Circus Animals

First off, happy 2010 to everyone, and welcome to the new decade. I’d barely taken enough Tylenol when I played my first concert of the year on Jan. 1, a Pops show with Cirque de la Symphonie. For those of you who have never seen this, it’s pretty amazing, a sort of hybrid symphony concert and acrobatic display. As amazing as it was, it got me thinking about lots of issues related to the orchestral business these days.

The show was astonishing on many levels (see video). And unlike many Pops shows, the orchestra actually plays “real” music. In fact, it’s quite a challenging program for the musicians, including (among other selections) Dvorak’s Carnival , Wagner Ride of the Valkyries, Dukas Sorcerer, and the last movement of Shostakovich 5th symphony.

And the place was packed. Over New Year’s weekend, three shows (we play in a 2100-seat hall). Great, right? Then how come I felt a little weird, beyond wondering if some cable might break and the circus guy takes out the front stands of strings? It all got me wondering (again) about the contemporary role of an orchestra, and how to get people into the hall (more than once) without simply making cheap artistic compromises.

Just to be clear, I absolutely understand that “Pops” shows aren’t usually about the orchestra in the first place; there’s a guest, or a band or something, and the orchestra is kind of peripheral. And like all jobs, the reality is that we occasionally have to suck it up and do things we may not be so pleased about, especially if it sells well. But in this case I eventually sensed an artistic conflict, ironically because we were playing “real” music. I mean, who’s listening to us play Shostakovich 5 when there are two huge guys wearing microshorts balancing on each other’s heads? And why was that piece chosen in the first place? Isn’t there a more appropriate piece of music for that sort of “Gladiator” display? Or maybe that’s what Shostakovich had in mind…

About halfway through the second show I realized that (with a couple of exceptions) it might not really matter what music we were playing during the acrobatics, as long as it was the right length and had some vague character similarity with the act at hand. Does Danse Macabre really have any connection to a woman doing stunts on a rope suspended above the audience (beyond her slinky costume)? Not really. Plus I was kind of busy, so I couldn’t even see the slinky costume that well. On the other hand, the Ride was perfect for the guy flying around over the orchestra. But most of the time we could’ve played anything and the audience still would’ve been amazed at the visual display. It still wasn’t really about the orchestra, except for the few pieces we played on our own.

But does any of that matter in this case? It is a Pops show after all (and a good one), and those generally draw a different crowd than our Subscription concerts. These days, shouldn’t we (as musicians) be happy that the hall is full? And what (if anything) can be learned about how to fill the hall for those more “formal” concerts. A good question to ponder for a later post.

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