{"id":241,"date":"2009-04-17T19:43:28","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T19:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=241"},"modified":"2009-04-17T19:43:28","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T19:43:28","slug":"just_when_you_think_youve_hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/04\/just_when_you_think_youve_hear\/","title":{"rendered":"Just when you think you’ve heard it all"},"content":{"rendered":"

…the New York Post<\/i><\/a> reminds you you haven’t. <\/p>\n

Brought to my attention by the Musical America <\/i>weekly newsletter<\/a>, composer Nathan Currier ((who?)) is suing the Brooklyn Philharmonic because they cut his piece and Allan Kozinn (consequently?) gave it a terrible review in the New York Times<\/i>. This, apparently, had a “bad effect” on Currier “both psychologically and in a very direct, nuts-and-bolts way.” It had a bad effect on Kozinn as well, who wondered during the performance if he had died and gone to hell, and reported feeling “liberated” when the piece was stopped early. <\/p>\n

\n

Currier was sitting in his seat during the second of two
\nintermissions in the two-hour-long piece when orchestra CEO Catherine
\nCahill summoned him to an emergency meeting. <\/p>\n

She hurriedly explained to him that by union rule, both
\nintermissions had to count as 20 minutes — no matter how long they
\nactually were — and that as a result the massive piece, for orchestra,
\nchorus and vocal soloists, was in danger of incurring overtime. <\/p>\n

The surprise warning came after orchestra officials had repeatedly
\nreassured the composer that they had the labor situation under control,
\naccording to the suit. <\/p>\n

A flabbergasted Currier quickly took out his musical scalpel and
\nreluctantly sliced up the piece so that at least it would still end
\nwith, well, the end. <\/p>\n

But worse was in store. At about 10:45, orchestra management apparently decided upon a simpler solution. <\/p>\n

“Suddenly a hand stuck out from the left side, from offstage, and
\nthe conductor just stopped and walked offstage,” Currier said. “It was
\ncompletely bizarre because we had agreed on a different solution.” <\/p>\n

He said he still doesn’t know why the cuts he’d made weren’t used. <\/p>\n

The piece was savaged by the Times — a worst-case scenario for a classical composer in New York. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First, this nonsense went down 5 long years ago; why a lawsuit now? Second, being “savaged” by the Times <\/i>is the “WORST-CASE SCENARIO” for a “classical composer in New York”, New York Post<\/i>?? Really? Really? <\/i>I’m not sure that’s true. Actually, I’m sure that’s not true. I might say the “worst-case scenario” for a classical composer in New York is getting hit by a cab or whatever. <\/p>\n

Artists – my artists, other artists – get bad reviews, even from ((rapid Silence of the Lambs <\/i>sucking in of air)) The New York Times<\/i>, and life always manages to trot on for everyone. <\/p>\n

They can call me in as a Witness for the Publicity: one bad review cannot end an artist’s career. Does anyone disagree, other than Nathan Currier? Comments? <\/a><\/p>\n

Currier intends to drop the suit if the Brooklyn Phil will just play the  “dreadful” – Allan Kozinn’s word, not his – piece in its entirety.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…the New York Post reminds you you haven’t. Brought to my attention by the Musical America weekly newsletter, composer Nathan Currier ((who?)) is suing the Brooklyn Philharmonic because they cut his piece and Allan Kozinn (consequently?) gave it a terrible review in the New York Times. This, apparently, had a “bad effect” on Currier “both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}