Monday
May052008
Wolfgang Wagner Decides Not to Decide
Wolfgang Wagner will step down on August 31, leaving Bayreuth in the hands of BOTH his daughters, Eva and Katharina.
Saturday Seminar
Monday
May052008
Muti Is New CSO Director
Newspapers reported Riccardo Muti as new CSO music director in a five yr. contract. I make the assumption tht they’ll be plenty of coverage on internet sites and message boards, etc. Personally, I’m bored stiff by accounts of musical politics, and am largely ignorant of the topic.
As for Muti as conductor? Well, his tenures at Philly and La Scala seem like a mixed bag to me. I’m hesitant to predict what’ll happen here, because when Barenboim began in Chicago, I thought his conducting was deeply problematical, and he evolved into a magnificent conductor right before my ears. Rumors of Muti not getting along with players? We heard this about Barenboim, as well. The conductor should be boss. He should tell the players what to do, and they darn well better try to do it. That’s the way it works…otherwise, you have chaos or mediocrity. There has been a prima donna syndrome affecting certain CSO players over the years, in my view…one of the CSO players once complained to me that Barenboim fired a player for making a wrong note, and was indignant about it. I say, right on! Look at the price on your ticket…a conductor is responsible to music, firstly, and to the patrons, secondly, just as a CEO is responsible to the shareholders, firstly, and anyone else secondly. Anything else is sentimentality.
Believe me, I want the CSO to be the greatest orchestra in the world, I live in Chicago. But I think the CSO needs to work to that goal, not just rely on its well-deserved high reputation. Look at the music, not in a mirror.
Tuesday
Apr292008
It's A Holde-Quiz! Time To Earn Your Mortarboard!
Today’s object is to match the composer with the profession he was either originally trained for or even pursued concurrently with his composing activities. So, for instance, if you see “Maurice Ravel” in the composer column, you would take an indelible marker and draw a line to “professional wrestler under the name “The Basque Bulldog” in the “alternate professions” column on your computer screen. Get it? Or do I have to draw you a picture?
Monday
Apr282008
The National and the Confessional in Smetana and Dvorak
How should we feel about avowedly “national” music? Remember, if you value “patriotism”, for instance, as all the presidential candidates are required to avow every hour, on the hour, you must respect patriotism in nations other than your own. Otherwise it’s not patriotism per se you value, but some kind of hegemony, cultural or political.
Sunday
Apr272008
Carelessness? Classical "Orthodoxy"? Manufactured Coherence? -Some Thoughts on Dvorak's D Minor Quartet
Johannes Brahms may have accepted the dedication of Dvorak’s String Quartet in d minor, op. 34 (1877), but (in rather gentle manner for Brahms, when in a critical mood) wrote to Dvorak that when filling in the sharps and flats in his music he should take another look at the notes themselves, and noted (with implicit criticism) how quickly Dvorak composed. Is this criticism fair?
Monday
Apr212008
Sanskrit or English? Oddly, It Doesn't Much Matter-A Postscript to My Satyagraha Post
Updated on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 02:05 by
John Gibbons
The Met’s study guide for Satyagraha asked the reader to consider Glass’s decision to set the original Sanskrit, rather than an English translation. I think it is a sound decision, despite the fact that it would appear to be motivated by essentially the same factors which prompted Stravinsky to set Oedipus Rex in Latin. Latin, not Greek!
Saturday
Apr192008
Satyagraha-Pro and Contra
Updated on Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 06:22 by
John Gibbons
For the first time in my life I listened today, with undivided attention, to Philip Glass’s Satyagraha, in an admirable performance from the Met. I carefully read the quite helpful study materials available from the Met’s website. My point of view is likely to be less valuable than that of a Glass aficionado, since love is a prerequisite for understanding. Furthermore, my comments may either seem like a betrayal to those who agree with my customary aesthetic agendae, or insufficiently laudatory to those who already esteem this work. This post is likely to please no one, more’s the pity.
Saturday
Apr192008
Greatest Tone Poem? Don't Forget to Consider Smetana's "From Bohemia's Woods and Valleys"
Smetana’s Ma Vlast constitutes the greatest orchestral score between Berlioz and Brahms. I don’t raise an eyebrow if you would like to correct that to “between Beethoven and Mahler”. And the jewel in the crown is “From Bohemia’s Woods and Valleys”.
Monday
Apr142008
Smetana and Deafness
Smetana composed his greatest work, the orchestral cycle Ma Vlast while being stone deaf. I am frequently asked how a composer can compose when he is deaf. It isn’t alchemy, it’s training.
Monday
Apr072008
Two More Worthy Works of Smetana and Dvorak
I do not anticipate having time in class to discuss Smetana’s Trio in g minor or Dvorak’s late folk/fairy tale opera “The Devil and Kate” but I’d like to recommend these fine pieces to my class, and of course my general readership as well.
