In his weblog here at artsjournal.com Greg Sandow recently wrote a stunning blind item, Sandow wrote that he is regularly asked: <\/P> They should, Sandow believes. But he points out, correctly, that to write an expos\u00e9 you need He goes on to point out how he<\/EM> would conduct a probe if he could, but Admittedly, much of the controversy centered on the high salary to be paid him. But it’s In fact, some of them did. One major American music critic I know of reported at the time “The German press was far more frank than the American press, but I think it was still Another thing about Sandow’s blind item is puzzling: Why didn’t he mention a well-known The most devastating rumor — it was “particularly persistent,” according to the book — was So we’re left with the same dilemma now as ever. Musicians are terribly vicious gossips, and In his weblog here at artsjournal.com Greg Sandow recently wrote a stunning blind item, “Dangerous Ground,” about an American classical-music megastar’s rumored pedophilia. Among other things, he argued that classical musicians, their “artistic piety” and “pretense of loftiness” notwithstanding, should be judged by the same moral standards as the rest of us and, by implication, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-8w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nclassical-music megastar’s rumored pedophilia. Among other things, he argued that classical
\nmusicians, their “artistic piety” and “pretense of loftiness” notwithstanding, should be judged by
\nthe same moral standards as the rest of us and, by implication, should not be treated differently
\nfrom pop stars. In light of the Michael Jackson trial, the item is especially timely.<\/P>
\n
\nWhy … do critics so often and so strongly praise a musician widely said to be
\na pedophile? Though “widely said,” in this context, isn’t putting the case strongly enough. This
\nmusician is an international celebrity, one of the most famous names in the business. He’s wildly
\npopular in New York and elsewhere, and has worked for years with one of the most powerful
\ninstitutions in classical music. … Shouldn’t they deplore him and expose him?<\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
\nevidence not hearsay, however widespread, such as a victim willing to speak on the record, or
\neye-witness testimony, or police documents and so on. He also asserts that he and other music
\nwriters don’t have the resources of investigative reporters or the time it would take to delve
\ndeeply enough to find the evidence, if any.<\/P>
\n
\ninexplicably fails to mention that when the musician in question was hired by a well-known
\nEuropean orchestra, the appointment became a controversial issue in the German press, more so
\nthan in the American press, and that in an obvious response to the rumors, the Green Party (in the
\ncity where the appointment was made) demanded that the star’s moral conduct be vetted by the
\nNew York Police Department. The debate was also mentioned in major German music
\npublications. <\/P>
\n
\ncertainly newsworthy when an American megastar takes a position with a European orchestra and
\nis confronted with such serious concerns as he faced about possible criminal behavior. American
\nmusic journalists, including Sandow, could easily have written about this.<\/P>
\n
\nthat the musician had to present “a certificate of ‘good behavior,’ i.e., proof that he has not been
\nconvicted of a criminal offense or that any such charges may be pending.” The critic did not get
\nmore specific about why this demand had been made — he never mentioned the rumored
\npedophilia. On the contrary, he sympathized with the musician, calling the demand “outrageous,”
\nand wondered why he agreed to take the job despite such an insult.<\/P>
\n
\nsomewhat hazy,” the critic told me Monday. “It’s always been a taboo subject, an almost
\nimpossible subject to write about,” he said of the pedophile rumors. “Many have tried. Also,
\nnobody cares. Everybody knows who Michael Jackson is. Nobody in the wide world outside of
\nclassical music knows who [this person] is. He’s completely closeted and will not even admit he’s
\ngay.”<\/P>
\n
\nbook recently out in paperback, which reports that investigative reporters from The New York
\nTimes, Newsday, New York magazine and The New Yorker “probed police reports” and came up
\nwith nothing? The book recounts the rumors, terming them “scurrilous gossip.” And while the
\nbook’s tone is guarded, it’s also fairly explicit. For instance, it names the person (though I won’t):
\n“The gist of the stories was that [the star in question] was guilty of criminal behavior” and that the
\nboard of directors of the institution for which he worked “had condoned [it] by paying off the
\naggrieved parties.” One tale “had [the star] soliciting a child in Pittsburgh,” but the book points
\nout he was, at the time, in Boston. Another tale “with the same theme had the New York
\nsubway as its location.” Here again the author doubts the story.<\/P>
\n
\nthat the musician “had had a relationship with a boy whose parents had gone to the [institution’s]
\nboard, threatening to expose the situation. Supposedly the board had authorized a major payoff to
\nthe family.” This was “adamantly and consistently denied,” the book says. It adds a footnote that
\nin the author’s own interviews with board members, they “all denied that the payoff ever
\nhappened.” This included one board member who had resigned over his disagreement with the
\nstar’s professional judgments, not over his rumored sexual behavior. Further, the author relates,
\ninvestigative reporters checked into the institution’s “financial statements” and did not find
\nevidence of any illicit payment. And the musician, moreover, “denied the accusation as a total
\nfabrication” in an interview with the Times.<\/P>
\n
\nit’s very possible the stories are untrue. What a ridiculous thing that would be, especially
\nconsidering that many still credit them almost without question (including me). Everyone repeats
\nthese stories, but no one knows who the source ever was. It’s important to consider the issue that
\nsuch widespread rumors continue to raise, but it’s also important to speak publicly only with
\nconcrete knowledge.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"