Watching the absurdly-long State of the Union last night, I couldn’t help but think of this equally-absurd image of Trump conducting an orchestra of his MAGA cronies. Look closely and you can see Marco Rubio as concertmaster, JD Vance as first cello, and Pam Bondi on harp. It was created by Trump-favorite artist Jon McNaughton and shared by Trump on his Truth Social. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so disturbing.
McNaughton says this about his image: “You can feel it – the music is coming together – rising and stirring something deep inside … When Americans pull together and trust a shared vision, they create something strong, lasting, and bigger than any one person.”
In an insightful piece in The Guardian, Tom Service picks apart McNaughton’s outdated characterization of orchestras, which have become far more enlightened than American politics in their approach to the collective will.
“Orchestras can represent an ideal society – if, that is, you’re a wannabe despot. Imagine: one hundred musicians, working in perfect togetherness to realise your vision, with no possibility of dissent, criticism or disagreement. Every tiny movement of your arms and facial expressions is magicked through the force of pure will into the sounds of your deepest desires….If society worked more like orchestras, the story goes, our lives would all be better, because in orchestras everyone’s giving up their individuality for the greater good.
But that’s a deeply problematic idea, because orchestras never work in absolute harmony. An orchestra is created through the tensions between the individual wills of the players and their contribution to the collective. The best orchestras do not function like well-oiled machines, drilled to the finest margins of unanimity. Instead, they’re models of a controlled chaos of human emotions, desires and virtuosities that are held in tension, balance and friction in the moment of performance. They’re made from the transfigured experience of listening to each other. When orchestras really fly, the conductor isn’t an all-powerful musical despot, instead, he or she is an inspirer of a dynamic culture in which everyone responds to where the musical discourse is going, recognising when they’ve got the tune or the accompaniment, creating a permanent state of flux, volatility, and creative negotiation.”
For an example of such an orchestra, look no further than the Vienna Philharmonic, which comes to town this weekend for their annual appearance at Carnegie Hall. Having ditched any ties to a regular conductor almost a century ago – they’ve never had a “music director” – Vienna now performs exclusively with guest conductors under a self-governing structure. Yes, their sound can occasionally be messy, but it’s also glorious, in ways that wouldn’t be possible if they were being controlled by an autocrat. It’s precisely why they’re the best in the world.
And, just what does Trump’s MAGA orchestra sound like? Thomas Adès gave us some idea at the NY Phil last month.
Tickets to Saturday night and Sunday afternoon’s concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic are available at the Carnegie Hall box office or online. Friday night’s whopper with Mahler 1 and Lang Lang playing Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is sold out, but you can hear it on a live broadcast from WQXR-FM or WQXR.org starting at 8pm.