Posted by Gary Press on October 24, 2000 at 10:25:12:
In Reply to: Are orchestras dying? posted by Scott Roeder on October 24, 2000 at 07:15:43:
Some really good comments so far on this topic. There are so many factors that could be considered contributors to the current state of classical music in our country.
A couple things that have not yet been mentioned come to mind as to why our audience has been losing interest.
1. Granted, we have some very good conductors today such as Zinman, Sawallisch, Masur, etc. However, I cannot think of an active conductor who reaches that special level that the Karajans, Bernsteins and Celibidaches of the world did. It just seems to me that truly great interpreters have gone by the wayside. If we look at what record companies are rel;easing these days we see primarily two categories: recordings that are heavily marketed in ways that (to me) detract from the greatness of the music itself; and re-issues of older recordings with greats such as Reiner, Stokowski, etc. These conductors seem to have staying power because of their ability to communicate with their orchestras which in turn contacts the audience.
I think the lack of emotional connectivity between the most of today's conductors and orchestras and consequently the audiences have caused the public to become restless and bored with classical music.
2. "Shrinking Repertoire Syndrome" has become a limiting factor as well. With the emergence of many groups that specialize in Early and Modern music, "standard" orchestral fare now ranges generally from Mozart to Stravinsky. We see an occasional work by Bach or a premiere now and then, but what I see as I look over the programming schedules of my local big 5 orchestra, I see repeat after repeat after repeat. Don't get me wrong...I love Till Eulenspiegel, but I don't need to hear it played every single season (sometimes I've even seen it programmed on two separate series in the same year) by the same orchestra with the same conductor We need more variety.
3. We also need to find a way to keep ourselves as musicians interested in what we do before we can expect to interest an audience. We all know there are players who have tenured positions in orchestras around the country that view what they do as "just a job". Obviously, there are many who do not view their jobs this way, I am merely pointing out something I have noticed. In essence, we have to be our own salespeople...its hard to sell classical music when we don't have the enthusiasm and excitement about the music ourselves.
I'd be interested in responses and reactions (digs out his bullet-proof shield) to my thoughts.