YouTube Symphony Orchestra Post-Concert Recap

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra made it's much-publicized debut on Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, and two of the country's foremost music critic were there to cover the event.

For the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini found the concert inspiring, but took exception with the "gimmicky" program put together by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

For the Washington Post, Anne Midgette was frustrated by the inconsistent orchestral playing:

Music, it turns out, isn't a language universal enough that people can converse in it easily right off the bat. The orchestra sounded ragged, uneven, of wildly different quality. It sounded, in fact, like a lot of different people talking at one another in many different languages--which is, of course, what it was.

Naturally, the entire concert is now viewable on YouTube. 

Program Announced for YouTube Symphony Orchestra

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra has finalized the program for its April 15 concert at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times's James Oestreich reports. Selections include movements from Brahms's Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, and Debussy's Nocturnes, as well as music by Gabrielli, Mason Bates, and Tan Dun. Pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Gil Shaham, and soprano Measha Brueggergosman are among the featured soloists. 

Here's Michael Tilson Thomas, the orchestra's conductor and artistic advisor, discussing the upcoming performance.

YouTube Symphony Winners Announced

The winning auditions videos for the YouTube Symphony have been posted on the orchestra's YouTube page. According to a BBC story, more than 3,000 entries from 200 countries were submitted, with 30 different nationalities represented in the ensemble. The orchestra performs on April 15 under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall.

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.