As with any orchestra embroiled in a long work stoppage, the St. Louis Symphony is facing the spectre of eventually returning to work with severely depleted ranks, as musicians begin to audition for other jobs. “The basic issue is one of money: The players took a major cut in salary during the orchestra’s financial crisis and now want to get closer to the pay scales of their peers. But just as significant is the issue of quality: the sense of ensemble and esprit that has set the Symphony apart in the excellence of their music-making, making them the artistic equals of better-paid orchestras in larger cities.”
Tag: 02.20.05
Variations On A Theme By Houston
Orchestral work stoppages tend to run on similar themes, and the St. Louis clash is no exception, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Houston Symphony’s 4-week strike of two years ago. Both conflicts revolved around a clash of business values and artistic quality, and focused on “ongoing deficit spending, the question of a relatively low endowment fund – although St. Louis’ was a lot worse than Houston’s – and the question of summer work.” In the end, Houston settled its strike, but lost 14 of its best musicians to more stable orchestras.
The Classical Music Blogs
If space for writing about classical music in newspapers is shrinking, it’s growing online. “Suddenly, a whole new world of writing about classical music has cropped up. Not everyone agrees, but some plotters of this revolution predict the blog- osphere will create an entry point for new listeners, because blog writing often is informal, energetic, underground-ish — without the deadening preachiness that infects much classical music writing, driving people away. Seasoned journalists and critics blog, but so do musicologists, composers, performers, arts administrators, amateur writers and everyday concertgoers.”
But Aren’t Affairs Merely Retrograde Inversions of Marriage?
One doesn’t often think of serialist music as overtly sexual – overly cerebral is more like it. But a new scholarly take on Alban Berg’s landmark Chamber Concerto suggests that it is explicitly based on the various infidelities of Mathilde Schoenberg, wife of Berg’s fellow serialist Arnold Schoenberg.
Outsourcing The Beethoven
So the Cleveland Orchestra will be the new Miami Performing Arts Center’s resident orchestra? Outsourcing comes to the orchestra world. “Much as American companies enlist overseas workers at considerably cheaper wages, so too the lack of a full-time professional symphony orchestra in South Florida has given way to paying outside ensembles such as the Cleveland Orchestra to provide Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky to the region’s seasonal audience members. On the surface, it seems like a win-win situation…”
Looking For Quality In A Quantitative World
This year’s Academy Awards emcee, Chris Rock, recently caused a minor flap when he declared the idea of giving out prizes for artistic achievements to be “stupid” and antithetical to the very idea of art. It’s awfully hard to deny the logic of Rock’s position. “The idea of slapping a ‘best’ label on artistic endeavor is understandable; we live in a society that insists on quantification. And everyone likes to be a winner. But it’s also like trying to hold smoke in your hands… it’s easy to report the box score — everyone understands winning and losing. It’s more difficult, however, to delve into the game to find out why something succeeded or failed.”
Treading Water In Kentucky
The Louisville Orchestra, plagued in recent years by budget deficits and labor strife, has announced the formation of a special fund designed to allow the organization to balance its budget for the current season. The orchestra has been keeping its head above water with a special “bridge fund” from the city of Louisville and several private contributors, but that money runs out later this year. In addition to generating new revenue, the orchestra is attempting to dispel what it calls several myths in the community about its business practices and long-term sustainability.