Conducting, Too Spiritually
The review in today's Post of Eschenbach' s appearance with the National Symphony in Verdi's Requiem had a believable quality that gave me pause. The critic, Anne Midgette, observed that he conducted too spiritually, or something to that effect and thus missed a kind rhythmic pulse to the music. I have been wondering whether Eschenbach's time in DC will produce great music-making, and am still hopeful. But Ms. Midgette's words happen to pretty well describe a phenomenon in today's conducting which is prevalent. Only I think of it as just appearing to be "spiritual" when in fact they are just bored out of there minds.
No one is surprised when lawyers say they are bored with the law, or doctors tired of their practice. Musicians are no different. It is just that people with skills on the level of these great conductors are a vanishingly small population and so everyone just hopes that they will keep their interest up. To my ears, they don't.
I have many Eschenbach recordings. Unlike some of the other famous conductors of our day, he has made some very great recordings. But they are mixed in with real dullards. I cannot imagine being so musically talented as these folks. But still there must be a way to either keep interested, or do something different. Let the machinery of the concert world find fresh new conductors who really are in love with music. Still, the fact that Eschenbach has produced so much of lasting listening- value leaves me hopeful that he will really get his gumption up and do something interesting in DC. He could make DC cutting-edge by bucking the international tendency towards soporific music making, masquerading as spiritualization.
Relatedly, I saw a show on PBS a few days ago, which was quite touching about how people cope with different mental, ""Emotional" challenges like Aspergers, etc. The following comments are not aimed in any way at that part of the show, because it was quite lovely and sweet, as well as informative. I only wish they had not used the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as a real-world example of fine interaction, as opposed to the isolation of mental illness. It makes a nice story that there is a conductorless orchestra. But still one should ask, what has the result been all these years? The Orpheus' conductorless gimmick has produced, to my ears, really nothing but colorless, contourless performances. The sad, unavoidable truth of life is that someone has to be in charge. Hopefully the person in charge has lots of talent and leadership charisma which commands respect. and having people skills is great too. But the Orpheus Orchestra only shows the folly of having no leader in a group beyond a few souls. It produces superficial, bland results. And the really sad part is that in the context of this particular show, many with mental problems fallaciously tend to choose lack of treatment because they think that medicine will overly smooth- out their life and make it bland. Thus, this choice of the Orpheus Orchestra was particularly bad in this regard. Far from being a great symbol of vigorous working- together, it is a manifestation of that blandness some fear. I am sure this was far from their intent, and that all the people in that orchestra are well-intentioned in their latest snoozy rendition of a Mozart symphony, but they are also manifestly the wrong symbol of health.
The review in today's Post of Eschenbach' s appearance with the National Symphony in Verdi's Requiem had a believable quality that gave me pause. The critic, Anne Midgette, observed that he conducted too spiritually, or something to that effect and thus missed a kind rhythmic pulse to the music. I have been wondering whether Eschenbach's time in DC will produce great music-making, and am still hopeful. But Ms. Midgette's words happen to pretty well describe a phenomenon in today's conducting which is prevalent. Only I think of it as just appearing to be "spiritual" when in fact they are just bored out of there minds.
No one is surprised when lawyers say they are bored with the law, or doctors tired of their practice. Musicians are no different. It is just that people with skills on the level of these great conductors are a vanishingly small population and so everyone just hopes that they will keep their interest up. To my ears, they don't.
I have many Eschenbach recordings. Unlike some of the other famous conductors of our day, he has made some very great recordings. But they are mixed in with real dullards. I cannot imagine being so musically talented as these folks. But still there must be a way to either keep interested, or do something different. Let the machinery of the concert world find fresh new conductors who really are in love with music. Still, the fact that Eschenbach has produced so much of lasting listening- value leaves me hopeful that he will really get his gumption up and do something interesting in DC. He could make DC cutting-edge by bucking the international tendency towards soporific music making, masquerading as spiritualization.
Relatedly, I saw a show on PBS a few days ago, which was quite touching about how people cope with different mental, ""Emotional" challenges like Aspergers, etc. The following comments are not aimed in any way at that part of the show, because it was quite lovely and sweet, as well as informative. I only wish they had not used the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as a real-world example of fine interaction, as opposed to the isolation of mental illness. It makes a nice story that there is a conductorless orchestra. But still one should ask, what has the result been all these years? The Orpheus' conductorless gimmick has produced, to my ears, really nothing but colorless, contourless performances. The sad, unavoidable truth of life is that someone has to be in charge. Hopefully the person in charge has lots of talent and leadership charisma which commands respect. and having people skills is great too. But the Orpheus Orchestra only shows the folly of having no leader in a group beyond a few souls. It produces superficial, bland results. And the really sad part is that in the context of this particular show, many with mental problems fallaciously tend to choose lack of treatment because they think that medicine will overly smooth- out their life and make it bland. Thus, this choice of the Orpheus Orchestra was particularly bad in this regard. Far from being a great symbol of vigorous working- together, it is a manifestation of that blandness some fear. I am sure this was far from their intent, and that all the people in that orchestra are well-intentioned in their latest snoozy rendition of a Mozart symphony, but they are also manifestly the wrong symbol of health.
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