Greg Sandow on the future of classical music

[Cultural funding] may be losing some cachet. It's not in vogue with the tech billionaires on the West Coast, where Bill Gates famously funds such developing-world causes as greater access to fresh water and vaccinations. Instead of a night at the opera wearing Oscar de la Renta, it's a week in Malawi sporting khaki safari vests. And younger donors often seem more interested in pursuits like fighting poverty or improving educational opportunities for inner-city kids."Tech guys and hedge fund guys would rather develop electric cars and eradicate … [Read more...]

I did some posts not long ago about the belief in classical music superiority -- and how damaging it can be. Here's one last approach to that. (Well, last for now. Previous posts: Think of the prestigious Pulitzer prizes, and how the people who run them decided that the music prize should be open not just to classical music, but also to jazz. And, I guess, even to pop, because this year they gave an special award to Hank Williams (senior, of course), and in 2008 they gave one to Bob Dylan. Which -- with admiration -- I'd think opens the door to … [Read more...]

A curiosity -- or else a perennial annoyance -- about the liner notes for the Haydn boxed set that includes the surprising "Surprise" Symphony I blogged about. (First post, second post.)Well, really a case of brain-dead habits. The performance is unusual, to say the least. The orchestra making no sound when the loud surprise chord is supposed to come, and then, the next time through, shouting instead of playing the chord.And is there even a word about this in the liner notes? No. They're just the usual (and maybe in this case more than usually … [Read more...]

I'll be flying there on Thursday, arriving in Sydney Saturday, Australian time. On July 12 I'll be speaking at a classical music summit, organized by the Music Council.of Australia. Not a public event, I'm sorry to say, though privacy is also a good idea, to focus discussion, and encourage people to speak simply and honestly. Then I'll be in Melbourne, on July 15, for at least one meeting organized by the Music Board of the Australia Council. I'll be staying in Sydney at the Four Seasons, and in Melbourne at the Travelodge Southbank. I've been … [Read more...]

I posted a little while ago about a recording of Haydn's Surprise Symphony, as reviewed in the Washington Post. At the surprise -- the sudden loud chord in the second movement -- unexpected things happen. Now I've heard the recording -- part of a four-CD set of all Haydn's London symphonies, conducted by Marc Minkowski -- and it's even more fun than the review suggested. Here's what happens. The slow movement, as Haydn wrote it, begins with the simplest of melodies, played very quietly. (And on this recording, it really is quiet.) The melody is … [Read more...]

One more thought about bringing classical music to minority kids, as Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic did, when they taught "inner city youth" (their phrase) to dance to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. (See my previous posts on this, the first, second, and third.) It's easy to do.And yes, of course it can be done well or badly, that of course you have to learn some things before you can do it well, and that some programs -- like maybe that Berlin/Carnegie enterprise -- might be inspired.But at bottom, this isn't much of a challenge. If … [Read more...]

That's the name of an early music vocal group in Washington. You can read the meaning of the name on their website. There's a Tallis motet called "Suscipe quæso Domine," and from that you get...I also like the start of their group bio, the part that says their founder "had the typical American dream of wanting to sing Thomas Tallis' Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah." And they sing well. But of course what charms me here is how they make classical music part of regular culture, by naming themselves (I hardly have to say it) the way a band … [Read more...]

From a Washington Post review of Mark Minkowski's new recording of Haydn's London Symphonies, on the Naive recording:Want to be surprised by No. 94, the "Surprise"? Minkowski borrows a joke from the Hoffnung Music Festivals of 50 years ago: When it is time for the famous fortissimo, the orchestra delivers exactly -- nothing. And that really is a surprise, although not the one Haydn intended. So Minkowski plays the lead-in to the "surprise" again, and this time the orchestra shouts instead of playing. Only on the third go-round does the music … [Read more...]

As an important adjunct to my posts on this year's Bang on a Can marathon -- this post and this one -- I should add that what in the end makes the event so fabulous is the music. Without music that people want to hear, no crowds, no year after year success, no event. Of course, just because large crowds enjoy this music, that doesn't mean the music is necessarily good, that you'd like it, or that I'd like it. But I've always liked it very much. Not every piece; of course not; life doesn't work that way. But overall I'm happy to hear what shows … [Read more...]

I've liked the response so far to my idea that Carnegie Hall's top management -- if they're going to bring the benefits of classical music to minority communities (see my posts on this, here and here) -- might also bring some minority music into their own lives and work. By, for instance, learning salsa dancing. You can take my idea, if you like, as a tongue in cheek allegory, but here's why it might be more serious than some people might think. One of the issues involved here is white vs. non-white culture, and involved with that is the … [Read more...]

From the Bang on a Can marathon's program book (see yesterday's post about this year's marathon):What is it about the world we live in? It's full of strange and interesting people. And all the strange people of the world make strange and interesting sounds, some of them beautiful, some of them dark, some of them welcoming, some of them very rude. In this world we also have a lot of filters to separate the sounds into categories -- we say disco or classical or ez jazz or mainstream or experimental and we immediately know what kinds of sounds get … [Read more...]

Yesterday (in a post called "Missionary Work") I quoted passionate testimony about what's actually a pretty famous piece of classical music outreach -- a joint Berlin Philharmonic/Carnegie Hall project to bring Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to "inner city youth" (in the words of the passionate statement). This is a parade it's painful to rain on, because kids were dancing to the music, and classical music people who watched them were quite literally in tears. "This music is and must be for everyone," said Clive Gillinson, who runs Carnegie Hall. … [Read more...]

It's hard for me to go to the annual Bang on a Can marathon, as I did yesterday, and not get impatient with the classical music world. We talk and talk,.and talk and talk, about finding a new young audience, and there -- at the marathon, in the Winter Garden in downtown New York, a big and friendly space where palm trees grow (tall ones) -- was that very audience, more than a thousand people, sitting happily, listening to new music of many kinds. including, while I was there, one 40-minute piece (Fausto Romitelli's Professor Bad Trip) that … [Read more...]

Yet another post -- or the first part of one -- on why classical music people should respect pop music, and shouldn't think classical music is by nature superior to it. This starts with something I read on the League of American Orchestras' Orchestra R/Evolution blog. This was in a post about (among many other things) whether classical music is "millionaire's music," and -- since it shouldn't be -- how it might reach further into our communities. Here's the part that caught my attention:The Berlin Philharmonic came to New York and embarked … [Read more...]

Previously, in this series of posts: a piano teacher talks about how much independence and creativity kids in bands have. The subject of this series is attitudes toward pop music in the classical world, and how a disdainful attitude isn't just wrong, but hurts classical music. Here's the second installment, posted by Kate Nielsen in her blog God Help Me, I've Started Blogging. Earlier in the post (full disclosure here), she says nice things about me. Thanks for that, Kate, and thanks especially for emailing me to tell me about your post. What … [Read more...]