 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2005-02-01 23:23
There is an excellent article on the Cleveland Orchestra in the current issue of The New Yorker magazine. It provides a fascinating account of the evolution of the orchestra (and Severance Hall) from its founding though its various conductors to the present.
The title focuses, somewhat gratuitously in my view, on whether the orchestra will survive the rapidly diminishing demographics of the city of Cleveland and the State of Ohio. Far more interesting is the insight into how the precision and polish of the ensemble developed in response to the succession of styles of the various conductors, as related by players. (Mr. Maazel comes out on the short end of the baton) Most fascinating is the appetite of the orchestra and its listeners for difficult modern works.
The article is currently only available in the print edition and is not available at the magazine's web site. It’s worth the cover price for anyone who follows the orchestra.
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Author: vin
Date: 2005-02-02 02:00
But they still don't have a permanent principal oboe....
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Author: diz
Date: 2005-02-02 04:19
Where do "non-Americans" get to read this, is it digital or a paper only edition?
thanks
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
Post Edited (2005-02-02 04:19)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-02-02 04:52
I was just listening to Stravinski's Soldier's Tale played by players from the Cleveland orchestra and conducted by my favorite conductor Pierre Boulez. The clarinet player (Franklin Cohen) and actually all the players are excellent.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2005-02-02 14:54
diz - the New Yorker is available on-line. There may be a delay in posting the current edition that's sent to subscribers.
I don't think that issue of the financial survival of the Cleveland should be dismissed as gratuitous - it seems like that's a real question - taking it for granted means probably losing a great institution.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-02-02 15:10
Unfortunately, the New Yorker did not make the article available on its web site. It's worth buying the issue just for the article.
The author, Charles Michener, is the regular music critic for the New York Observer, where his email address is cmichener@observer.com. Some writers have their own web sitges where they post copies of their work, but Michener doesn't seem to have one. Perhaps he would be willing to let the article be posted here, though you will also need permission from The New Yorker.
A great orchestra like Cleveland adapts instantaneously to a conductor, and the great conductors are famous for producing "their" sound with any orchestra. There are many stories about, for example, Stokowski and Beecham creating a characteristic way of playing with no rehearsals, simply by giving a downbeat.
I know one of the Cleveland cellists, who tells me the orchestra loves Welser-Möst and is playing better than ever for him.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2005-02-02 20:37
It's not the financial survival of the orchestra I found gratuitous. Rather, it's the implication of the flip title that the problems the Cleveland Orchestra faces are the province of Cleveland or Ohio alone. Many large cities in the U.S. are facing accelerated flight from the city to the suburbs along with a collapse of the traditional manufacturing base for jobs and tax revenue. And most top orchestras in the U.S. are facing serious financial pressures.
As someone who was born in Ohio, went to school in Cleveland and has lived in New York City for 30 years, I do tire of the New York tendency to portray anyone who lives west of the Hudson River as unsophisticated rubes.
Imagine the umbrage from New Yorkers if the Cleveland Plain Dealer had run an article titled “Can the New York Philharmonic Survive Its Board” after the Carnegie Hall fiasco.
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