I'm not sure it comes down to competing directly with that kind of stuff. Maybe it has more to do with education or unashamed promotion of art for art's sake. When I was in Mexico City, every concert we played was greeted with standing ovations, rhythmic clapping, encores demanded etc. etc. This was for all hard-core classic music. Well ok, we did one "pops" concert which consisted of all Tchaikovsky! What's wrong with Americans? I remember playing 1st with another orchestra here in the States for an all Wagner concert. Well, I was kind of pumped to get to play lead on all of that great music. What they didn't warn us about until late in the week was that there was a whole "production" with a light show, projecting stuff behind the orchestra, narration etc. Did this add to the general level of excitement and lead to greater understanding of the music? I dunno, I kind of feel that it was the opposite, the spectacle detracting from the music. Of course Wagner's operas ARE a spectacle, but ours was something more of a grade C minus spectacle. The question comes down to, why do we feel it necessary to apologize for playing great classical music?
Steve Mumford Bryan wrote: And the point is what? To survive we must adapt. If we just stick to "art" we will see many more orchestras go under. I am fairly sure you will disagree that this is a good idea, but the best concert I have been to in years can be found here: http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/ Playing was great as well as the show. It is hard for traditional orchestras to compete with this, but they must find ways to compete if they are to survive. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
