[A thoughtful piece by a local critic I'm usually not too fond of. The
Plaza Art Fair mentioned in the piece is a Kansas City art fair that caters
to Hallmark-type art. - S. Morrison]
Music and dance notes:
Classical at the crossroads
By PAUL HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star
Published: Sunday, Dec 23, 2001
The corporatization of classical music has forced a schism between
those who think music should be accessible to everyone and those who
believe it's OK to be challenging.
Populism is a cherished tradition in American life, but when art is
involved we have to tread gingerly; if the classical music industry
isn't careful, our search for the next Beethoven might yield someone
whose music sounds like James Horner's movie scores.
Does concert music have to give up complexity to be accessible and,
thus, fundable?
It's an old question. Palestrina, the Renaissance church composer,
was part of a movement to "simplify" music that had become too dense
and complicated for the average Roman Catholic -- or more precisely
stated, for the Vatican powers-that-be who functioned at that time
as a sort of a corporate funding source.
Political and social strife, too, have a way of making art complicated
for a time -- after which an "era of good feelings" smoothes things
out again. In the wake of Sept. 11, we might be on the verge of a
new period of angst in art, and it's just what we need right now.
New music in the last 20 years has grown flabby. When the 1980s
brought its "greed is good" prosperity, classical music that had
received large governmental subsidies pre-Reagan suddenly became
"feel good" music. Why? Some believe it was because composers now
had to pander to wealthy patrons and foundations, neither of whom
were especially discerning.
So we got the "New Romanticism," which brought us a whole slew of
works written on the notion that "it's OK to be schmaltzy again."
This trend has gone way too far and has got to stop. History has
shown us that if a piece of music is too "easy on the ear" the first
time through -- think of Dittersdorf, Raff and other forgotten
crowd-pleasers -- chances are it has limited lasting value. The
pieces from previous centuries that we still want to hear are the
ones by Beethoven and Stravinsky that contemporary audiences struggled
with -- and against.
The classical performance world needs a bit of muscle and sinew.
Predictable renderings of Tchaikovsky concertos will not catapult
this art form into the 21st century.
A classical performance, if it just wafts over you like a Celine
Dion song, is probably not challenging you at the level that serious
music should. When Arcadi Volodos played Schubert's big G-major
Piano Sonata two years ago on the Harriman series, it was a titanic
struggle. I hated it, but I'll never forget the impression it left
-- of Schubert's music being reinterpreted for a hopelessly decadent
modern era. Now that's meaning.
Call this yearning for "difficulty" a form of snobbism if you will
-- I call it optimism. We who believe in art's ability to cut against
the grain will continue to hold out the hope that such art can and
should still exist. We are the ultimate optimists.
Recently I attended the world premiere of a new work by Michael
Daugherty, the composer best known for injecting pop-music influences
into his music. He wrote a highly inventive symphony based on the
Superman characters, for example, and he also has to his credit a
host of pieces on Elvis, Jackie O. and the like.
But this piece, "Philadelphia Stories," was so shallow and insignificant
that it made me aware that the Era of Accessibility was drawing to
a close. Not only did this three-movement tone poem sound like
something out of Hollywood, it didn't even strike me as being a very
good movie score.
Sure it was accessible. But when the performance was over, some
2,000 audience members -- whose reaction to the piece can only
be described as politely detached -- walked out the door onto
Philadelphia's busy streets and promptly forgot all about it.
The Philadelphia Orchestra had paid some $30,000 for this trifle --
which was beautifully played by this magnificent orchestra. But the
piece lacked anything that challenged us. We don't go to hear a
major orchestra to be entertained, as if it were some sort of sandlot
softball game. We pay 45 bucks a ticket to hear something that
seethes and simmers, that grabs us by the collar and pulls us out
of our seats. Maybe even makes us angry.
If such music is being composed today, it's keeping a low profile.
For the most part, American music has given in to the Lowell Liebermanns
and the Aaron Kernises, the Plaza Art Fair composers of the classical
world.
So much for the era of the Berios and the Boulezes, half-deranged
artists who made enemies so ferocious they were willing to telephone
in bomb threats to defend them. (This actually happened to a Swiss
music critic who had written disparagingly of a work by Boulez; the
composer was, however, cleared of involvement.)
Am I suggesting that music should inspire violence? Well, no. But
I am suggesting that music should stir you up enough that you might
want to blow something up -- or at least throw a rotten tomato or
two.
And 20 years from now, who knows? You might just find that you like
the piece after all.
Scott Morrison,
Prairie Village, KS
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