Klarinet Archive - Posting 000640.txt from 1999/09

From: John Dablin <johnd@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Orchestra Funding, a paradox
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 11:02:25 -0400

Reading the recent posts about orchestra salarys brought to mind a
curious paradox. In a newspaper article about Simon Rattle being
appointed as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic the writer said that
British artists and musicians are highly regarded in Germany and are in
great demand. It seems that the years of generous state subsidies have
effectively turned artists into minor civil servants, who are more
concerned with not upsetting their paymasters than with originality and
creativity, which are in short supply in Germany. Perhaps it is true
that real creativity only flourishes in the face of hardship and
adversity, but that seems extraordinarily unfair when you consider the
plight of the London orchestral player in the light of the years of hard
work and dedication it takes to get such a post.

There ought be a better way of organising the arts which avoids these
two extremes, but it's not easy to see how to do it. Has great art
always needed the artist to be "starving in a garret", or is that a
Hollywood myth?
--
John Dablin
Aylesbury UK

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