Deaccessioning, Symphony-Style

AJ Blogger Drew McManus, speaking yesterday on New York Public Radio’s (WNYC‘s) Soundcheck (scroll to the final segment), could not answer host John Schaefer‘s key question about the impact of the 30 rare string instruments that the New Jersey Symphony bought four years ago and is now planning to sell:
Did the sound improve?
Unlike Drew, I’m from Jersey, and I can answer from firsthand concerthall experience:
Enormously.
The string section had a sensuously rich tone that was a mixed blessing, because it overshadowed the other musicians. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the orchestra was able to attract better string players with these better instruments.
The program that I heard played to the orchestra’s greatest strength, favoring works that favored the strings.
You may have noticed that I said “the program.” And that’s the New Jersey Symphony’s biggest problem: As a classical concertgoer, I’m its target audience, but I don’t live much farther away from Lincoln Center in New York than I do from the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ. I almost always cross the Hudson for my culture.
It’s a shame that the NJSO’s board now feels financially compelled to sell the one asset that made the orchestra special and that attracted its current music director, Neeme Jarvi.
Selling the instruments may fix the finances, but it won’t begin to solve the orchestra’s artistic or geographic problems. It may only exacerbate them.