Klarinet Archive - Posting 000007.txt from 2001/04

From: EstradaMC@-----.com
Subj: [kl] To Encore or not to encore (Stravinsky's Rite)
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 03:59:44 -0400

This week was a good week for me I got to play the E-flat part in The Rite of
Spring, it doesn't get much better than this. The concert also featured the
profound Beethoven Violin concerto. When the week began I noticed on the
rehearsal schedule that we were scheduled to play an encore, Gliere's Russian
Sailors Dance. I was shocked, how can you possibly play such dribble after
the monumental Stravinsky score. The performances have been going very well
and the orchestra seems to be enjoying some of it's finest moments. The
reception by the audience has been altogether different. The concert ends to
polite and reserved applause. I guess management knows just how conservative
our audiences are so they wanted to send them out happy, hence the Gliere.
The tumultuous applause after the Gliere leaves me feeling empty and
frustrated. I resent the audience for their limitations and hate that we
pander to the lowest common denominator. I take the shouts of Bravo after
the Gliere as a direct assault on the Stravinsky score. After ninety years
since it's composition the piece is still reviled or at least inaccessible to
so many people. It is such a sad statement of classical music industry. The
audience in not altogether uncultured, usually these are wealthy retirees
from up north and grew up listening to orchestras in Chicago, Cleveland,
Minnesota, Detroit, etc. How can we make this music more accessible? I
understand that this is not generally a problem in larger markets such as the
ones I mentioned before, but for me it was a blemish on an otherwise perfect
night.
Mario E.

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