Fascinating views and other bits

For a cold (I live in the midwest) Saturday morning, here are some high and lowlights of the week past.

Check out these images of major opera houses as you've never seen them before. A sneak peek at the Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth. There are many more.

Wagner didn't want to play here.

The Long Island Philharmonic has died. Did anyone know that it was sick? The orchestra, which once boasted Marin Alsop as its conductor, just couldn't hold it together any longer.  R.I.P.

In 2011, Colorado Symphony musicians agreed to a 14% reduction in salary and services, this on the heels of a 24% slash two years earlier. At that time, the Denver Post editorialized a Requiem for the Symphony, and yet somehow they're still playing. A quick look at their website notes a proliferation of pops events, classical "lite" (like Beethoven and Brews), and much, much "more" (or less).

These kinds of videos have been making the rounds. My friend Will, in Berlin, calls them "music to cause motion sickness.

There's talk of an alternative to plans for another abominable concert hall in London. Ungodly amounts of money have been "invested" to "improve" on atrocious facilities in the Barbican and elsewhere. Read here (compliments of Norman Lebrecht) about Leon Krier's vision to "orchestrate a Renaissance." 

I have discovered that it's much easier to find examples of ugly halls than ones that could be called beautiful.

No it's not the saucer section of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D
It's nickname is the "Egg" and it's waiting to hatch in Albany, NY.

Which is which?

One is a yet-completed concert hall; the other the home of a fictional alien race that appear as recurring antagonists in the Star Trek franchise.

Beware of Locutus. Resistance is futile.

Today's quick looks

Last year (January 20 to be exact) I began a visual exploration of many of the world's "great" concert halls. This was set in motion by the opening of the Philharmonie de Paris, that Starship Enterprise wannabe that seemed to have crash-landed on the edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. Initial cost was slated at 170 million Euros; of course, the end cost was significantly higher at 386 million Euros. As a reminder, here's what it looks like:

For a comparison:

Not to be outdone, officials in Hamburg decided on a new concert hall, of which construction began in in 2007. Original cost? €241 million. Original completion date? 2010. Well, the hall isn't finished (that won't happen for another year), and the cost? €789 million--yep, you read that right. It's become one of the biggest laughingstocks of the architectural world.

But one thing can be said for it. The building is, in the vernacular, butt ugly. Is that why it cost so much?

Maybe a rising tide will put it out of its misery

And, by the way, it's replacing this (the Laeiszhalle):

Exterior

Interior--isn't that a shoebox....

Trouble in a River City

Trouble that starts with "T," that rhymes with G.....

Growing up in Central Michigan and the backyard of Michigan State University, I was fortunate enough to be near the seat of government as well as the cultural amenities of both the town and the gown. Lansing had what was, I suppose, a decent orchestra (which I sang with on more than one occasion). It was at the university that I would encounter life-altering musical events, including my very first opera (Carmen) as well as live performances of both the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, both on tour in May 1976. Detroit (a much more attractive place despite the riots that plagued that city a decade before) wasn't that far away; its summer home--Meadowbook--on the Oakland University campus--was still active. It's concert hall at the time, Ford Auditorium, was horrible inside and out. But that organization has come full circle, returning to its original home at Orchestra Hall in 1989.

My travels west resulted mostly in visits to "the Lake" (Michigan, that is). The delights of lakeside communities of Holland and Grand Haven were too numerous to mention and the water finally becomes swimmable in the later summer. Every trip to the lake meant passing by Grand Rapids, and there rarely seemed a reason to stop.

For the longest time, GR (as the locals call it) was known as the "Furniture City". Since an 1876 international exhibition in Philadelphia, its renown as a center for fine furniture was cemented. Although those days aren't completely gone, the products manufactured in GR are mostly office products, as opposed to the wooden furniture for which the city gained its fame. In the 70s and 80s, GR always seemed to me to be a sleepy little town, with few reasons to visit, outside of a fabulous sheet music store (now a part of the J.W. Pepper chain) and a pizza joint replete with a working "Mighty Wurlitzer" (now long gone). That, to me, was Grand Rapids. Never did I venture downtown--there was no reason to, and as long as the expressway went around the city, little opportunity either.

Somewhere around 1980, as I was nearing completion of my own degree studies and preparing (unknown to me at the time) a move west, GR began to change. The Amway Corporation, began to invest in the area, renovating the historic Pantlind Hotel. The Gerald R. Ford Museum was completed in 1981 in honor of GR's favorite son and 38th President. The 1980s also brought DeVos Performance Hall, a "real home" for the local orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony, an ensemble that, in my youth seemed as sleepy as the town.

DeVos Performance Hall, Grand Rapids

(N.B. The Frederick Meijer Gardens, north of the city, are incredibly cool, especially the sculptures scattered throughout.)

Leonardo's horse at the Meijer Gardens

The GR Symphony was founded as a community orchestra in 1930. A number of renowned conductors have led the ensemble over the years, including Nicolai Malko (1942-1946), Desire Defauw (1954-1958), Semyon Bychkov (1980-1985), and Catherine Comet (1985-1998). Currently, the orchestra is engaged in a massive search to replace outgoing Music Director David Lockington; in fact, almost all of the press generated by the orchestra has concerned the guest conductors, with little offerings discussing some very important behind-the-scene issues.

GRS Music Director Laureate David Lockington, 1999-2015

Like many orchestras its size, the rise and fall of the organization's fortune have been in lockstep with the manufacturing base that is vital to the Wolverine state's economy. The 80s were a difficult time for the entire state and, of course, the crisis of 2008-09 adversely affected arts organizations, some of which have still to come to grips with the slash and burn tactics of executives and boards of directors. A two-year agreement was ratified in 2009, cutting musicians salaries 9 to 14 percent and reduced the orchestra's season from 42 to 40 weeks among other cost-cutting measures. The current four-year contract, reached in 2011, resulted in a one-year pay freeze, with approximately seven percent increases over the subsequent three seasons. Thus, all the musicians are will left behind what they were earning pre-2009.

And that's where things have stood since the contract expiration (August 31, 2015). Since that time a lone article has appeared even mentioning the issue. The Kent-Ionia Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO did report in September that While we cannot reveal specific details from our negotiation sessions, we can say that the Musicians seek for the GRS to grow along with the city that currently is experiencing a boom like never before, while the management seems to want to turn back the clock, shrinking the number of full-time players, and decreasing pay and benefits to its Musicians. 

Drew McManus, in Adaptistration, commented in September that this (Grand Rapids Symphony) is one of the more intriguing scenarios in that the orchestra’s musicians have been expanding long running, self-produced community engagement efforts in order to strengthen their potential support base if the orchestra enters a work stoppage. One recent effort included a free, hour long concert with the theme “paying tribute to how symphony musicians in Grand Rapids have served the community since 1930.” Sources close to negotiations indicate that the employer has been pushing hard for large cuts in the form of a truncated season that would amount to a 15 percent reduction in musician annual salary.

The newsletter of ICSOM, the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, has been equally lacking in details about the on-going negotiations.

Something has to give. Like Fort Worth, Grand Rapids is experiencing an ever-expanding economy. But, without a leader at the helm, giving is going to take awhile to return as stakeholders examine the "new guy" (for the record, there is only one woman in the cadre of finalists). It's all about wait-and-see for musicians and audiences alike.

Like lemmings over the cliff

Yes, I realize that the film many of us watched in elementary school has been disproven, some of the contents of today's inbox reminded me of days lost past. Today's email from HigherEdJobs contained no fewer than four openings from the University of Hartford: one in woodwinds, two in brass (trumpet and trombone) and one in "the business". It's rather hard to imagine that this is a coincidence. Some of the musicians of the community are jumping ship before it goes down. Yes, the Hartford Symphony CBA debacle was a disaster of titanic proportions.

In Fort Worth, it's business as usual, at least until July 31. The Dallas Morning News had reported on Friday that Fort Worth Symphony, musicians reach ‘temporary’ one-year agreement. Of course it must be noted that the musicians have been playing without a new agreement since July 31, 2015, a CBA that was negotiated three years before that.

FWSO CEO Amy Adkins continues to note the projection for the current fiscal year, including a $650K deficit. Still no report on where that's coming from. For what it's worth, Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya clears nearly $400K in salary and benefits.

One thing is obvious. The FWSO Association backed down from their threat of a concessionary contract with an 8% cut in pay. To imply that this damages management's credibility would be an understatement.

There's also trouble in a river city, Trouble that starts with "T", that rhymes with "G", that stands for.... More on this one later.

Future posts also include "Walking the walk" with new music and more.  Stay tuned.

Management backs down (for now anyway) in FW

The latest reports from Fort Worth indicate that management will not be implementing its "concessionary" contract, a move originally intended to take place on Monday the 25th. This has been gleaned from yesterday's Star-Telegram, which is now mysteriously nearly hidden behind a paywall. The news has not been confirmed by any other sources.

Neither side has offered any definitive comment on the issue. It seems more than a bit strange that CEO Amy Adkins has remained mum.

I suppose that odder things have happened.

Jaap van Zweden
He must use Gergiev's razor...

In other Texas news, Dallas Symphony Conductor Jaap van Zweden has been appointed the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. He is best known (or loathed) for his meticulous and demanding rehearsal style. While this seems an "out of left field" choice, may van Zweden is just what the NYPO needs.

My favorite Mozart

Today marked the 260th anniversary of the birth of Mozart (as well as something like the fifth incarnation of my "Mozart Day Letter"). Much of the life of this eternal man-child, prodigious from almost the very beginning, remains shrouded in mystery. The myths are never-ending. I still read of the "rivalry" between Mozart and Salieri, the germ of which took root in the play by Pushkin as well as Peter Shaffer's modern-day adaptation, Amadeus. Most people's knowledge of Mozart the man is based upon that film. As beautiful (and well-acted and directed--of course, it's Milos Forman) as it is, the history is bunk. The truth is, that despite all the theories--chronic illness, bad pork, some kind of plague--we'll never know what or who killed Mozart.

And that doesn't matter, because we're left with the music. His works remain among the most widely played in concert around the globe (it's usually Beethoven and then Mozart with an occasional outlier in an anniversary year. In fact, in 2015 Mozart overtook Beethoven as the most performed, according to Bachtrack.

Mozart the composer was not truly groundbreaking, inventing (or at least perfecting) genres like Haydn with the string quartet and the symphony. But his strides in his bread and butter work--opera (that's where composers could strike it relatively rich if they had no patron)--he remains (in my opinion) unequaled. And opera houses seemed to agree in 2015 as well; three of his greatest hits: Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Magic Flute all hit the opera top ten.

The heck with statistics. I want to talk about my favorite Mozart and get away, at least for a day, from the dull roar of collective bargaining agreements. Of course, with Mozart having written in every genre, I'd have to insist that it's impossible to name one favorite piece; of course it's my blog and I can pick and choose as I wish.

The piano concertos remain the genre in which Mozart made the most contributions. Of course, he did write the first of them at the age of 11! By the end of his career (the final concerto was completed in 1791) he had fully integrated the classical form as well as undertaken great strides in his orchestration. No longer were the winds and brass simple filler at cadence points, but a true part of the compositional fabric. My favorite? This one is actually quite easy: No. 20 in D-minor, K. 466. I seem to be drawn to Mozart's minor key works, probably because I feel he is at his the peak of his harmonic inventiveness in them.

Other concertos. Mozart's four concertos for horn are among the early masterworks for the instrument, but the best of the others has to be the sublime Concerto for Clarinet, K. 622 (another work from his last year). Many players insist--and I agree--that it remains today the finest concerto for the instrument.

Chamber music. This remains tricky as one has to answer the question, How many in a chamber? That said, the most influential work (and my favorite) for smaller forces is the Serenade No. 10, K. 361, also known as the Gran Partita, a truly monumental work for 13 players. Composers as diverse as Dvorak, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, and others have modeled works on Mozart's original. I keep struggling to find a favorite performance; rumor has it that there is either a Klemperer or Furtwangler (I can't recall which) out there...That said, I know that I need to get to know the chamber music much better. I guess that's why I own Mozart's complete works.

Symphonies. Easy peasy. No. 40, G-minor, K. 550. Part of three consecutive symphonies written in less than three months in summer, 1788.

Opera. This one is up for grabs in the minds of many. Some say Don Giovanni; others, including me, insist on Le Nozze di Figaro. I've probably seen DG more than any opera, period, even having attended a performance in the theater where it premiered in Prague (talk about flirting with history!). But, if only for the second act finale, Figaro is number one. All of that cascading music, which flows from one section to another (and with obvious tempo choices) is just a miracle. But of course, it is difficult to knock off the penultimate scene in DG with the trombones whisking the evil Don into the bowels of hell.

Vocal music. One has to remember that, besides opera, Mozart's contributions to vocal music are wide-ranging. He was even able to write masterful church music for his Salzburg employer's "brief" masses. But Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618, is--in all of its simplicity--among the most beautiful works composed for mixed voices. And one cannot forget the "Et Incarnatus Est" movement from the uncompleted C-minor mass, K. 427. This was allegedly written for performance by Mozart's wife and if so, she was one hell of a singer!

Of course there is the Requiem, K. 626, that work that "killed him." This much is known: there was a black-cloaked stranger, but it wasn't Salieri, who had nothing to do with the commission or the writing of the music. What we have in Mozart's hand remain sketchy at best--I've seen the facsimile of the manuscript. We don't really know who wrote what and many other attempts have been made to complete it "as Mozart would have." But we don't know that answer and we never will. So for me, I'll stay close to the original....

Catch a listen to my own recording sometime. Oops, it was never distributed. Guess you'll have to visit and share a glass or two with me. Mozart and Riesling a good pairing? Only if the latter is dry.