Style vs. substance the duality that’s on my mind as I write this.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m at a loss.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do individuals or organizations who do impeccably prepared, virtuosic performances passed over in favor of those who cloak mediocrity in the guise of a fancy mission statement?\u00c2\u00a0 Does it really all come down to marketing?\u00c2\u00a0 Are we who play traditional forms of classical music doing ourselves a disservice by slaving away to perfect our craft?<\/p>\n
I don’t think that the style\/substance relationship is a zero-sum equation.\u00c2\u00a0 One can inform the other.\u00c2\u00a0 They can achieve a symbiosis together that they would lack separately.\u00c2\u00a0 But, still, are we in America so impressed by a slickly packaged idea that we can overlook the actual substance of that idea?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m afraid to answer my own question, because one answer indicates that I’m cynical beyond rescue, and the other answer says that I’ve hopelessly na\u00c3\u00afve.<\/p>\n
Any thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Style vs. substance the duality that’s on my mind as I write this.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m at a loss.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do individuals or organizations who do impeccably prepared, virtuosic performances passed over in favor of those who cloak mediocrity in the guise of a fancy mission statement?\u00c2\u00a0 Does it really all come down to marketing?\u00c2\u00a0 Are we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[143,115],"tags":[120,79],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-music","tag-classical-music","tag-marketing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-fJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/01\/20\/michelle-deyoung-not-to-be-missed\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":0},"title":"Michelle DeYoung – not to be missed!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are within a two hour drive of Portland, Oregon - I strongly urge you to come to either our Front Row Center concert Friday, January 20th at 7:30 p.m. or to our Classical series January 22-23 in Portland and Jan. 24 in Salem, Oregon. She will be singing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Michelle DeYoung","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/deyoung.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/08\/classically-hot\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":1},"title":"classically hot?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Arriana Ghez, Principal Oboist, LA Philharmonic Playboy is having an online poll for the \"sexiest babes of classical music\".\u00c2\u00a0 It seems apropos, as marketing female classical music stars via sex appeal is hardly a new phenomenon.\u00c2\u00a0 They're all fully clothed (and looking very fetching) - so if you're into this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.playboy.com\/worldofplayboy\/features\/classical-babes\/imx\/ariana-ghez.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2356,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/17\/tonight-fearnomusic-parallaxis\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":2},"title":"tonight: fearnomusic parallaxis","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"fEARnoMUSIC 21st-century classical ensemble and video curators HELSINQI media studio Present: Parallaxis: Music and Moving Pictures: A live concert of 20th\/21st-century classical music performed with original video\/film by\u00c2\u00a0 contemporary artists \u00e2\u20ac\u201d silent-movie style. Friday, April 17 8 PM Colonial Heights Presbyterian Church 2828 SE Stephens St Portland OR 97214 (between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"parallaxis-list","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/parallaxis-list-400x208.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1424,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/13\/upcoming-classical-concert-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":3},"title":"upcoming classical concert thoughts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend comes Classical 4, which features an interesting program: Too Hot Toccata by Aaron Jay Kernis, Concerto in F by George Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff's Third Symphony. It's interesting because each work on the program is a standard form with an individual \"take\" on the form in the eyes of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":494,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/16\/alex-ross-outs-the-classical-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":4},"title":"alex ross outs the classical internet","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Alex Ross, the classical music critic for New Yorker (and blogger par excellence), wrote a column (which I spotted in the online version today) about the effects of the web\/internet on classical music.\u00c2\u00a0 It sounds as though there is a clear new golden age of classical music emerging these days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":499,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/20\/lebrecht-gets-spanked\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":5},"title":"Lebrecht gets spanked","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It 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. 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