{"id":980,"date":"2008-05-20T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=980"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:56:29","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:56:29","slug":"arent-critics-supposed-to-be-critical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/20\/arent-critics-supposed-to-be-critical\/","title":{"rendered":"aren’t critics supposed to be critical?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just discovered a new music blog, courtesy of Jason Heath’s Arts Advocate<\/a> blog, called Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks<\/a>. It’s written by Chantal Incandela<\/a>, a double bass player who has changed her career from being primarily a performer to writing as a classical music critic for NUVO<\/a>, an alternative print publication in Indianapolis. The latest post caught my eye, as it deals with her thoughts about the direction the ISO is going with their relatively new music director Mario Vengazo.<\/p>\n

Here’s the passage that she talks about in the printed review:<\/p>\n

The only section that seemed hesitant about this journey however are the cellos. They sounded (and even looked) unable to handle Nielsen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult parts.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, here’s what she had to say on her blog, which I assume was filling in the large blanks left in her print review by the editing process.<\/p>\n

Here’s the deal, plain and simple: this orchestra is progressing in amazing leaps and bounds under Mario’s direction. However, one section is not at all: the cellos. My review was edited quite a bit (I think–and hope–more for space than anything else) because I also pointed out that the cellos choked during a prominent soli section in the Nielsen, and I also said what I stated above, that they are NOT progressing with everyone else. In fact, I said they were holding the orchestra back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Take a look at the print review here<\/a>, and the blog entry here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of such criticism, it is actually refreshing to read. I don’t get a sense that Ms. Incandela is trying to aggrandize herself at the expense of the musicians of the orchestra, but is frustrated by the uneven pace of improvement in the orchestra and feels that it is affecting the overall artistic level of the ensemble.<\/p>\n

It’s true that this is one person’s opinion (as all criticism is and must be), and that there might be differing points of view from the city’s other classical music critics with familiarity with the orchestra and its history. But still, it seems that critics today seem more intent upon demonstrating their knowledge of music history than in telling their readers (a pool of prospective audience members) how the opening night’s concert went, and whether they should go to one of the remaining performances.<\/p>\n

I find myself longing for an<\/span> more activist reviewers – someone who has an agenda and both the keen ears and sharp writing skills to advance that agenda. Of course, at this point my devil’s advocate side is telling me to be careful what I wish for!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just discovered a new music blog, courtesy of Jason Heath’s Arts Advocate blog, called Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks. It’s written by Chantal Incandela, a double bass player who has changed her career from being primarily a performer to writing as a classical music critic for NUVO, an alternative print publication in Indianapolis. The […]<\/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":[148,153,115,2],"tags":[716],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-cello","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-indianapolis-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-fO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7914,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/06\/indianapolis-board-rejects-latest-offer\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":0},"title":"indianapolis board rejects latest offer","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Another proposal, another rejection. Some say the lockout that\u2019s kept the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra off the stage may now have reached a critical point that could result in some musicians leaving town. The move comes after the musicians\u2019 union rejected the Symphony Society\u2019s latest offer Friday, then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":871,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/22\/indianapolis-streams-with-instantencorecom\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":1},"title":"indianapolis streams with instantencore.com","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the concept - you can go to the website and either stream the works for free or buy them for between $.99 - $1.79 per work (depending upon length). The recordings are made from live concerts (presumably from three or four of them edited together to cover audience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ie_indianapolis.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/ie_indianapolis.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2929,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/01\/venzago-firing-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":2},"title":"venzago firing update","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo: Mario Venzago Apparently Mario Venzago, music director of the Indianapolis Symphony, was offered a 50% pay cut for 09-10, and the 10-11 season would have been un-salaried, instead paying per-concert fees.\u00a0 It's no wonder that he turned down this 'offer'.\u00a0 More info here.","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"mario-venzago_big","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/mario-venzago_big-200x206.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/31\/odds-and-ends-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":3},"title":"odds and ends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Some news from the orchestral front this week: The Baltimore Symphony continues to shrink its budget, the musicians are cutting their wages from the 5.7% already conceded to 12.5% for the 2009-2010 season. [Washington Post] Peter Dobrin writes about African-American orchestral musicians in Philadelphia. [Philadelphia Inquirer] The Indianapolis Symphony declines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2947,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/04\/artistic-administrator-vs-music-director\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":4},"title":"artistic administrator vs. music director","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"With Christian Thielmann leaving Munich, and Mario Venzago fired from Indianapolis, it's interesting to note that both departures (though one was the conductor quitting and the other was the conductor being dismissed) are closely related to the overlapping of two roles in the symphony orchestra hierarchy: the artistic administrator and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7811,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/29\/is-the-oregon-symphony-the-future-model-for-the-symphony-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":5},"title":"is the oregon symphony the future model for the symphony orchestra?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You have to wonder. We have a deep pool of highly talented and skilled players. We \"punch above our weight\" as our outgoing President, Elaine Calder, likes to say. We're paid about 50% less than we should be. Our player complement is 15% down from the CBA mandatory minimums (amended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}