[JayG]

Yeah, a torn rotator cuff is a problem that often has a nagging effect that persists after the initial healing, but I don't think he will be much behind his projected return date. Remember, it's not like we're talking about a football player here. His podium movement was about as subdued as it gets before his injury, so he doesn't have to be up there wildly flapping his arms about when he comes back. As long as he has reasonable mobility in the arm he should be okay.

He might not be able to do much at Tanglewood this year, but I think he'll be back in business for the regular Boston season.

 

[hembergler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayG What's wrong with the BSO + Jimmy Levine? I'd take that over BSO + Williams any day unless the program was entirely John Williams compositions.

Nothing wrong with Levine, it's just that the concert I was invited to was Williams conducting all his own music.

 

[JayG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hembergler Nothing wrong with Levine, it's just that the concert I was invited to was Williams conducting all his own music.

Well I'm glad I put that exception in my reply then.

Sorry you missed that show.

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sladeophile Classical music RULES! I have always felt this way. Whenever I went to a symphony concert, there were just as many of us youngsters there as elderly people.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that, even though I am 48 and have lived in the Chicago suburbs for all but about 5 years since getting out of college, I attended my first CSO concert about six weeks ago or so. David Zinman conducted an HK Gruber trumpet concerto and Mahler 4, a program that allowed a newbie like me to experience the whole palette of sound, so to speak!

What shocked me was that I felt almost like a teenager there. Eighty percent of the crowd was older (or MUCH older) than me, though I did see a few of families--though I doubt they were regular attendees. It just costs way too much to take a family of five to Orchestra Hall!

It will be very interesting to see how things develop over the next few years with the CSO until a new music director is named.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sejarzo What shocked me was that I felt almost like a teenager there. Eighty percent of the crowd was older (or MUCH older) than me, though I did see a few of families--though I doubt they were regular attendees. It just costs way too much to take a family of five to Orchestra Hall! It will be very interesting to see how things develop over the next few years with the CSO until a new music director is named.

I was there last October for Barenboim and the Mahler 5th, and I saw rather a lot of people my own age (i.e., around 20 or so). However, it was a Friday night and it is Barenboim's last season.

As to the CSO, I will be interested to see who is named. Von Dohnanyi and Welser-Möst are names that I have heard batted around a little by people "in the know." However, they (and I) have no idea who it will be. Barenboim is still middle-aged yet, so I assume that he'll get Boulez' "Principal Guest Conductor" job when Boulez retires.

 

[bperboy]

I had the opportunity to hear Itzhak Perlman a few weeks ago at Severance Hall in Cleveland. I have to say, being part of Team High School Head-Fi, it's really something to hear one of the greatest violinists in the world at this time. What really struck me is that Perlman, after performing the pieces listed in the program, went on to play a few songs from a Fritz Kreisler collected works book. He started talking to the audience, cracking jokes, although I couldn't understand him, but it was really cool seeing someone that was the master of his art.

 

[FalconP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sejarzo What shocked me was that I felt almost like a teenager there. Eighty percent of the crowd was older (or MUCH older) than me, though I did see a few of families--though I doubt they were regular attendees. It just costs way too much to take a family of five to Orchestra Hall!

Live music is just too expensive; and for young people, there are always cheaper -- and to them, more entertaining, form of entertainment.

Until four to five years ago, some smartass in Hong Kong have been shoving unsold tickets of classical music to schools, in the hope of "promoting classical music to a younger audience". Teachers saw these free concerts as a form of homework assignment -- the students were obliged to go, and afterwards hand in reports of the events, together with a ticket stub. And this was what happened -- the hall full of students who didn't give a farthing about the music: they appaluded at the wrong places (sometimes I even thought they did that deliberately) talked with each other, read magazines (fumbling the pages noisily), even played portable electronic games.

Thankfully, no one is giving away free tickets to kids anymore -- the complaints from concert-hall regulars did the job. We've won back the rights to our adult entertainment.

The moral of the story? Leave the students be. Let them live the blissful, musically ignorant lives they've always living.

 

[Bunnyears]

Actually, classical music may be a bargain for a young listener. There are always student discounts given at the boxoffice for performances unless a concert has been heavily subscribed and sold out. But, more importantly, compare the cost of classical music concerts to big rock acts. Classical tickets are much less expensive and easier to obtain than any rock concerts, so that's not the reason they aren't going.

I think the reason there are so few young people at classical concerts has to do with the way we listen to classical. When kids go to rock concerts, it's a very interactive type of thing. They get up and move around, the musicians talk to them, they shout back, they clap their hands, move to the rhythm, and really participate in the experience. Classical music concerts are, I'm sad to say, exercises in passivity. We sit there and the most movement in the auditorium is the conductor waving his hands. We have to stay as quiet as possible (God forbid we need to cough or sneeze!), and no one moves except to change which leg is crossed over which or perhaps to furtively check the program. This requires a lot of self-discipline and it's just not fun unless the music is a completely transcendant experience which, sad to say, is not always. I think there would be more tickets sold if they did more concerts like the BBC Proms where people are up, moving around during the performance and enjoying themselves along with the music. You'll never see anyone bring a flag to Carnegie Hall or any other hall in this country which is really sad.

 

[K2Grey]

Classical is likely much cheaper than other concerts. With student discounts it can get quite cheap, and I think it's like $40 max. Still cheaper than some other stuff.

On the other hand I think one is better off with CDs than attending the concerts a great % of the time as in some other genres you probably already know what the guy or the girl or the band is going to play and have probably already heard it before. And the purpose of going to the concert is not so much based on the idea that they'll perform it really well this time or that the sound quality will be great; it's more about seeing them live, moving around, and shouting at each other (although note that I haven't been to such concerts myself).

However with classical concerts the repertoire is very great, you will quite often have not previously heard what the orchestra or quartet or soloist or whatever is going to play, and if you don't like it you end up being a captive audience for like a hour at a time. At best it's boring and at worst you fall asleep and everyone around you hates you and is wondering why you bothered to come in the first place.

Also for me personally I seem to have this problem wherein no matter how good I eventually think a classical piece is, the first time I hear it I tend to get bored. Of course later on when I love the piece I end up having no clue why I got bored the first time (e.g., Beethoven 5th, what was I thinking).

Edit: I'm not sure if it would really benefit things for people to be up and about during the concert, though, since that will presumably generate a fair bit of noise. So either the quiet parts are completely lost, or else the dynamic range disappears, or else the overall volume gets raised to ear-destroying levels.

 

[Sladeophile]

HA! Utah symphony student tickets are $12. Very good deal, so there are always a lot of younguns there enjoying some quality music. It's actually a great symphony for the size of the city it is based in. Keith Lockhart is the director as well.