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Cellphones and Their Ilk

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark  

Many years ago I was sitting next to the p.r. director of the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall when a cellphone went off as Simon Rattle conducted. When the piece ended I asked him if that happened in Berlin. “Everywhere,” he said sadly.   

I left for vacation two days after the cellphone brouhaha at the New York Philharmonic last week, when the ringer in front-row center went off during the last page of Mahler’s Ninth and Alan Gilbert courageously stopped the orchestra until the thing was turned off. The explanation and the miscreant’s subsequent phone apology to Maestro Gilbert got loads of coverage, even on television. But as I passed through the airline’s frisker at Newark Airport I had no doubt what should be done: All concertgoers should be required to pass through metal detectors, and those who fail the test must check their cellphones, blackberries, iphones, et al. in the coat room before they are allowed to enter the concert hall.   

Unmuffled coughing (nearly always in a quiet moment) is annoying enough, but I’ve yet to encounter anyone with a good word to say about cellphone beepers in concerts. I recall the woman at a Philharmonic matinee over ten years ago who answered her cellphone to say loudly, “I can’t talk now—I’m in a concert.” Valery Gergiev ignored her, but I’ll bet Kurt Masur would have turned around and let her have it. (Which reminds me of the story of Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the final six widely spaced chords of Sibelius’s Fifth and several audience members applauding prematurely; he turned around and bellowed, “Savages,” before turning back to the orchestra and finishing the symphony without skipping a beat.)  

I wonder what Herbert von Karajan would have done?   

Gilbert’s Mahler

I heard the first of the series of Gilbert’s Mahler Ninths and found myself among the “some” mentioned by the Times‘s Tony Tommasini who might prefer a more emotional—nay, intense, searching, devastating—interpretation. I cannot go without mentioning Principal Cellist Carter Brey’s solo just before the last page of the work, which in a few seconds conveyed all the Mahlerian eloquence and heart-rending depth I found missing from the other 80 minutes. There are many extraordinary musicians in the Philharmonic, and Brey is among the uppermost.

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One Stop Shopping for Management and Public Relations

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

by Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Dear Edna:

I am a well-established soloist who has always booked and promoted myself. Once I reached middle age, I made numerous efforts to find an agent who can do for me what I’ve done for myself, only with more savvy and sophistication. But I’ve found that the most desirable agents are closed to people in my age group, and that typically they do not do promotional work. I’ve also learned that publicists don’t book engagements. It seems to me that one-stop booking and promo would make sense for everyone and that such dual-service entities would be the answer to many artists’ needs.  Are there no hybrid agent/publicists out there who perform both tasks? —-curious soloist

Dear curious soloist:

Your question is a very interesting one. It seems logical that managers who spend their entire working day seeking performance opportunities for their artists would be equally adept at pitching stories about them to the media and helping to develop their image and profile. One would also imagine that their complete familiarity with their artists’ careers would enhance their pitches to the press. In truth, the skills involved in fulfilling these responsibilities are different and both campaigns rely on a well-developed network of contacts that is built over many years. There is no overlap between these two networks. As a result, there are very few agencies that offer their artists both services. I am aware of Kirshbaum, Demler and Associates and Dworkin and Company in the U.S., and Konzertdirektion Schmid and PR2Classic in Germany. (All management agencies do employ staff to send out publicity materials to presenters who have engaged their artists and to field requests for interviews and radio/television appearances which may come into the management.) In the case of the four agencies mentioned above, artists pay separately for public relations. Not all of the artists on the roster avail themselves of these services, except in the case of Dworkin and Company, whose list is rather small. This is probably a good thing since the principals of those companies would probably burn out in no time from the potential stress of fulfilling both roles. It should also be mentioned that not all artists require an ongoing targeted publicity effort to be made on their behalf, in particular the younger ones. Those that do usually have high profile careers with fairly regular newsworthy developments that justify their paying extra for public relations assistance. In your case, it sounds as though you should continue to handle your booking arrangements or find a suitable partner, while seeking out a publicist for key projects such as commissions and recordings. Many publicists will accept such project work. You will pay a fee instead of a monthly retainer and will probably come out ahead of the game financially.

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

©Edna Landau 2012

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Masterly Mann at Manhattan

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark

In their wildest dreams, the six string quartets couldn’t have asked for more. Nor could music lovers, as the Manhattan School of Music rang in the New Year with what it called the “Inaugural Robert Mann String Quartet Institute.” Yes, this is why I left Muncie, but this time my hometown friends could share the event, for the Thursday and Friday master classes were streamed worldwide. Those who couldn’t attend could watch the great man inspire several gifted young musicians in works by Brahms, Bartók, and Beethoven, among others. And now they can see both classes by going to www.dl.msmnyc.edu/archive. Which I highly recommend!

For those not into chamber music, Robert Mann is renowned as the founding first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet (in 1946) and, moreover, probably the postwar era’s foremost influence on the “American” style of chamber-music playing. Since retiring from the Quartet in 1997, he has continued to perform chamber music, conduct, give master classes, and teach on the faculty of the Manhattan School. The passion and personality of the many JSQ performances I’ve heard over the years in concert and on record were fully evident in his comments at Friday’s session. Indeed, his many expressive tips to the PUBLIQuartet in the Poco allegretto of Brahms’s Third Quartet gave me an appreciation of the music I’d never had before.

As usual, however, it was the Bartók performances that grabbed me. The Juilliard recorded the six quartets three times since 1950. It was the second cycle—recorded in 1963, released in 1965, and honored with a Grammy the next year—that introduced me to the works and which I still prefer above all others. (The CD reissue, now on Sony Classical/ArchivMusic 77119, sounds excellent. Mann is on all three cycles; be sure you get the one with Cohen, Hillyer, and Adam.) A complete Juilliard Bartók cycle at Alice Tully Hall, 43 years ago this month, is no less vivid in my early New York memory bank than my first Bernstein/Philharmonic concert, or Colin Davis leading Peter Grimes with Jon Vickers and Wozzeck with Geraint Evans at the Met. In the mid 1980s, the JSQ’s long-time press rep, Alix Williamson, presented the group in the complete Brahms and Bartók quartets at Tully, and I complained that she was devaluing Bartók. Alix, who loved Brahms and detested Bartók, barked endearingly that if she listened to the likes of me, no one would come. I miss her.

Mann’s insightful blend of performance comments, anecdotes, and cheerleading at Manhattan—filmed admirably, by the way, with none of the herky-jerky camera cross-cutting that can compromise one’s attention—revealed a master of persuasion. When the Ars Nova Quartet plays the Allegro molto capriccioso second movement of Bartók’s Second Quartet, Mann initially has nothing but praise, telling of the time a group played the Third Quartet for the composer and was disappointed when Bartók simply stood up and said, “Good, let’s have lunch.” Mann continues, “The great composers are less critical than you might think.” He suggests that the young players should worry less about wrong notes and dig in more. “You know, Bartók as a performer played very cool, but he liked performers to play wildly.” The violist demurs, “But we’re on the Internet.” Still, the Ars Nova foursome plays part of the movement again, digging in as prescribed, and the results are markedly superior—as in every case of following Mann’s masterly advice.

Next, the Old City Quartet plays the Mesto-Burletta movement of Bartók’s Sixth Quartet. Mann asks for more march character (“It lacks rhythmic swing”) and evokes the opening of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat as a guide. Later he remarks about a precipitous speedup, laughing robustly, “Your accelerando is too fast: You’re very exciting, but it’s too fast.” After a slower runthrough he says, with a huge grin, “Terrific!  I’d like you in my quartet,” and the four players break into smiles. A final comment: “Can you make a bigger bite on that C?” he asks the first violinist, and when he does Mann shouts, “Ah-h-h-h, wonderful!”

Now 91, Robert Mann seems the youngest man in the room. I can’t wait for next year’s master classes.

Looking Forward

Concerts I would attend next week were I not on vacation:

1/14 Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn. 4:30-9:00 p.m. Brooklyn Art Song Society. Complete Songs of Charles Ives (114).

1/18-21 Avery Fisher Hall. New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert; Lang Lang, piano. Lindberg: Feria. Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2. Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5.

1/20 Carnegie Hall. American Symphony Orchestra/Leon Botstein. Stravinsky: The King of the Stars; Mavra; Requiem Canticles; Canticum Sacrum; Babel; Symphony of Psalms.

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Thinking About the Future

Monday, January 9th, 2012

By Alan Gilbert

On January 4 the Philharmonic made a very important announcement: Matthew VanBesien has been named the next Executive Director of the Orchestra. I feel very positive about this choice, as I was quoted as saying, but here I want to discuss some of the thoughts that have come to my mind in the wake of the announcement.

Filling Zarin Mehta’s shoes has been a challenge for a couple of reasons. First of all, he’s a master at what he does. He’s a legend in the business, and deservedly so: there’s nobody who has existed at this level of orchestral endeavor for as long as he has and with the success he’s had. Zarin’s sense of what the New York Philharmonic is, and of what it can and should be, is full of respect for the traditions of music. His connections with guest soloists and conductors and with concert presenters around the world are epic.

We looked for someone who could step into the role that Zarin has filled who would fully respect the heritage and the venerable traditions of the New York Philharmonic and, at the same time, have the ability to carry forward into the 21st century both the New York Philharmonic and the elusive notion of what an orchestra should be. It remains to be seen what will actually happen, but the discussions that the Philharmonic’s Board, the Search Committee, the musicians, and I have had were extremely positive and extremely optimism-inducing. What we’re trying to do is nothing less than to redefine the shape, function, and role of the modern symphony orchestra.

Certain things are not going to go away. We will continue playing concerts in our home — a concert hall that, by the way, we’re going to be renovating, if not completely reconceiving. That’s going to be an enormous project on Matthew’s plate. But also up for discussion is the way we interact with our audience, beyond the traditional concert format, how we connect with our community. This very broad concept of outreach — which means going out and not expecting people to come to us — is very important to us, and I think it is something that contains an enormous amount of potential. Also, we can expand the types of concerts we give — working with mixed media, blending cultural trends and forces, collaborating with other institutions in New York City such as arts and dramatic organizations, theaters, museums, schools. There are a lot of ways in which we can expand our reach in what will hopefully be a consistent philosophical mode; not in a way that would be gratuitous and or extraneous, but which would actually be central to what we, as an orchestra, can mean.

In terms of education, there has been a clear shift. Schools are not spending as much time, energy, or resources on music education. Orchestras are trying to pick up the slack — the Philharmonic already has been very active in this area, with our School Partnership Program and other projects (http://nyphil.org/education/schools_overview.cfm) — partly because they can, and also because I think it is becoming an essential part of what an orchestra is. In a sense, everything we do is “education.” When we introduce new music to audiences, or when we try to show connections between pieces on a given program that may not be immediately evident, that’s also education. So it’s not really a stretch to expand the function of the modern symphony orchestra to increase actual educational activities. The capacity of musicians to be teachers, to be advocates for music itself, is something we’re tapping into more and more.

Matthew is very committed to all these things and is interested in thinking out of the box, much as I hope to do.

(For more information on Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, visit nyphil.org.)

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Pursuing Two Careers Simultaneously

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

 

 by Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Dear Edna:

I am a composer, recently graduated with two Masters degrees, and I have chosen the administrative route for a small and ambitious organization. In your earlier column entitled “Overqualified and Underemployed”, you rightly wrote that many connections can be made working in an administrative position in the field of music. The downside is that (especially in this economy) many administrative jobs are 50+ hours a week, plus additional hours for commuting. The result is little time and energy for pursuing one’s musical craft during the week (and family members have their own ideas about your weekend time). Here’s my question: One disconcerting thing I have heard from multiple sources is that an administrator (I’m an executive director) is not taken seriously as a “real” musician; the implication being that if one is REALLY talented, one wouldn’t need to take a day job. Is this a reality? Not counting academia, are there musicians/composers with good reputations as both? –CS Rusnak

Dear CS Rusnak:

While I am not totally surprised to hear that numerous people have questioned the seriousness of a musician’s commitment and level of accomplishment if they hold a day job, it does seem peculiar both from the point of view of today’s economy and the number of established and renowned musicians who do both, with great distinction. In the case of younger musicians, it should come as no surprise that opportunities don’t always present themselves right out of school and that composers, in particular, who rely on commissions, might need to supplement their income in other ways. My colleague, Kristin Lancino, who is Vice President at G. Schirmer Inc. in New York, tells me that there are four people in her office who work full-time and who are active composers or performers/conductors. If one looks at higher profile administrative positions, one finds Ed Harsh, President and CEO of New Music, USA, himself a composer, and Laura Kaminsky, Artistic Director of Symphony Space in New York, who received a prestigious Koussevitzky Music Foundation-Library of Congress award to write her recently premiered piano concerto for Ursula Oppens. Undoubtedly, these arts administrators find that their day jobs lend an extra dimension to their creative lives, removing them from the potential isolation of a composer’s daily existence and immersing them in the heart of the performing world. Their interaction with music industry colleagues on a daily basis also serves to increase awareness of their creative output. More importantly, their administrative positions afford them opportunities to build new audiences and to mentor and assist young musicians, while possibly giving them exposure. Composer Missy Mazzoli was Executive Director of MATA, an organization committed to helping young composers. Some of today’s most beloved artists have managed to assume leadership roles in arts administration, achieving all of these goals and more, while maintaining a rigorous performing schedule. A towering example is Placido Domingo, founder of the Operalia Competition, who concurrently juggled General Director positions with both the Kennedy Center and the Los Angeles Opera. Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year, David Finckel and Wu Han, show no sign of reducing their busy solo, duo or chamber music performance schedules, while simultaneously lending their brilliant vision and artistic direction to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as Music@Menlo, which they founded. Hopefully, these examples prove that if one is a REALLY talented musician, one might still want to take a day job (or two), for the sheer joy of sharing one’s experience with others, expanding opportunities for the next generation of performers, and ensuring that the venues in which they will perform will be run with the vision and openness needed to promote those performers’ increasingly innovative and groundbreaking ideas.

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

© Edna Landau 2012  

 

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