Just a couple days ago, local classical music critic Brett Campbell wrote an omnibus review of classical music events from the latter months of 2012. Among the concerts reviewed was the opening concert of 45th Parallel’s 2012-2013 concert season, entitled “Octetlandia”. It paired two little-heard works for the string octet with the great octet of Felix Mendelssohn. The audience response was exceptional (as was the attendance). I’ve continued to hear positive comments about the concert from patrons that I’ve run into around town in the months since.<\/p>\n
Here is the section of the Oregon Arts Watch article<\/a> that pertained to the concert:<\/p>\n . . . \u00a045th Parallel<\/a>\u2018s November 15 concert, which had a lot a going for it: accomplished orchestral musicians from the Oregon Symphony and other worthy institutions, most with chamber music experience; a good cause (supporting Portland\u2019s all-classical public radio station); a buoyant certified classic (Mendelssohn\u2019s familiar Octet), and a pair of short, dazzling works by one of 20th century\u2019s towering composers (Shostakovich). Because these are primarily orchestral musicians who lack the time to really develop chemistry with each other or interpretive depth in a given piece, we can\u2019t expect the same level of mastery of chamber works you\u2019d see in, say, a Friends of Chamber Music or Chamber Music Northwest concert; one member admitted that the group had spent only a week with one of the pieces, Bruch\u2019s seldom performed Octet.<\/p>\n It turned out to be a pretty thin piece anyway. I\u2019m all for playing more than just the usual warhorses (like the Mendelssohn octet), but the time spent rehearsing Bruch\u2019s octet would have been more profitably used to give the Mendelssohn classic an interpretation with more character than the relatively bland one offered here. Booting the Bruch would also have allowed the concert to last an hour, without an intermission, which in turn would have permitted more time for socializing at the reception afterward. And the audience would have left energized rather than enervated; I spotted several dozers during the Bruch \u2014 quite a contrast from the spontaneously explosive applause that erupted for the one really exciting performance \u2014 the Scherzo, from Shostakovich\u2019s Two Pieces for String Octet Op. 11.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those of us in the ensemble that played that night were taken aback by this reaction to the concert (with the caveat that we do recognize that you could survey five different attendees of a given concert and get five different accounts of what actually took place there). 45th Parallel artistic director and violinist Greg Ewer gave this response in the comment section of Campbell’s piece:<\/p>\n Wow Brett. Way to see the glass as half empty! We are lucky enough to live in Portland, which is bursting at the seams with talented, committed artists, and your take, after hearing an entire season\u2019s worth of music, is to ask for pity on the local \u2018musically overstuffed music journalist\u2019? Thank goodness you don\u2019t speak for 45th Parallel\u2019s audience members. As my esteemed colleague Justin Kagan remarked this morning, \u201cMore than a few spoke of crying at the beatific final measures of the slow movement of the Bruch.\u201d You know\u2026the Bruch\u2026that piece you suggested we should have \u201cbooted\u201d to allow \u201cmore time for socializing at the reception afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n And your comment that \u201cthese are primarily orchestral musicians who lack the time to really develop chemistry with each other or interpretive depth in a given piece?\u201d WTF Brett?? Way to slap a glass ceiling onto the musicians of your community. As the Artistic Director of 45th Parallel, I believe in taking risks. Many of us get up on stage having just explored a piece for the first time, knowing full well that with another week and a few more rehearsals it could be more polished. There is bound to be variation from concert to concert because personnel, repertoire, venues and group chemistry are always shifting. We are most decidedly not the same as travelling musicians who play the same 2 or 3 programs in different cities throughout the year. It is not a useful comparison. And even so, I say with confidence that some of the more magical performances from our first four years would be measure up nicely, even against the stiffest of competition.<\/p>\n We explore lesser known works, both new and old. We bring musicians together who have sometimes never met one another, and we dive into as much musical exploration as time and circumstances permit \u2026and we do it with a generous spirit of love and enthusiasm for our challenging art form! Why must you repeatedly trot out the tired notion that because musicians are gainfully employed and busy, that the community shouldn\u2019t really expect much from us? It\u2019s shortsighted and frankly disrespectful to suggest it.<\/p>\n You are right that the classical music world needs to have its collective eyes wide open and its thinking caps on in order to respond to a changing musical landscape. You have been a powerful local advocate for this way of thinking, and I applaud you for it. But just as you constantly challenge all of us, I would challenge you as well, to be more open to musical offerings outside your wheelhouse, and to reevaluate your notion of what it means to be a \u2018local\u2019 musician in our modern day musical landscape.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And then Oregon Arts Watch’s Barry Johnson stepped in with today’s post<\/a>, which aimed both to defend Campbell (who I think doesn’t need much defending, I’d love to see a full-length article that explores what he thinks the options are for classical music organizations in this time of maximum uncertainty – that would perhaps serve to clear up whatever misapprehensions we performers had about his reaction to our concert). He starts his piece thusly:<\/p>\n