Klarinet Archive - Posting 000031.txt from 2008/11

From: "Harold Smith" <s3856lpa@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] After Drucker
Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:45:23 -0500

Mr. Brash,

Ah, a little Musical Euthanasia, is it? Now, that's not a bad idea if they can't perform up to the expected standards, but when they can and do just that, sending these artists out to pasture is also tossing out years of experience and the inner knowledge in the field of performance and understanding.

Harold Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: Alexander Brash
Sent: Saturday, November 8, 2008 1:53 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] After Drucker

On this topic, I'm a little curious:

Does anyone feel, like me, that mandatory retirement for the winds/
brass sections of the big 5 should be instituted? Something around 60
or 65. It's not that I feel a musician has nothing to offer after
this age - but the fact of the matter is that there are reams of
"kids" every year who can play circles around the principal players
of all the major orchestras each year. The other fact of the matter
is that tenured winds and brass principals get lazy. How many times
have I been to the New York Phil or Boston Symphony and heard players
who have held those chairs for years and years sound embarrassingly
unprepared or terrible? It becomes just a job, the hunger is gone.

Another infuriating thing that should be done away with: declaring
"no winner" out of a general audition, and then going to small,
select, hand picked auditions, and choosing the new player out of
that group. Give me a break.

/off soapbox

On Nov 8, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Fred wrote:

> I am curious why no one is guessing who will succeed Stanley
> Drucker after his retirement. My guess would have been Ricardo
> Morales, but he is already taken! Is it possible or likely that he
> would switch to the NY Phil? Is it against proper etiquette to
> switch such high orchestral positions?
>
> Fred
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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