tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post1607592655518637358..comments2024-03-16T08:02:38.070-04:00Comments on wellsung.blogspot.com: On Slow CultureAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-19454077255953598782007-08-25T04:27:00.000-04:002007-08-25T04:27:00.000-04:00Late to the party as usual --to be honest, I got t...Late to the party as usual --to be honest, I got tired of clicking on Wellsungs for days at time without any new posts that I fell out the habit and WAIT! don't hit me! I'll be good! I promise!-- but I loved this post, it articulates what I feel about this subject perfectly. I especially love this:<BR/><BR/><I>So what is to be done? As far as changing attendance patterns, concert formats, programming, etc., I don't think there's terribly much we really can "do"</I><BR/><BR/>People are always talking about getting the music out of concert halls and taking it "where the people are" and I just shake my head at the naivety of it. It works for Matt Haimovitz doing Bach solo cello suites but I've yet to see one single proposal for how to have a full orchestra do <I>Tod und Verklarung</I> in a Lower East Side club. <BR/><BR/>As for "people should be able to talk/walk around/chat on their iPhones/drink loudly" kind of "hey, let's turn Symphony Hall in to the classical CBGB's", I think that's totally non-negotiable. People should be prepared to sit in a chair without a ton of fidgeting, be totally silent (I know from experience, sometimes you simply can't help coughing during the pppp parts of pieces) and NOT FREAKING TALK TO YOUR COMPANION. To do otherwise impinges on people who want to concentrate on the music.<BR/><BR/>Yes, there's work than could be done on the hoary old curtain raiser (i.e. the place to foist off "new music" because it only lasts 10 minutes) > concerto > intermission > big piece format and I certainly wish concerts were longer, but that's just tinkering really. <BR/><BR/>So often, it becomes a debate between box office receipts and cultural relevance. To be blunt, I care about the former, as that will allow institutions I patronize (the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Opera, and once in a while, the symphony or opera companies in San Diego, San Francisco or New York) to continue to present the niche stuff I like (120 piece orchestras, plink-plonk music) while paying the bills with another revival of the wonderful <I>La Boheme</I> and Beethoven's 5th. <BR/><BR/><I>Some people will call me a Philistine for not caring that much about the Second Vienese School right now</I><BR/><BR/>Wow, do people still really do that? I mean, I have more recordings of <I>Pierrot Lunaire</I> than anything by Haydn, Mozart and Brahms combined, but I thought that sort of thing had died out in the 90's for the most part.<BR/><BR/>Andrew, good analogy with baseball, I think that's very appropriate.Henry Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871451112170286316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-43227550186210677692007-08-18T17:37:00.000-04:002007-08-18T17:37:00.000-04:00I agree, not least because I've been making this p...I agree, not least because I've been making this point <A HREF="http://auv.blogspot.com/2005/02/blog-thing.html" REL="nofollow">for years</A>... :PJSUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-27941177977286802422007-08-18T12:52:00.000-04:002007-08-18T12:52:00.000-04:00Great postings, and those tomatoes are glorious.Great postings, and those tomatoes are glorious.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-20276826430783306782007-08-15T22:18:00.000-04:002007-08-15T22:18:00.000-04:00Marc took the "word" out of my mouth. Well, I was...Marc took the "word" out of my mouth. Well, I was actually going to write "Brava -- you go, girrll!"<BR/><BR/>If only all discourse on such an important subject to me could be on this level. (I mean his, not mine, of course.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-30623943093993422592007-08-15T16:38:00.000-04:002007-08-15T16:38:00.000-04:00Bravo.Bravo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-72036664824761371642007-08-15T14:39:00.000-04:002007-08-15T14:39:00.000-04:00Manprano:A good point and another place where I fi...Manprano:<BR/><BR/>A good point and another place where I find the fast/slow division helpful. The polarization problem in art (or music at least) actually looks a lot like the polarization dynamic in politics: sure, there are some actual hardliners out there who truly favor one side to the exclusion of the other, but the vast majority of people fall somewhere in between. <BR/><BR/>For instance, even though there are about a billion pop songs I would listen to before I would ever put on Rossini again (we would have to find something else for JDF to do, of course), Rossini gets lumped in their with the rest if I make the case for classical music.<BR/><BR/>But I'm not really advocating for Rossini at all, but rather for the kind of music Rossini represents, which I feel is at a general disadvantage due to its reliance on live experience, its greater length, and the fact that it was made in the 19th century.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-51616469217109195472007-08-15T14:10:00.000-04:002007-08-15T14:10:00.000-04:00I often think that maybe classical music hasn't go...<I>I often think that maybe classical music hasn't gotten smaller, the world's just gotten bigger. </I><BR/><BR/>I think there is something of a parallel in the world of sports. After the World Series each year, there is almost always a report that the games had lower ratings than previous years. That's because in the 1960s and 70s when there were only 3 available channels, it was easy to get a huge rating. Now with hundreds of channels and one for almost every niche interest, ratings are lower because there are more choices. But overall baseball is doing fine, and has record attendance.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03345755411267056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-61213514584981078672007-08-15T13:59:00.000-04:002007-08-15T13:59:00.000-04:00Well put, Alex.It's so exhausting to compare what ...Well put, Alex.<BR/><BR/>It's so exhausting to compare what seem like apples and oranges. I know that in this instance art and business were backroom f-buddies (for lack of a better term) only recently being brought into the shaming light of last call..<BR/><BR/>Market, shares, subjectivity, expression. (Tilts head).<BR/><BR/>Yet they have always managed to get along. And say what we might about "fast culture", it is very expressive and the response to that can only be subjective. <BR/><BR/>What we don't have any more today than we did in the "golden mid- 20th century" is a legitimate response to the "degeneration" of popular art. <BR/><BR/>"Pop" , by its very nature, is merely reflective . And just as the old music masters criticized the "femininity" of florid song versus the solid "masculinity" of monody at the dawn of our own beloved art, so is criticized now the tuneless violence of hip-hop. <BR/><BR/>What the entire human response to artistic experience comes down to is, in my humble opinion, "Yes" or "No thanks". Why attempt to raitionalize a knee-jerk reaction? <BR/><BR/>I do like Rossini and while I'm not rabid for it, will probably one day find myself liking more expressionism. Some people will call me a Philistine for not caring that much about the Second Vienese School right now, but it is just my subjective response. A willingness to spend time with scores and become more acquainted with the music would (of course!) enhance my appreciation of the form, but it doesn't change the fact that this is just not where my heart is. Right now.<BR/><BR/>And my willingness to expand and grow into that school and other unfamiliar areas doesn't make me a more valuable human being, but it does make conversation at cocktail parties easier. It also makes it much harder to fit in at the bowling alley.<BR/><BR/>Pick your poison and stick to your guns, I say. Even if, as Emerson might bring up, you decide tomorrow that this gun doesn't fit your lifestyle anymore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com