taruskin writes - bloggers respond October 31, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, 2commentsRichard Taruskin, quite possibly the most formidable writer on music living today (or at least the most likely to open a can of whup-ass) wrote a 12,000 word “review” in the New Republic of three books on the current state of classical music. I was given a copy of the article Monday, and I’m in between readings (reason #245 why I will never be a journalist) and might offer my own paltry comments at a later date.
The two main points Taruskin seems to make are (1) proponents of classical music often do it a grave disservice by reinforcing the ivory tower and elitist mystique that has long surrounded it (starting with the late Germanic composers/philosophers such as Hegel and Wagner), and (2) that ignoring the wants of our wider audiences ensure the failure of the genre - adaptation and accommodation are the keys. I could be egotistical and point out that I’ve written similar things, but in much more simplistic, scattered and less cogent ways…
However, reading the early responses on other music blogs has produced some interesting (and entertaining) reading. I’ll provide you some links and choice excerpts, but before I do, I’d like to point out something interesting. Many of the bloggers who write in response to the article make a point about how thuggish Taruskin is - but then go on to savage the journalist/musician Blair Tindall in much the same manner (though without any trace of why they do this) over Taruskin’s favorable comment about her take on the state of classical music in America:
Others have argued the case for the prosecution. Their books include Who Killed Classical Music? Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics by Norman Lebrecht, a sloppy but entertaining British muckraker; Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall by Joseph Horowitz, the latest version of a book that Horowitz has written several times by now, beginning with Understanding Toscanini in 1987; and Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by Blair Tindall, a journalist and recovering oboist, which despite a pandering title actually contains the smartest and most constructive take on the situation.
I’ve been of two minds about Tindall’s book - simply because it’s of two minds itself. It is one part sexual tell-all, and one part investigative journalism about the state of classical music in America and how it came to be this way. I certainly have read no clearer explanation of how we got to where we are than hers. The fact that all of the sneering faces are attached to male bodies gives me pause - I wonder if she’d be getting this sort of reception if she were Blair Tindall, male journalist/musician? Personally, I don’t think she chose how her book would be marketed (though she certainly gave it the attention-grabbing title), and maybe it’s more of a reflection on how little distance we’ve come from our Puritanical forbears in how her book was and continues to be treated. Anyway, enough of that, on to the responses to Taruskin’s piece:
Marc Geelhoed writes on his blog Deceptively Simple:
My problem with Taruskin, who, yes, has forgotten more than I’ll ever know, at least about the gamba, is the weakness of those he bullies. He’s like the schoolyard tough with a penchant for the obvious who finds the skinny kid on the playground, then says, “You know what your problem is? You’re too skinny!” before beating him senseless.
and
The only way to persuade people to listen to classical music is to have them listen to classical music. It sounds tautological, but the music is the best argument for itself. No book about why people should care can fully communicate that, just as a book about visual art will fail without illustrations. Taruskin’s vast reading leads him to think that others are as willing to read up on the music as he is. (He does agree with the point that writing about music only paraphrases the experience of listening to it, though.) Classical music doesn’t need saving from its devotees, it just needs curious people, like Taruskin was once, who will take a chance on something they haven’t heard before, and who then discover something they cannot live without.
Matthew Guerrini writes on his blog Soho the Dog:
This review encapsulates everything that drives me nuts about Taruskin’s writing: at first I’m amused by by the insult comedy, then the rhythm starts to bog down, and finally I’m just exhausted—and, temporarily, reflexively sympathetic to whatever poor idea he continues to bludgeon out of apparent inertia. Taking up a trio of books that could be easily—and deservedly—dispatched on the back of a couple of napkins, Taruskin instead unleashes 12,000 words (12,000 words—let us never speak of this man as “pithy” again), so focused on his invective and his provocations that he ties his shoelaces together, stumbling over his own arguments, lurching past more interesting, subtler points. Even more frustrating, those points are eminently worth making—but they’re drowned out by the irresistable lure of the lapidary put-down.
and
… I don’t particularly care for the eat-your-vegetables rationalization of classical music in these books, either. Here’s why: on the header of his blog, the film scholar Jim Emerson quotes the philosopher Daniel Dennett: “There’s nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.” In my book, scattershot bullying counts as a bad argument; by the end of the article, I had to consciously remind myself that I actually agreed with a lot of his positions. Taruskin closes by quoting Tony Soprano—see, kids? Your professor is down with pop culture, too. (In the meantime, the kids have moved on to “The Office” and Arcade Fire songs.) “Do not expect nuance from a mob boss,” he warns. I won’t, Don Taruskin.
Greg Sandow writes:
There’s been a small explosion over Richard Taruskin’s long piece in the New Republic, about, yes, the future of classical music. Or, more precisely, about three books that try to make classical music’s case. Taruskin, as anyone who’s read him might expect, goes after these books with savage virtuosity, or maybe it’s virtuoso savagery. I loved every word, and agreed. This is a very long piece, but ought to be required reading.
and
If we need more people to hear classical music, we need to have classical performances that people want to go to — which doesn’t mean dumbing down, but means (my points here, not necessarily Taruskin’s) tearing down the walls of blankness and formality, playing with edge-of-the-seat excitement (or at least some audible and visible sign of interest), and greeting the audience as active and intelligent co-participants.
A.C. Douglas writes in his blog Sounds & Fury:
I can, however, say one thing about Taruskin’s notion that some of classical music’s greatest enemies are to be found among its devotees; specifically those who argue for the worth and value of classical music in terms moralistic, character-building, or utilitarian: he’s right. Such champions of classical music need to have their kneecaps broken (figuratively speaking, of course). Any argument for the worth or value of classical music along any of those lines is not only imbecile but destructively wrongheaded and entirely in error. There’s zero moral anything involved with one’s listening preference for classical music or the popular sort, nor will listening to classical music make of one a better person and citizen, and listening to popular music, a reprobate. And arguments along utilitarian lines miss the point altogether and cannot help but obscure the issue in an almost impenetrable cloud of irrelevance.
and
To argue that classical music is not culturally superior to other musics but is merely their cultural equal is tantamount to arguing that, for instance, the culture of, say, some obscure African tribe barely out of the Stone Age is the equal of our present Western culture; an argument that would be attempted in earnest only by the most rabidly loony multiculturalist. And to argue that classical music is not indispensable to that Western culture would be to deny the incalculable magnitude of the enduring influence some 600 years of classical music has had in the reciprocal shaping of that culture; a shaping influenced but transiently by all other genres of music.
For the author of The Oxford History of Western Music to be guilty of making such arguments — if that in fact is what Taruskin is doing here — is simply reprehensible, and I would have thought unthinkable.
happy halloween October 31, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : miscellaneous, add a commentA joke appeared in our in-box today, courtesy of the ever humorous Dorian DeLeon - enjoy!
A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won’t stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies:
“I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.”
She answers, “My son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”
“Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”
She responds, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic.”
The cab driver is very excited and says, “Yes, I’m single and Catholic!”
“OK” the nun says. “Pull into the next alley.”
The nun fulfills his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush. But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
“My dear child,” says the nun, “why are you crying?”
“Forgive me but I’ve sinned. I lied and I must confess, I’m married and I’m Jewish.”
The nun says, “That’s OK. My name is Kevin and I’m going to a Halloween party.”
world-class + portland (mutually exclusive?) October 30, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, the orchestra world, add a commentI was involved in a discussion today that made me think about the unique nature of Portland and its problems of self-effacement and inferiority (much of which I’ve discussed elsewhere in this blog) - more specifically, does Portland need world-class institutions (maybe a better term of art might be “top-rate”?), and if it does, does Portland want them? (more…)
playing catch up October 29, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a comment
Just catching up on some classical news from last week, concerning the conductor Yakov Kreizberg, who has never failed to wow audiences, critics and musicians alike when he appears as a guest conductor with the OSO. He has just accepted an appointment to be the next music director of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. You may remember that James DePreist served as music director of the MCphil concurrently with his gig here in Oregon. It makes me think, sometime down the road, might Mr. Kreizberg serve a similar role here? We’ve got a lot of great music-making left with Carlos, but it’s never too early to be keeping a lookout for future talent on the horizon, and Kreizberg certainly has the goods and knows how to deliver them.
why a new hall makes sense October 28, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentDenver is exploring the possibility of building a new hall to replace the mediocre-at-best Boettcher Concert Hall. As I read the article published today in the Denver Post - I noticed some similarities to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall:
The shortcomings of the 29-year-old facility in the Denver Performing Arts Complex are many and varied, starting with inferior acoustics, which dampen and even distort the sound emanating from the stage.
More tangible are the building’s physical limitations, ranging from a cramped, unattractive lobby with too few restrooms to limited, ill-suited backstage spaces for musicians, technicians and visiting performers.
Although many of these problems emerged in the years immediately following the hall’s opening in 1978, it was not until 2004 that the Division of Theatres & Arenas began to publicly air the possibility of a complete overhaul.
While the hall in Denver was new construction, not an overhaul of an existing structure as in Portland, the amount of time the orchestra has been in the hall is about the same. Also similar: inferior acoustics, poor facilities for audience and orchestra as well as for other kinds of presentations such as dance, theater and rock shows.
We here in Portland are famous for taking on unique solutions to our problems (with sometimes unique results) - why not put together a high-profile initiative campaign to build a purpose-built hall for the symphony, say in the South Waterfront district? We’ll see what happens with the mayor’s race, but I think an idea like this could get some serious traction with Sam Adams in the hot seat…
right coast softening? October 26, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : food & drink, restaurants, 2commentsWe’ve been out in New York City the past few days (now we’re very briefly upstate) and I’ve been pretty surprised by what a nice city it’s become in the ten years since I really spent any time there. Some of this may be accounted for by the fact that I’m less of a scaredy-cat traveller than I used to be, but I think the psyche of the City has fundamentally changed since then, too. Some of my New York friends think it has to do largely with the shock of 9/11, and that makes sense to me. Whatever the cause, I actually think that New York is a warmer, friendlier place to visit than Portland. (more…)
a brief break October 22, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : miscellaneous, add a commentI’ll be away from the computer for about six days - I might be able to post once or twice in the meantime, but otherwise, have a fun and productive week - see you later.
Charles
japanese maple October 21, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : photography, add a comment
japanese maple|Originally uploaded by nobleviola
click photo to enlarge
I just can’t get enough of the great foliage action going on around town this year!!
lachrymae October 21, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2commentsThere are instances where a topic sweeps across the blogosphere, sometimes it’s referred to as a “meme”. I hadn’t heard of this before, so I checked dictionary.com and found that a meme is described thusly:
a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of gene
In this instance, I found a post from a new blog to me: The Omniscient Mussel, who wrote a post based upon a post at Iron Tongue of Midnight about what pieces (or parts of pieces) of music make one cry. Since I’ve been all over the emotional map this month, and much of that territory was in the sad or worse region, this is a timely topic.
So, without further ado, a small selection of the pieces that, if they don’t make me cry they at least move me deeply.
- Adams - On the Transmigration of Souls. I really didn’t expect that this piece would get to me, especially as a performer. There’s a lot to do in this piece, and it’s easy to get lost, so there isn’t a ton of time to devote to getting emotionally involved. However, the street sounds and voices of relatives that bookend the work immediately got right to the core of me from the first moment of the first rehearsal. There’s such a sense of time and place, of empathy for those people who were there at Ground Zero, or were just going about their lives, not realizing that they or their loved ones were being irrevocably tied to history.
- Mahler - Ninth Symphony, mvt. IV - Adagio. I played this piece in conservatory orchestra, as principal viola, and it was a life changing experience. This last movement of a composition that is essentially a farewell to the world, and a premonition of death, is one of the great valedictory statements in music. Such sweep and intimate grandeur (if that can be made to make sense) - and the entry of the woodwinds after nearly 15 minutes of incredibly moving string passages just makes my heart break every time I hear it.
- Puccini - Nessun dorma, from Turandot. This always made me weepy, especially the Pavarotti version. It’s pure emotion for the sake of emotion, and that is something that I’m a bit ashamed to love, but I do.
- Bach - Goldberg Variations. It’s such a journey, through the whole range of keyboard possibilities and the final return of the opening Aria is always a moment that brings such relief and feelings of an epic journey brought to a satisfying conclusion.
- Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21, Kv. 467 “Elvira Madigan” - I hate these nicknames derived from films, but you use this one and everyone knows the concerto you’re talking about, so there you go. The Andante from this movement is just so absolutely sublime, it did actually bring me to tears the first time I played it. It was during my first season with the OSO, and Yoël Levi was conducting. I don’t even remember who was playing the piano, but they were terrific whoever they were. We got to the Andante and to the section where the pizzicato accompaniment by the strings doubles in tempo - it’s such a great spot, just absolute perfection - you cannot imagine anyone else writing something this perfect. Man, Wolfie knew how to write a good chart.
- Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, mvt. 3 - Andante. The stumbling, ruminative, despairing piano solo passage that precedes the return of the opening cello solo in the slow movement of this concerto never fails to move me. I remember the first time I ever heard this piece, it was a recording of Leon Fleisher with the Cleveland Orchestra under Georg Szell, and I knew that Brahms would have pride of place in my musical heart forever.
- Beethoven - String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130 - mvt. 5 - Cavatina. Anyone who loves listening to or performing string quartets must claim this piece, and this movement of this piece as being near the top of their personal best list. For me, the unbelievable passage where the world is shut out and we find ourselves at the very core of Beethoven’s experience is the pinnacle of the art of the quartet. If you haven’t heard the Guarneri Quartet’s performance of this movement in their second cycle of the quartets, then you really owe it to yourself to get hold of the recording and prepare to shed a few tears.
- Bach - Partita No. 2 in d minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004 - Ciaconna. Truly one of the towering works for any solo instrument, or for any instrumental combination for that matter. Mahler liked to describe the symphony as a container which could hold an entire world in its confines. Bach beat him to it by a couple hundred years, and with a single instrument. The maggiore section is one of my favorite places in this piece, a place near the emotional nadir of the work, and then there is the miraculous return to the opening minor sequence, with the violin clawing its way back up from the edge of the abyss only to triumph. Amazing.
There are many more, but this is a good top of the list for me. Have your own nominations? Send a comment along.
Lebrecht gets spanked October 20, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 1 comment so farIt appears that some dodgy fact-finding on the part of critic/writer Norman Lebrecht may have gotten him into trouble - his publisher has withdrawn all unsold copies (in the United Kingdom) of his most recent book on classical music and will have them destroyed. All as a result of a lawsuit brought by the owner/founder of Naxos Records, Klaus Heymann. Ouch.
From today’s New York Times article by Daniel J Wakin:
For years, the British critic Norman Lebrecht has been throwing firebombs in the world of classical music, denouncing what he sees as industry evils in a provocative style that has sometimes been described as accuracy-challenged.
On Thursday, in an unusually crushing act of contrition, his publisher agreed to recall his latest book, destroy it, say “Sorry” and promise not to do it again — all over a few pages discussing Naxos Records and its founder, Klaus Heymann.
The book, “Maestros, Masterpieces & Madness: The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry,” was released in Britain in July. Mr. Heymann sued the publisher, Penguin Books, in the High Court of Justice, saying the book wrongly accused him of “serious business malpractices” based on false statements. He cited at least 15 statements he called inaccurate.
In a settlement with Mr. Heymann, Penguin issued a statement in court saying it apologized for “the hurt and damage which he has suffered.” It agreed to pay an undisclosed sum for legal fees and to a charity. “Penguin Books has also undertaken not to repeat these allegations and to seek the return of all unsold copies of the book,” the statement said.
