Posted by Barry Guerrero on June 27, 2003 at 21:47:04:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Article on new tubist in Vienna posted by Ross on June 27, 2003 at 21:28:23:
As someone who seen the VPO many times, and has spent 8 months in Vienna (years ago), I think that I'm somewhat qualified to discuss this issue. With the VPO, I don't think that it's really so much a case "racism" and/or "sexism". The results may come out that way, but in my honest opinion, that was not the intent. For the Wiener Staatsoper and the VPO, the desire is to choose from students have been trained in THEIR ways of performing the music. Many of the people who win jobs there have been studying with the players in the orchestra, and many of them have gone through the Wiener Hochschule fur Musik. I'm sure that much has changed since the years that I was there, and I'm sure that they're feeling the pressure to address these issues. Especially since the VPO plays the role of cultural ambassadors for Austria and Vienna. However, nobody is going to get a job in their horn section if they don't play on the Viennese single F-horn. The same is true for the Viennese oboe and Viennese bassoon. Those are sounds that they're used to working with, and they have every intention of maintaining those traditions. Because they don't want to sound like every other orchestra on earth (which isn't always a bad thing my any means), change is not going to happen real rapidly. The Vienese do not like to have the outside world dictate what they are, and are not going to do - for better or for worse. We, as consumers of music, have to make our own judgements as to whether we're going to attend their concerts, and buy their CD's and videos. But I don't think that they're going to do a lot of sudden moves unless their adoring audiences stop showing up - plain and simple.
Barry