Chad wrote: >I think linking to one of the few articles in the >media that try and justify the virtual orchestra and >are likely in the back pockets of the producers(ny >times) is not a great way for any art lover to present >the issue to the horn list.
Hi, Chad. Perhaps we read different articles. Tommasini was actually lamenting the increasing/threatened use of virtual orchestras. He was pointing out, however, that Broadway producers and directors have been, consciously or unconsciously, preparing audiences for virtual orchestras for decades. The preparation began with the first introduction of amplification, over forty years ago. As it stands, live music sounds awfully artificial. A wall of sound--very loud, very brassy, spatially undifferentiated, unrelenting--seems to be what the producers and directors of the last several B-way shows that I've seen were after. Vocal, musical, and dramatic nuance were not on the agenda. I'm willing to accept Tommasini's argument that things have been this way for a long time and won't change, except for boutique productions, because directors and audiences actually like things this way. My fear is that this aesthetic, if I can call it that, will infiltrate opera houses and concert halls. Many opera companies are already using amplification, as you know. Acoustical engineers are "improving" concert halls with what they claim is the selective and undetectable placement of speakers. I shudder to think where this is taking us, especially since most of the music that most people listen to most of the time is, by design, is amplified and synthesized to one degree or another, usually a high degree. You also seem uncomfortable with the assertion that the Broadway strike was about saving jobs. I'm ready to believe that the union and the striking musicians, in part, wanted to preserve live music. But they also wanted to save jobs. They have nothing to apologize for. That's what unions are supposed to do. Management's job is to screw the workers (except in the case of Tyson, Adelphia, Enron, Worldcomm, etc., where management's job is to screw everyone). The union's job is to protect jobs and fight for better wages and conditions. --John ===== J. Mason, Charlottesville, Virginia New! Friday Evenings at Eastside Raceway, Photos: http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/cgi-bin/gallery-x/index.html __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
