Lebrecht Blames Orchestras for Disappearing Music Critics

In recent months the steady decline in classical music coverage has typically been blamed on the misguided newspaper editors and executives who just don't recognize the value of the arts in our modern Internet society. Not surprisingly, Norman Lebrecht has a radically different opinion, savaging the current state of American symphony orchestras and their culpability on this issue:

As editor, try explaining to your chief executive why you are holding a full staff job to report on an art that never makes news, an art that plays the same old music, year after year, with the same parade of expressionless faces on the platform. An art whose audience is greying and unattractive to advertisers. An art whose music director is an absentee European and whose few glamor soloists will only agree to talk about their new record or hair makeover.

. . .

It's not the newspapers that are to blame but the orchestras that over two decades failed to make enough news of any wider relevance to enable editors, many with the best intentions, to retain their music critics. Symphonic stasis is not the sole reason that music criticism is being extinguished across America, but if anyone is point fingers the first cause must surely be the stultifying complacency of American orchestras in recent years.

Lebrecht's diatribe seems to be in response to a recent blog post from Henry Fogel, former head of the League of American Orchestras, in which he berates newspaper leaders for failing in their civic responsibility to cover the arts. Indeed, Lebrecht calls out Fogel (though without explicitly naming him) and completely rejects his views: "As usual, the ASOL got it wrong," Lebrecht writes.

Unfortunately, there's probably a lot of truth in what Lebrecht says. Classical music coverage is a two-way street. No institution should simple expect unmerited media attention. Would the New York Times send a reporter to the court house if the hall were empty? Probably not. That's not to suggest that I believe orchestra concerts are comparable to deserted buildings. On the contrary, I think there's practically limitless value in classical music. But I'm very biased, and in today's media climate, editors are undeniably faced with difficult choices.

I am, however, certain of one thing: The media coverage of Gustavo Dudamel's first concert as director of the LA Philharmonic will surely be intense. While it will be gratifying to see classical music elevated to a position of greater social relevance, in a strange way, it could simultaneously validate Lebrecht's position.