All Entries in the "Smack Down!" Category

Cliburn: An article beyond the pale…poison Iv(r)y

Just how far behind the times is the Wall Street Journal’s Benjamin Ivry?  Close to 10 years, and bravo (not!) to him for proclaiming that the blind should not be allowed to play concertos, so does he have a problem with the deaf writing music also?  You have to read his article to believe it…

Heresy

This business is built on Universal Truths That Cannot Be Gainsaid even though we know they’re not all true.  You know them: “All conductors are domineering pricks”; “All orchestral musicians are sullen wannabes”; “All administrators are incompetent’; etc. etc.   Then there is Musical Dogma – “despite the fact that the vast majority of people [...]

Smack Down – Mahler 5 – It’s personal!….

It’s been a while since we did one of these, but since mentioning that I was conducting a performance of Mahler’s 5th, Bill suggested we don the gloves for yet another round. Now this time it’s personal! Mahler 5 is like family to me, it even stopped my rebellious teenagehood in its tracks…well for a [...]

CONDUCTOR SMACKDOWN! – More Musical Mistletoe Please!

How is it even possible that I like Christmas music?  I am Jewish and I grew up (well the jury is still out on that one!) in Sydney Australia where at this time of year it’s 100 degrees.  There, none of the songs such as Let it Snow, White Christmas but especially Baby It’s Cold [...]

When even the Brits are ahead of you…. Conductor Smack Down!

Chasing our Tails…Conductor Smack Down!

The first in a series of Conductor Smack Downs! The topic what we wear, and what the audience wears has popped up yet again.  We so often don’t have an answer to our audience woes, so why do we turn to fashion to solve our problems?  If we are building a house and we are [...]