Baby Schoenberg

Normally, I don't get too excited about babies, but this image from Jeremy Eichler's column in this morning's glob, warmed my heart:

Here at last was my opportunity to do my part for the forward march of science. It was too late to eliminate all tonal music from Jonah's aural diet but we could at least do some concentrated listening. I cued up the final movement of Schoenberg's Second String Quartet, a landmark in the composer's journey toward atonality. As the soprano sang the famous line, "I feel the air of another planet," I scrutinized my son's face for a glint of recognition, and, to my shock, he actually began clapping his hands. Never mind that he claps his hands freely these days at seemingly arbitrary moments. In my view, it was a scientific slam dunk.

The accompanying list of musical recommendations will actually allow you to listen to music with your kid without wanting to throw the hi-fi out the window.

Serving the Public Good Indeed

Apparently, those of you in Wisconsin are being subjected to Rachel Portman's Little Prince opera tomorrow.

Once upon a time, they showed full performances of real operas and orchestral concerts routinely on PBS stations. Now they show this drivel, Andre Rieu, and the Vienna New Years Concert, and say, "Look at us, we broadcast culture!"

While last year's slate of broadcasts from the Met looked promising, in execution, they were scheduled at odd hours, and didn't live up to the press releases.

At least the radio portion of WGBH holds up its side of the bargain. I was astonished, on a recent visit to LA, to hear what KUSC deems radio-worthy. If I'd been there longer than 6 days, I have no doubt I would have heard every Mozart piano concerto, but nothing from outside "the box."

The 21st Century Philharmonic

Glenn Branca has an entry in his New York Times blog in which he programs a season of his imaginary "21st Century Philharmonic" [the link is subscription only]. A couple of representative programs:

REICH Triple Quartet
ADAMS Guide To Strange Places
ADAMS Slonimsky’s Earbox
FELDMAN Violin and Orchestra
CARTER Holiday Overture

STALLING Selected Music From Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig
ROTA Music for the Films of Fellini
MORRICONE Music for the Films of Sergio Leone
BARRY Music for the James Bond Movies
HERRMANN Selections from the Soundtracks

TAKEMITSU Twill by Twilight (In Memory of Morton Feldman)
IVES Central Park in the Dark
IVES Fugue in Four Keys on “The Shining Shore”
MESSIAEN La Ville d’en haut
BRANCA Symphony No. 11

He also has 9 programs consisting entirely of commissions, and all-Xenakis, all-Messaien, all-Glass, all-Reich, all-Scelsi programs, and complete performances of Ligeti's Le Grande Macabre, Strauss's Elektra, Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, and Weill's Dreigroschenoper. While there's a lot more to it, that gives a sense of what Branca's thinking of for this orchestra.

What struck me, though, wasn't the exercise, but the comments people left. Naturally, it's a very personal thing to plan a season for such an orchestra, and he left off pieces I'd view as musts (and he'd probably look at my selections with puzzlement). Most of the comments consist of people asking how could he leave out such-and-such composer (from Schoenberg and Stravinsky to Golijov and Tan Dun). Many agree with the sentiment of the project, wishing that such an orchestra existed.

Two of them, however, struck me as very odd.

Guess we “old fogies” have no rights whatsoever. The diletantes have spoken.Remember please that theirgeneration [sic] invented the comedy of rock and roll.

What do us “social security types” and “old fogies” know about music? Aside from insulting an older generation, there is the implication that the music by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, and the myriad of Baroque composers are no longer to be appreciated. Notwithstanding the professed views of these devotees “modern” music, I would be willing to wager that Beethoven’s music will be appreciated long after the purveyors of dissonance will pass from the scene.

I'm astonished that the inference from this exercise is that all the composers from "the box" would be impossible to hear in a world with a 21st Century Philharmonic. Beethoven isn't going anywhere; every year will continue to be a Mozart year. Why not make room for some newer music as well?

While I don't sympathize, I can understand why some people grumbled a little about the inclusion of the Wourinen commission on a BSO program last month. But to go so far as to say that no ensemble should be allowed to perform new music? That's a new level of closed-mindedness that is stunning.

The Glob's Silence on Hatto

At this point, the Joyce Hatto plagiarism scandal is becoming old news, but there's still one voice I'm waiting to hear on the subject.

Seemingly every article on the scandal used the first line of this Richard Dyer profile (calling Hatto "greatest living pianist that almost no one has ever heard of) as evidence of established critics having been taken in by the fraud.

So why has the Glob yet to cover the story? The story broke last week, yet, as of right now, she only shows up in a very positive light in the archives. This is particularly strange, given that the Times, which owns the Glob, had the story on Saturday. So how about a follow-up given all the new information that has come to light?

Update 2/23:

They finally weigh in, complete with the Richard Dyer quotation.

Theiving artists exposed!

The Boston Herald is sure looking out for Massachusetts taxpayers today, calling for the elimination of a $350 African dance program and other small ticket arts items.

With a state budget of almost $20 billion, it's good to know that the fat cat arts groups who are conning the state out of tens of thousands of dollars are finally going to get what's coming to them. I'm looking forward to seeing the savings rolled into tax cuts in the amount of fractions of cents per taxpayer!