As anyone who has lived some of it knows, there is plenty of funny to be found in orchestra life [link via Adaptistration], but there are people who get anxious when you giggle over it.
I love that Leonard Slatkin (or the people behind his website at least–anyone know if he’d be the sort to pen this kind of thing himself? Leonard, are you out there?) was willing to go there. I mean, it has impact precisely because it’s a Music Director of Slatkin’s reputation tossing out ideas like:
For the final work on the program, Rachmaninov’s 2nd Symphony, the conductor is not only going to reinstate the cuts sanctioned by the composer, but will add some additional ones as well. All in all the total performing time will be about 12 minutes.
“The piece is so long and repetitive. Once you have heard the main tunes, well, they are so memorable that they do not have to be played again.”
Slatkin went on to say, “It is my hope to perform a Bruckner cycle using this philosophy. In that way, we can get through all of them in one concert, perhaps with time for the two that have no number as well.”
Shield your eyes if you find such satire shocking, but really, love or hate that the Maestro is cracking jokes, it offers all symphony patrons something vital–something to dish about over intermission cocktails.
From the title, “Change Is in the Air,” to the last line, I read this excellent sendup a bit differently than as a light inside joke for the audience to “dish about over intermission cocktails.” This humor has an edge — and a target.
Maestro Slatkin may object to my interpretation, but I’m afraid it is guaranteed to be unassailable by the Postmodern Bill of Rights. Here is what I hear bubbling up:
To all the helpful bloggers, critics, consultants and Monday morning quarterbacks out there: Those of us who actually make music as our profession are grateful for your suggestions to help us discover the fountain of youth for our (literally) dying audience. Some of these ideas are new and show some wit. Those few – especially those that encourage us to “get with it†as the young people say – are welcome, if for no other reason than in this economy a good laugh now and then can boost our morale. But, in general, You Have No Idea What You’re Talking About.
Thus endeth the sermon 🙂
(: thanks be to god