Merry Christmas!

Luciano Pavarotti and his father, Fernando, singing Cesar Franck's "Panis Angelicus." Modena Cathedral, 1978. Ninety seconds of heaven.

New York Philharmonic vs. Gilbert Kaplan: An Update

Several new developments in the throwdown between members of the New York Philharmonic and the supporters of conductor Gilbert Kaplan. Steve Smith, the critic who reviewed the original concert for the Times, published a lengthy mea culpa on his blog in which he admits to cutting a short phrase from his piece that described Kaplan as the co-editor of the critical edition of Mahler's Second, and therefore slightly undercutting Kaplan's authority on the piece.

Norman Lebrecht, who freely professes his admiration and friendship with Kaplan, takes the Philharmonic out behind the woodshed for another whipping:

The New York Philharmonic has come out of this seedy episode looking like a rabble without a cause. When its music director invites a man to conduct a concert for the benefit of the orchestra's pension fund, it is worse than just bad manners for the players to insult him to their heart's content. It is a symptom of exceedingly bad management, or an organisation that has run out of control. Somebody needs to get a grip, to state a position, to invoke a principle of collective responsibility.

It is no surprise that Riccardo Muti turned down the offer to become music director in favour of Chicago, that Simon Rattle won't go near the band with a bargepole and that the only person with enough insurance to succeed Lorin Maazel is the son of two members of the orchestra who think they can keep the hyenas from his door. What a shambles.

Trumpet Bloopers Spread Holiday Cheer

In case you need to add some holiday cheer to your life--and the Messiah on crack wasn't enough--here's a site devoted to trumpet bloopers. I'm not talking about the random cracked note or intonation issue. I'm talking about total flameouts--outrageous and spectacular disasters that were miraculously captured on tape. All are worth a listen, but there are a few that absolutely can't be missed:

The opening of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto. Ridiculous on so many levels. Hasn't quite mastered the Classical style.  

The end of the cadenza in the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. This poor guy actually sounded pretty decent for a while, but runs out of steam at a very inopportune moment.

A canon by Orlando Gibbons. As the original site observes, you can't fake a canon. One of these guys falls off the tracks and predictably can't recover. About three-quarters of the way through, there's a stunning series of parallel fourths that must have turned Bach over in his grave. Probably would have been better to just throw in the towel.  

New York Philharmonic Musicians Not Impressed by Gilbert Kaplan

A few weeks ago, on December 8, the New York Philharmonic performed under the baton of Gilbert Kaplan for the first time. Given the reaction from some of the orchestra's musicians, it will probably be the last time as well.

An article by Dan Wakin in yesterday's New York Times reports that a number of the Philharmonic's players were extremely unhappy with the conducting of Kaplan, an amateur with only one piece in his repertoire: Mahler's Second Symphony (Resurrection). They ran crying to Zarin Mehta, the orchestra's president, and one player, trombonist David Finlayson, published a stinging indictment on his personal blog in which he calls Kaplan a "woefully sad farce."

The episode has raised some eyebrows among prominent classical music bloggers. The always opinionated Norman Lebrecht takes Finlayson and the Times to task for, among other things, airing dirty laundry that should have remained behind closed doors. Opera Chic agrees, questioning the professionalism such behavior. Both also wonder, as I do, why the Times devoted so much real estate to musicians complaining about their conductor. That's not news. It would be news if musicians didn't complain about their conductors. 

The real question here is why the Philharmonic doesn't have more control over it's players. I don't think they want to make a habit out of their musicians spouting off every time a new conductor rolls into Avery Fisher, especially one who doesn't measure up to their lofty standards, whatever they may be. In almost any other profession, an employee publicly excoriating his boss in such a manner would surely lead to dismissal. I know the relationship between orchestra and conductor is complex--only a cursory look back at the 20th century will prove that--and must include a great amount of collegial and collaborative spirit. But at the end of the day, orchestra musicians are employed to realize the artistic goals of the conductor. 

When players engage in this sort of behavior, though, I'm not sure anyone comes out for the better--the players look ill-tempered and difficult, waiting for a conductor to foul up so they can scold him on the Internet; the administration looks foolish for hiring someone the musicians don't approve of; and the conductor looks incompetent, whether he actually is or not. Kaplan doesn't have a career's backlog of performances, score study, and training, but it's not a reach to say that he knows Mahler 2 about as well as anyone in the world. I'm not sure if Finlayson and others are right. Maybe the guy is a hack, but he was good enough for the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic--both of which Gramophone magazine recently rated as superior orchestras to the NY Phil--so I'm betting he was good enough for the New York Philharmonic as well.

(For the record, I've never heard either of Kaplan's recordings or seen him in person. But he has received a number of positive reviews, including the Times review of this very concert.)

Messiah Organist on Crack

There are some instruments and passages where you can mess up and have it go almost entirely unnoticed. Unfortunately for one poor fellow, the organ part at the end of the Hallelujah Chorus is not one of them. Probably one of the funniest things I've ever heard.....Messiah on Crack

Wall Street Journal: Holiday Music Can Be Annoying (Duh!)

A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article about holiday music. In it, Daniel J. Levitin touches on the origins of music as a "shared cultural experience"--our ancestors used music as a ritual to add special meaning to particular days--and the subconscious effect it can have on consumers, causing them to more liberally open their wallets. The piece also addresses a much more pressing issue: Why is holiday music so damn annoying?

When we like a piece of music, it has to balance predictability with surprise, familiarity with novelty. Our brains become bored if we know exactly what is coming next, and frustrated if we have no idea where the song is taking us. Songs that are immediately appealing are not typically those that contain the most surprises. We like them at first and then grow tired of them. . . 

Holiday music is irritating because the sort of music that appeals to people of disparate backgrounds and ages is going to tend to be harmonically unsurprising. Unwanted sound in general (think of the incessant drip-drip-drip in the night when you're trying to get to sleep) or unwanted music in particular is not waterboarding, but it is a kind of torture.

Sounds simple and reasonable, but I have my own theory. Most of the ubiquitous holiday music we hear today--on the radio and on endless loops in malls, offices, etc.--is not the traditional carols that we sing with family. Rather, it's often an adulterated version by some pop singer who desperately needs to sell a few records. The purity of the original carol is mangled by corny vocals, laughable modulations, and the general stench of commercialization, and the sacred, historical connection we feel is severed by producers who dump in a few synths, guitars, and backup singers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not walking around every day singing "Jingle Bells," but there are a few simple carols that I find genuinely moving--"Silent Night" and "O Holy Night" come to mind. Of course, when Amy Grant or Faith Hill takes a stab at them, a little part of me dies inside.

Bah, humbug!

YouTube Symphony Orchestra: One Million Hits and Counting

It seems that the YouTube Symphony Orchestra has provoked some interest in the online community. The introductory video, uploaded only one month ago, recently topped one million viewers, and a video of the Tan Dun piece (below) is currently just short of 400,000.

Even some of the masterclasses and personal conducting videos are hovering around 20,000 hits. I'm not sure how much wisdom you can impart with a 10-minute clip, but some help is better than none at all. As an example, here's the first violin masterclass.

There are also a few bonus videos, including words from Lang Lang and Valery Gergiev, and a clip from the YouTube launch party of mezzo-soprano Susan Graham singing Mahler's aching "Liebst du um Schönheit" from his Rückertlieder song cycle. She's accompanied at the piano by MTT himself.

So far so good for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Stay tuned for further updates.

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Getting to Carnegie Hall used to take practice, practice, practice. Now, all it takes is a camcorder and access to the Internet.

Google made a splash in the classical music world when it recently announced the creation of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. (The story was picked up by the New York Times and the Washington Post, among others.) Essentially, the initiative has two main components. First, YouTubers can download the sheet music to a four-minute orchestral piece written for the occasion by Tan Dun and record themselves performing it on their instrument. The best submissions will be mixed together, creating--in theory--a complete performance of the entire score. Second, users can record "auditions," which will be uploaded to YouTube and judged by professional musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, and other major orchestras. The best performers will be flown to New York City--on Google's dime--to perform Tan's piece at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. 

So maybe it will still take a little musical talent to get to Carnegie Hall.

More information on the YTSO can be found on this newly launched Web site. It also includes videos from Tan, pianist Lang Lang, and two dozen instrumental masterclasses with members of the London Symphony.

The program sounds intriguing, at the very least, though I'm not sure if it will make classical music any cooler with the YouTube Generation. But it certainly can't hurt. Anything that can help orchestras get even a handful of young people interested in their performances is overwhelmingly positive. 

As a committed music nerd, however, I love YouTube. It's an invaluable archive for historic performances and legendary performers. Carlos Kleiber conducting Strauss? No problem. Not that Strauss, the waltzing Strauss. That's here and here. How about Sir Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic performing their epic Ring cycle? Here are some outtakes and rare looks at the recording process. There's also a wealth of rehearsal footage from nearly all the major conductors of the last century. The four-part series with Hebert von Karajan and the Vienna Symphony working on the first movement of Schumann's Fourth Symphony is a master class on efficient rehearsal technique--a conductor who knows exactly what he wants and exactly how to get it.

I, like many others, have gotten lost on YouTube for hours, and the YouTube Symphony will surely be just one more way to lose track of time.