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Dan Coren
I should pay for Hindemith? Or,
Why I canceled my Orchestra subscription
DAN COREN
On April 19th, I called subscriber services at the Philadelphia Orchestra and cancelled my subscription renewal for the 2006-2007 season. If you’ve been reading my essays on this website, you can imagine that it wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve enjoyed almost all the Orchestra concerts I’ve attended this year; I was treated like a prince when I asked for adjustments to my seating last year (when I was a mere customer, not a critic); and in all my years in Philadelphia, I don’t think the Orchestra has ever sounded better. The graciousness of the woman I spoke to on the phone didn’t make my decision any easier. Nonetheless, I cancelled. Here’s why.
The other day, the announcement of the Orchestra’s summer season at the Mann arrived in the mail. “Holy cow!" I said to my wife. "Look at those programs!” There’s one blockbuster concert after another. For example, on June 21st, Emmanuel Ax will play the Beethoven Fifth Piano Concerto (the Emperor) on the same concert as Pictures at an Exhibition. What a way to celebrate the summer solstice!
(A personal confession is in order here. The Emperor is just about my favorite concerto by anyone. Ax is one of my favorite pianists. But as a Phillies season ticket holder, I already have tickets for the Yankees game that night and an opportunity to see it with one of my oldest friends, a fellow music major from college who used to sell peanuts at Yankee Stadium. And I’ve never seen Alex Rodriguez play. Hmm… A-Rod or Ax? Ax or A-Rod? It’s a no-brainer, actually. Ars longa, athletic careers brevis; Beethoven can wait. I thought you should know where I stand on this issue.)
The suffering of the winter audience
My wife looked at the schedule and said, “Yeah. Why don’t they do that during the regular season?” Why, indeed? Why do summer audiences get to hear night after night of masterpieces, while season ticket holders are expected to spend money on concerts that, I feel confident in saying, very few of them would choose on their own? (Some specifics will follow shortly.)
A few weeks later, some friends asked if we’d like to attend two “Kimmel Center Presents” events next season— specifically, jazz harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans, opening for the legendary jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, and the Soweto Gospel Choir. Sure, we said. Let’s see what else we might want to go to.
The combined recent experiences of seeing the Arden Theater's Opus and hearing Richard Goode play at Curtis had already made us consider, albeit half-heartedly, the heresy of giving up our subscription to the Orchestra so as to free up time to hear more music in intimate settings. But by the time we were done looking over the bounty of eclectic offerings in the Kimmel brochure– the Kronos Quartet; Dianne Reeves; Trudy Pitts (who for so many years played wonderful jazz at the now defunct Meiji En), opening on the organ for Nancy Wilson; Evgeny Kissen, and several more I’d be happy to hear— we decided it was time to scrutinize our Friday “B” Orchestra series and decide if it was really worth more than $800 of our disposable income.
The envelope, please
We rated each of the six concerts on the series on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best. Here are our results.
October 13th: Andre Watts playing two Shostakovich piano concertos and Eschenbach conducting the Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony: 4. A possible overdose of Shostakovich, but also probably a unique opportunity to hear both concertos. I love the Tchaikovsky symphonies and the Sixth is my favorite.
November 3rd, Billed as “Muti Returns.”: Muti conducting a Schubert overture and Schubert’s Fourth Symphony, Paul Hindemith’s Nobilissima visione, and Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration: 1. Riccardo, I thought I knew you. What a weird, disappointing program! The Schubert Fourth is unfortunately nicknamed the “Tragic.” Beethoven’s Coriolan overture– now, that expresses tragedy! This Schubert symphony is at best earnest. And simply not very good. Boring, to tell the truth. Although I’ve tried to overcome my dislike of Richard Strauss’s music, I’ll pay not to have to listen to anything he wrote. But what really offends me about this concert is the idea that I should pay money to hear Hindemith’s music. Hindemith was on the official list of Important Contemporary Composers when I was in college 40 years ago, but even then I don’t think the Paul Hindemith Fan Club boasted much of a membership. For me, Hindemith exemplifies the “Eat your spinach, dear” school of composition. What is Muti thinking?
December 8th: Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, and Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta and his Psalmus hungaricus: 2. The Dvorak is a wonderful piece, but the Orchestra seems to play it again and again. When’s the last time the other great Dvorak symphony, the New World, was performed here? I don’t know Psalmus hungaricus, but Dances of Galanta, and Kodaly’s music in general, are, for me, not offensive but not particularly compelling, either.
Is this the best venue for Bach or Tristan?
January 5th: Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan; Harbison Double Bass Concerto; Copland’s Third Symphony: 3. This concert could turn out to be a dud, but it could be a real sleeper, too. I don’t know the Harbison concerto; I hardly know the Copland symphony, although Copland sounds better and better to me as time passes. If I want to hear Tristan (and I won’t any time soon), I’ll listen to all of it.
February 23rd: Roger Norrington’s Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, his Cantata #82, and the Mendelssohn Fifth (Reformation) Symphony: 3. Norrington is never dull, and it’s hard to complain about Bach. But I’d rather hear Baroque music in a different setting. And no matter what Norrington does, I’m afraid the Reformation symphony is still going to be the same pleasant, smug Mendelssohn that it's always been.
May 4th: Eschenbach performing the Mahler Second Symphony: 5. I can’t hear this piece too many times. I love Eschenbach’s Mahler. Show me where the line forms.
So what will transport me?
Let’s see: That’s 18 divided by 6 = 3— that is, a C+. But the grade in itself doesn’t sufficiently express the boring and staid timidity of this programming. Harbison, Kodaly and Hindemith? No offense to these gentlemen, but that’s a pretty pallid sampling of 20th-Century music. Has this orchestra played anything by, say, Elliott Carter? How about some nice Luciano Berio? Or even John Adams?
This repertory is all the more puzzling when you consider what a good job the Orchestra has done this season of blending crowd-pleasers (the goal is still to please crowds, isn’t it?) with innovative new pieces (see my essay, "A lesson from Simon Rattle"). My last subscription concert of the current season is a case in point: On May 12th, to inaugurate the new Verizon Hall organ, the Orchestra will play a new piece by Gerald Levinson, a local composer Philadelphia should treasure, as well as works by Samuel Barber and Francois Poulenc. Add the Saint-Saens Third Symphony, and it’s no surprise that the concert is already sold out. Nothing next season comes close to matching such an inventive program.
Every time I spend money on a concert, I gamble that it will transport me, will leave me a musical memory that I can revisit in my mind the way I revisit my vacations to the New Mexico desert. Few of these concerts look like good bets to achieve that state of bliss. And I really miss Trudy Pitts.
To view a response, click here.
Why I canceled my Orchestra subscription
DAN COREN
On April 19th, I called subscriber services at the Philadelphia Orchestra and cancelled my subscription renewal for the 2006-2007 season. If you’ve been reading my essays on this website, you can imagine that it wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve enjoyed almost all the Orchestra concerts I’ve attended this year; I was treated like a prince when I asked for adjustments to my seating last year (when I was a mere customer, not a critic); and in all my years in Philadelphia, I don’t think the Orchestra has ever sounded better. The graciousness of the woman I spoke to on the phone didn’t make my decision any easier. Nonetheless, I cancelled. Here’s why.
The other day, the announcement of the Orchestra’s summer season at the Mann arrived in the mail. “Holy cow!" I said to my wife. "Look at those programs!” There’s one blockbuster concert after another. For example, on June 21st, Emmanuel Ax will play the Beethoven Fifth Piano Concerto (the Emperor) on the same concert as Pictures at an Exhibition. What a way to celebrate the summer solstice!
(A personal confession is in order here. The Emperor is just about my favorite concerto by anyone. Ax is one of my favorite pianists. But as a Phillies season ticket holder, I already have tickets for the Yankees game that night and an opportunity to see it with one of my oldest friends, a fellow music major from college who used to sell peanuts at Yankee Stadium. And I’ve never seen Alex Rodriguez play. Hmm… A-Rod or Ax? Ax or A-Rod? It’s a no-brainer, actually. Ars longa, athletic careers brevis; Beethoven can wait. I thought you should know where I stand on this issue.)
The suffering of the winter audience
My wife looked at the schedule and said, “Yeah. Why don’t they do that during the regular season?” Why, indeed? Why do summer audiences get to hear night after night of masterpieces, while season ticket holders are expected to spend money on concerts that, I feel confident in saying, very few of them would choose on their own? (Some specifics will follow shortly.)
A few weeks later, some friends asked if we’d like to attend two “Kimmel Center Presents” events next season— specifically, jazz harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans, opening for the legendary jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, and the Soweto Gospel Choir. Sure, we said. Let’s see what else we might want to go to.
The combined recent experiences of seeing the Arden Theater's Opus and hearing Richard Goode play at Curtis had already made us consider, albeit half-heartedly, the heresy of giving up our subscription to the Orchestra so as to free up time to hear more music in intimate settings. But by the time we were done looking over the bounty of eclectic offerings in the Kimmel brochure– the Kronos Quartet; Dianne Reeves; Trudy Pitts (who for so many years played wonderful jazz at the now defunct Meiji En), opening on the organ for Nancy Wilson; Evgeny Kissen, and several more I’d be happy to hear— we decided it was time to scrutinize our Friday “B” Orchestra series and decide if it was really worth more than $800 of our disposable income.
The envelope, please
We rated each of the six concerts on the series on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best. Here are our results.
October 13th: Andre Watts playing two Shostakovich piano concertos and Eschenbach conducting the Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony: 4. A possible overdose of Shostakovich, but also probably a unique opportunity to hear both concertos. I love the Tchaikovsky symphonies and the Sixth is my favorite.
November 3rd, Billed as “Muti Returns.”: Muti conducting a Schubert overture and Schubert’s Fourth Symphony, Paul Hindemith’s Nobilissima visione, and Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration: 1. Riccardo, I thought I knew you. What a weird, disappointing program! The Schubert Fourth is unfortunately nicknamed the “Tragic.” Beethoven’s Coriolan overture– now, that expresses tragedy! This Schubert symphony is at best earnest. And simply not very good. Boring, to tell the truth. Although I’ve tried to overcome my dislike of Richard Strauss’s music, I’ll pay not to have to listen to anything he wrote. But what really offends me about this concert is the idea that I should pay money to hear Hindemith’s music. Hindemith was on the official list of Important Contemporary Composers when I was in college 40 years ago, but even then I don’t think the Paul Hindemith Fan Club boasted much of a membership. For me, Hindemith exemplifies the “Eat your spinach, dear” school of composition. What is Muti thinking?
December 8th: Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, and Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta and his Psalmus hungaricus: 2. The Dvorak is a wonderful piece, but the Orchestra seems to play it again and again. When’s the last time the other great Dvorak symphony, the New World, was performed here? I don’t know Psalmus hungaricus, but Dances of Galanta, and Kodaly’s music in general, are, for me, not offensive but not particularly compelling, either.
Is this the best venue for Bach or Tristan?
January 5th: Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan; Harbison Double Bass Concerto; Copland’s Third Symphony: 3. This concert could turn out to be a dud, but it could be a real sleeper, too. I don’t know the Harbison concerto; I hardly know the Copland symphony, although Copland sounds better and better to me as time passes. If I want to hear Tristan (and I won’t any time soon), I’ll listen to all of it.
February 23rd: Roger Norrington’s Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, his Cantata #82, and the Mendelssohn Fifth (Reformation) Symphony: 3. Norrington is never dull, and it’s hard to complain about Bach. But I’d rather hear Baroque music in a different setting. And no matter what Norrington does, I’m afraid the Reformation symphony is still going to be the same pleasant, smug Mendelssohn that it's always been.
May 4th: Eschenbach performing the Mahler Second Symphony: 5. I can’t hear this piece too many times. I love Eschenbach’s Mahler. Show me where the line forms.
So what will transport me?
Let’s see: That’s 18 divided by 6 = 3— that is, a C+. But the grade in itself doesn’t sufficiently express the boring and staid timidity of this programming. Harbison, Kodaly and Hindemith? No offense to these gentlemen, but that’s a pretty pallid sampling of 20th-Century music. Has this orchestra played anything by, say, Elliott Carter? How about some nice Luciano Berio? Or even John Adams?
This repertory is all the more puzzling when you consider what a good job the Orchestra has done this season of blending crowd-pleasers (the goal is still to please crowds, isn’t it?) with innovative new pieces (see my essay, "A lesson from Simon Rattle"). My last subscription concert of the current season is a case in point: On May 12th, to inaugurate the new Verizon Hall organ, the Orchestra will play a new piece by Gerald Levinson, a local composer Philadelphia should treasure, as well as works by Samuel Barber and Francois Poulenc. Add the Saint-Saens Third Symphony, and it’s no surprise that the concert is already sold out. Nothing next season comes close to matching such an inventive program.
Every time I spend money on a concert, I gamble that it will transport me, will leave me a musical memory that I can revisit in my mind the way I revisit my vacations to the New Mexico desert. Few of these concerts look like good bets to achieve that state of bliss. And I really miss Trudy Pitts.
To view a response, click here.
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