soloist of

the renowned Bach Aria Group. O’Connor was the first wind player chosen to

participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s “Chamber Music

Society Two” program for emerging artists. She continues to perform regularly

with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, Bargemusic,

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and Music from Angel

Fire. She has recorded for Arcadia,

CRI, Koch International, and Bridge Records.

Seating is on a first-come,

first-served basis. For further information, call the box office at

845-758-7900 or visit www.bard.edu/conservatory.