Klarinet Archive - Posting 000021.txt from 2001/04
From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com> Subj: Re: [kl] To Encore or not to encore (Stravinsky's Rite) Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 19:36:57 -0400
At 03:59 AM 4/1/2001 -0400, Mario E. wrote:
>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.
You make it more accessible by putting it on programs which include things
the audience relates to more readily, hoping that, with exposure and the
good feelings generated by the more popular work, the feelings will rub
off. There is nothing new about this. Remember, Beethoven got his 7th
symphony performed by sneaking onto the program with the potboiler
"Wellington's Victory." As a scheduled encore, it sounds like it performed
EXACTLY the function that the management intended!
Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265
If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!
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