All Entries in the "Rants&Raves" Category
How To Make Sure We Don’t Have An Audience in 20 years – Part The First
For the past 20 years or so there has been a constant stream of critics bemoaning the fact that there won’t be any audiences in 20 years for classical music. Here we are 20 years later and there are at least some people coming to hear us perform. But despite all the warning signs about [...]
Quick Takes: The Gold Medal for the greatest Orchestra goes to…..
Another attempt to pit Orchestras against each other in an unofficial “Olympics” at Carnegie is a real head scratcher. What is the prize, who actually cares and what is the point? Thankfully Alex Ross provides some sanity but what is interesting is how Orchestras making the Carnegie pilgrimage seem to think it is a magic [...]
Those Who Can’t Do Redux – Maestro Myths
As I expected there was some very interesting feedback from my recent conductor rants. Personally, I find the fact that the secret society of The Golden Baton didn’t send the Mahler Ninjas to disrupt my concerts last week quite surprising – whether that means that I’m just too small time to merit their attention is [...]
More ASS in clASSical – Unexplain This!
So I’m late in getting to the widely panned Philly marketing campaign Unexpect Yourself. Now to their credit it has created a lot of buzz in the blogosphere but whether it translates into sales and repeat business….well time will tell. What marketing in general seems to lack is creating a connection to relevancy with this [...]
Lest We….Lebrecht!
I have always been a fan of Norman Lebrecht. His book Mahler Remembered is an anthology of recollections from friends, colleagues, observers, critics and the like. The personal nature of the book drew me in giving me some sense of Mahler the man along with the times he lived in, going beyond his musical prowess. [...]
… and if you CAN do…. A.K.A. – Another Inconvenient Truth
I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy. Since in my last post I called into question all those working conductors out there who don’t play their instruments anymore, I feel it’s only fair to look at another side of the coin – players who are driven to pick up the baton. I’m starting to feel [...]
Those who can’t do…… A.K.A. – An Inconvenient Truth
I have probably already posted about this topic, but since I have started off this year seemingly determined to aggravate, irritate, and generally annoy everyone in the business whom I possibly can, I think it’s about time to tackle this issue once more. To wit….. what has happened to the conductor who still plays their [...]
Quick Takes: And for the Record(ing) we need to go more “GaGa!”
While the rest of the universe is scratching their heads and debating how Taylor Swift won the Grammy for album of the year, the Internet broadcast of the Classical awards from earlier in the day on Sunday left me perplexed…and the sad thing is, it’s maybe just me who is. It seems not only are [...]
Time for a CONTROVERSY!!!
I had a revelation the other day, and since this is the age of instant communication I decided to post it on Facebook immediately. I knew that it was going to drive some people, many of them good friends of mine and respected colleagues, completely insane, but occasionally one has to open up the floodgates [...]
Mad Mad Men…. putting the Con in Contra
For our Mad Men tribute I came across a real head scratcher. It is hard to believe that the New York Times prints such dreck sometimes, but that they did when an article was posted with the hypothetical argument to turn the video game Guitar Hero into Orchestra Hero. This is an ASS in clASSical [...]
And Now for Something Completely Different….
So two weeks ago was the 40th anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus first broadcast hence the title, but I have also been thinking about the way orchestras typically go about searching for a Music Director and if this process needs to be done in a very different and more forward thinking way. I believe [...]
Concert Companion….Bring a Friend to the CSO!
I’m a big fan of technology, I’m always bummed out when something I have is super seeded by a new model. I still have that old crusty 1st generation ipod touch (18 months old!). I was intrigued like many when the Concert Companion first came out, a device to enhance the understanding of the concert [...]
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