{"id":996,"date":"2008-05-29T08:56:18","date_gmt":"2008-05-29T15:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=996"},"modified":"2008-05-29T08:57:34","modified_gmt":"2008-05-29T15:57:34","slug":"season-review-back-and-forth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/29\/season-review-back-and-forth\/","title":{"rendered":"season review back and forth"},"content":{"rendered":"

I opened my in box yesterday to find the following response to my post about the 2007-2008 season<\/a> from OSO music director Carlos Kalmar. He has allowed me to print it in it’s entirety. I think it’s a thoughtful response, and one that might prove informative and illuminating. I’ve included my response to his email as well. There has also been a healthy discourse with OSO resident conductor Gregory Vajda in the comments section<\/a> of that post as well.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is always this terrific struggle when you program a concert. In the case of our entire season, it is a very long-term project, because I do not take things lightly, and I put an immense amount of thought into what is going to be played. Is there something to criticize? There always is. But remember this: No matter what I may decide regarding program ideas, there will be intelligent people who feel otherwise. In the end, though, everybody has to accept that it’s the Music Director’s responsibility to create programs. I welcome any kind of suggestion, and I’m always willing to listen to critical input.<\/p>\n

Very often it simply comes down to a different point of view rather than a program being “wrong.” For example, take our last program — L’Ascension together with Carmina Burana. Even though it was my idea to do it this way, I still think the programming is brilliant! Of course the audience remembers the power and blast of the Orff. They would have done so even if there had been another piece in the second half. But was there intense silence and awe after the Messiaen? Yes, there was! Would this program have worked better if we’d stayed impressionistic or “French”? Absolutely not; it would have been too much of the same thing.<\/p>\n

This is a great example of how we have different takes on things — and that’s good. Input is appreciated. Where I have difficulties is when a program that is well thought-out is not acknowledged as a positive and good effort. Charles might have built the program differently — and his programs might have been criticized as well. It’s endless.<\/p>\n

On the “Inside” programs and scripts: Yes, I think Charles is right. We should work more on scripts. But none of the conductors\/presenters are Bernstein. He was the best ever. The rest of us have our limitations and should work on improving.<\/p>\n

Carlos<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and my response:<\/p>\n

Thanks for passing this along. It’s good (if a bit scary) to read, because it reminds me that I don’t write in a vacuum. I certainly do admire the care with which the programs are assembled – I almost always “get” the logic which binds them together, and any differences in opinion occur because, well, Carlos and I are different people, with different experiences and backgrounds, and maybe also differing outlooks on life.<\/p>\n

It’s always dangerous to look back and armchair quarterback this kind of stuff, precisely because I didn’t make the decisions, and my subjective view of how a concert is received also very much depends upon my own personal experience of the concert, which often is drastically different than that of the audience or even my colleagues (just ask Heather about my after-concert self flagellation sessions!).<\/p>\n

So, I do agree that sometimes it is best to agree to disagree, and that any set of concerts which inspires any sort of discussion is much, much better than bland programming which results in a shrug of the shoulders and the fact that the pre-concert meal is better remembered than the concert!<\/p>\n

This discussion is so apropos, since I’m knee-deep in six books about Shostakovich, most of which strongly disagree with each other as to his character and motivations, and so I’m reminded that even as far as music history, so much is subjective and emotional rather than empirical and rational.<\/p>\n

Charles<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I opened my in box yesterday to find the following response to my post about the 2007-2008 season from OSO music director Carlos Kalmar. He has allowed me to print it in it’s entirety. I think it’s a thoughtful response, and one that might prove informative and illuminating. I’ve included my response to his email […]<\/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":[148,115,2],"tags":[3668,323],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-programming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-g4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7598,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/14\/final-program-notes-for-oso-season-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":0},"title":"final program notes for oso season online","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 14, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"I wrote my last set of program notes for this season (and perhaps forever, who knows?), and they're now available to read online. Enjoy!","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":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/12\/other-thoughts-on-oso-08-09-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":1},"title":"other thoughts on oso 08-09 season","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"OSO violinist and Third Angle artistic director Ron Blessinger gives his thoughts on the 2008-2009 OSO season here. Blessinger praises the populist approach to programming and the leadership of Carlos Kalmar, but at the same time, he's already thinking about the future - literally - a stance with which I\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":"p_blessinger.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/p_blessinger.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1009,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/09\/oso-makes-strides-in-ticket-salesattendance\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":2},"title":"OSO makes strides in ticket sales\/attendance","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregon Symphony announced today that they had achieved double-digit gains in both average concert attendance and ticket sales revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 For the 2007-2008 season, the OSO sold $5.64 million in tickets, up over 15 percent from the previous season.\u00c2\u00a0 As for audience attendance, the symphony sold 7,878 more tickets that\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":14376,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/31\/seriously\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":3},"title":"seriously","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There are times that I wonder if what I do as a professional musician makes a difference. I know that the art that I help to create does make a difference in a larger, 30,000 feet sort of way. Society is better for having artists, musicians, writers. Then I heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "radio"","block_context":{"text":"radio","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hI8TCA3fJcs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":947,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/29\/oso-carmina-burana-going-fast\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":4},"title":"oso carmina burana – going fast!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're interested in attending the last OSO classical series concerts of the season - Messiaen's\u00c2\u00a0 Ascension and Orff's Carmina Burana - on May 17-19, you might wish to get your tickets sooner than later (as in NOW). Sales are going briskly, and there will be no musician comp tickets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/13\/oso-kids-concerts\/","url_meta":{"origin":996,"position":5},"title":"oso kids concerts – errata","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Just to update a major mistake on my part: the OSO is NOT discontinuing kids and young people's concerts next season. Brochures will be sent out in the coming week - the symphony is targeting the different series with their own brochure, so this led to the impression that the\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996","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=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}