As I studied various Brahms scores, I was forcefully hit by something I'd thought about before, but never noticed this clearly. You can gush about great composers all you like -- their magical inspiration, their matchless flights of musical creativitiy -- but it's hard to keep doing that when you study details of their orchestration, especially if you've ever orchestrated yourself. Yes, there are times when some orchestration idea strikes like a ray of light out of nowhere (that final chord in Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, the famous flute … [Read more...]

I'll be in Milwaukee this coming weekend, speaking about Brahms for the Milwaukee Symphony, along with my old friend Tim Page. We'll be doing preconcert talks at 10:30 AM on Friday, and at 7 PM on Saturday. That's right, 10:30 AM; the concert's at 11:15.. Tim and I will also be on Wisconsin Public Radio at 9 AM on Friday. And so now you know why I've been blogging recently about Brahms. Just doing my normal overpreparation, which in this case has been a joy, partly because Jan Swafford's Brahms biography is one of the most deeply satisfying … [Read more...]

After I blogged on Peter Gelb's turnaround plan for the Met, Joe Kluger e-mailed. Joe used to run the Philadelphia Orchestra; now he works with AEA Consulting. I asked Joe if I could share his thoughts, and he agreed. Very interesting thoughts here, about what has to happen -- in very practical terms -- for the Met to truly turn around: Greg: I read your ArtsJournal blog on the Met, which I thought was a great synthesis of all the positive things about Peter’s plans. The initial reaction that some of us at AEA had when we read the first NYT … [Read more...]

I love the ending of his Op. 1, the first piano sonata, in C major, which he wrote when he was in his teens. http://www.gregsandow.com/music/brahms_ending.m3u Listen to it…doesn’t it just radiate teenage exuberance? I can almost hear him shouting, “I finished it! I finished it!” (And yes, I know that, despite the opus number, this was really the second piano sonata he wrote. But still I can’t believe he wasn’t thrilled to finish it.) … [Read more...]

From Jan Swafford’s deep and compassionate biography of Brahms comes this little tidbit. At one point, at the height of his fame, Brahms attended the opening of a new concert hall. Above the proscenium were the names of three composers from the classical canon — Bach, Beethoven, and himself. What an amazing experience for any living composer! But the historical meaning of this is very important. The idea of a classical canon — the idea, in fact, of classical music — didn’t exist before the 19th century. In general, music from the past wasn’t … [Read more...]

My friend Julia Kirchhausen — VP, Public Relations at the American Symphony Orchestra League — gave me another view on trends in orchestral ticket sales. I’d said they’ve been declining steadily since 1990, and she said the League’s figures give a different picture, showing a peak in 1996-97, as follows:   season                        attendance           # of concerts   1990-91                      27,198,563                 25,210 1993-94                      30,742,252                 27,484 1994-95                     … [Read more...]

The most interesting cultural news in today’s New York Times comes not in the business section, where I’d usually expect to find it, but in the national news. There’s a piece on the new popularity of curling, after the Olympics, which I certainly can relate to, because my wife and I got fascinated by it. We’re not alone. As the Times reports, the United States Curling Association’s website actually crashed, because so many people wanted to look at it. (I was one of them.) So the piece talks about all the reasons people like curling. It’s a … [Read more...]

I said I’d write something about the press reaction to Peter Gelb’s announcements, which amount to the most promising first steps toward a turnaround that I’ve ever seen a classical music organization take. Some of the stories, like two in The New York Times, noted or even stressed skepticism about Peter’s plans. People were quoted saying things like, “What will he [Peter Gelb] do with the core audience while he’s courting this new audience?” Well, he’ll have star conductors, new productions, and also very likely more star singers, since yet … [Read more...]

I've been hearing a lot about empty seats over the past year or so. I meet people out of town who come to New York, go to the Met, and can't believe how empty the house is. They ask me about it. (People in New York often ask the same thing.) Or I get e-mail from people who've been to concerts in their own cities (most recently a Philadelphia Orchestra program), and they wonder why the house is so sparse. I've seen the same thing myself, in Pittsburgh last year, for instance. At one Pittsburgh Symphony concert I wanted to sit with a friend in … [Read more...]

Yesterday was a red-letter music day for me. I heard two things I just loved. One was Janine Jensen's recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I was interested in it because Universal, which released it, has been successfully marketing it on iTunes, and selling a lot of downloads. That got me curious.Turns out it's a sensational performance, alert, vivid, sweeping, fun. It's done as chamber music, with only one string player per part in the ensemble, which gives it extra intimacy. Plus some very lively continuo playing, using harpsichord, theorbo, … [Read more...]

Is it just me, or did Peter Gelb, the incoming general director of the Metropolitan Opera, just announce the most substantial turnaround plan ever seen from a major classical music institution? It’s not just me. Peter did exactly that—or at least he announced the most impressive first stages a turnaround plan that I’ve ever seen. And yet some noticeable portion of the press doesn’t seem to get it. More on the press later, though. (My colleagues weren’t having their best day, I fear.) First let’s see what Peter announced, first in stories from … [Read more...]

I have some big posts coming, about the dramatic turnaround plans at the Metropolitan Opera, and (as promised) about the British research on a young audience. But no time for anything big today, so here’s something smaller. In my Cleveland hotel room, I worked for a while on some piano pieces I’m writing, little musical embodiments of Weegee photos (Weegee being the now-famous New York tabloid photographer from the ‘40s). I’ve finished the first of these pieces, a musical setting, if that’s the word, of the Weegee photo I’ve uploaded here, … [Read more...]

I'm very happy to say that I've launched the new version of my book on the future of classical music. I trust that it's tighter and more focused than the last one. I invite you to read it, and then feel free to post comments. I'm back from Cleveland, and since it's now 5 AM -- that new book episode needed some last-minute (well last-hours) work -- I'm not going to say much about my trip. Except that we had an unexpected program change. Garrick Ohlsson, after playing the Barber Piano Concerto on Thursday and Friday, had to leave unexpectedly. … [Read more...]

I'll be in Cleveland on Sunday, stepping out on stage at Severance Hall to lead some conversation during a Cleveland Orchestra concert. I've done this once before, last season, and will do it again on March 26 and April 23. (I'll also be in Milwaukee from March 17 to March 19, speaking about the Milwaukee Symphony's Brahms festival, and about some other things, along with my old friend Tim Page from The Washington Post.) The Cleveland conversations will be short, but if past experience is any guide, pretty interesting. I'll be talking to Jahja … [Read more...]

Here's something from a faithful correspondent, who wants to be known simply as a music student from Missouri. She liiked my list of young-audience characteristics, and adds something important: May I just add to the list that a lot of younger people find the whole classical music scene hugely pretentious, in ways that those of us inside the circle may not even think about? I took my sister, who is really just a huge music fan and goes to a TON of non-classical concerts, to a SLSO [St. Louis Symphony] concert not too long ago. At the end of … [Read more...]