For all those who aren’t able to make it to the BPO’s bi-annual concerts at Carnegie this week (yes, they do come every other year, not just when Carnegie decides to put on a festival), WNYC (93.9FM) is broadcasting tonight’s concert live. (For those not in NYC, you can pick up the webstream here.) On the program is Thomas Adès’ Tevot and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. Rattle often does this sort of program: new, somewhat challenging work followed by established masterpiece. I remember the first time I saw him was in 2003 in Vienna, where he programmed Varese and HK Gruber on the first half, Ein Heldenleben on the second. One Viennese patron in her 30’s approached me at intermission and said: "That music was really quite terrible. But the Strauss, it is very beautiful." Guess it all depends on your perspective…
I’ll be in the house on Friday for the BPO’s final concert, featuring György Kurtág’s Stele and Mahler’s 10th Symphony, a piece that Rattle and the orchestra have recorded and pretty much own. Kind of a short concert for a $102 Dress Circle ticket, but I guess it’s slightly cheaper than what it would cost to fly to Berlin…
P.S. (9:20p) During the intermission feature, WNYC had a taped segment with Rattle, which made note of his practice of admonishing his audiences for coughing. (He gave a death stare to one particularly-croupy patron on Monday during the Shostakovich.) When asked about it, he basically ripped us a new one:
"Nowhere are audiences more abmoniable than in New York. It’s a loud city, and people bring that loudness into the concert hall. I know they don’t really have a vendetta against us – but it sure sounds like they do."
Amen to that.
P.P.S. (10:02p) Ok, we redeemed ourselves (somewhat) by leaving a long silence after the Mahler ended.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Come on now… Which is it? Do we need to relax the formalism of these things to attract a younger audience and keep the art form vital, or do we need to mind our Ps and Qs so as not to offend a touchy diva? (And what’s the male version of ‘diva’? I say Devo.) Not that Rattle isn’t worthy of any praise he receives, but if you start ripping on your audience, you’re a diva.
Ok, I realize that this is delicate music – even the most bombastic pieces have their delicate moments – and there is a certain Spell that we don’t want to break. But this is a performance, viewed by a human audience and ambient sounds are part of the overall performance (ask John Cage). If you want an absolutely pure sound, record in an empty hall.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.
Fair enough, friend. But, I invite you to come up here sometime, sit in one of these concerts, and compare the “ambient sound” to what you’ve heard elsewhere. Gotta say: Rattle’s right. The people who cough here are not suffering from colds. They’re suffering from suddenly not being the center of attention.