Midgette and the Duder
Anne Midgette from the Washington Post wrote a great commentary piece on the LA Phil and Dudamel’s Tour of the US. I’ve had many friends across the country who had been in attendance at the LA Phil’s Tour concerts in their respective cities. And overall, reaction has been overwhelming.
The Duder is electrifying and the orchestra is playing music it knows with a passion and verve and energy rarely seen these days. And this is coming from hardened, nihilistic musician folk.
However . . .
According to the newspaper critics, the Tchaikovsky has been the most uneven in performance and this is apparently due to Gustavo’s inexperience, or maybe his willfulness, or maybe his over the top energy in the moment and lack of structural cohenerence.
Whatever.
People talked about it. People talked about the concert nationwide. Every critic talked about it in every major paper where the LA Phil performed. So whatever they thought about this tempo, or that phrasing, or this color, the LA Phil was discussed nationwide for the months of April and May in LOCAL papers – NOT just the NyTimes.
And, yes, they all felt obliged to take this “savior” of classical music down a peg. But, come on, who didn’t see that coming. Anyone who has watched politics on the cable networks saw that coming. There was no way for ‘El Duder’ to rise to the level expected in every concert, especially considering the level of interest, excitiment, and pathology that was attached to his arrival on the classical music scene.
No one yet, in any paper, in any magazine, in any article, denies his talent. No one denies his enthusiasm and love for the craft of conducting and the love for performing. No one denies that LA created one of the greatest marketing coups in classical music history in DECADES.
Truth?
It is fascinating to me that according to “the business” of classical music, Dudamel has 3 options. He is an orchestra builder, or he is a show off, or he is the actual “savior” of classical music.
Bah.
I’m just happy they are talking about orchestra concerts. I’m glad there is someone out there who garners enough attention so that we have this debate.
What do you think?
Jacob Harrison
brianstjohn
I think in this case I am more interested in the way our society behaves, and in this regard, I have mixed reactions. Each one of your three options, in a way, falls into some different ways of thinking for me. I am jet-lagged, so let me address them in a haphazard fashion:
Well, we as humans love to build people up and then tear them down. It’s a stunning sociological phenomenon when you think about it. It cannot and should not be disputed that Gustavo Dudamel is a gifted conductor. No specifics on what that means. He is one of many. Some are working, some are not. He is working in an orchestra that has already been built, and was a well-oiled machine under Esa-Pekka. But the reality is that choices are made in the administrative world for certain reasons. Gustavo is himself; he is no different than the person who was hired at the end of the search process, way back when. If anything, his musicianship, like all of ours, will mature into old age. Deborah Borda knew this; I am sure she took a calculated risk, because she said that or something similar to it in a New York Times or LA Times article when Dudamel first got the job.
I believe the reasons to take such a risk are clearly transparent in the case of the hiring of Dudamel. Youth, charisma, energy, and an appeal to the Hispanic population of Los Angeles. The Hollywood flash factor. Suddenly, he is billed as the savior of classical music, and the plans are to implement El Sistema in the United States? Sorry, but I am not convinced. El Sistema [which is of course excellent] worked because people in Venezuela truly know what a hard life is in a way that your most average Americans will never know. It worked because of specific cultural and social situations. What kills classical music in America is not crime, but our educational system, apathy and indolence toward the value of arts education in general.
“Music Education”, is typically far below mediocre in the United States. I recently taught at a major University where students hardly knew the language of Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Debussy or Stravinsky, but thought that a number of low-rate symphonic band composers were genius. How could this be? Their music is intellectually inferior, thus easier on the brain. It’s technical requirements are also easy for the students at their low technical level. Their professors, the majority of them underachievers themselves, rather than fight the battles that need to be fought allowed low standards. Shameless. Thankfully, there are still many good schools, but our dumbing down of music at all levels, whether through Pops programming or at the University level has certainly contributed to a downfall of artistic excellence in the United States. After all, University music programs began historically tied to the athletic programs.
Civilization has not always been so centered on sports; just look back to the Greeks, who always strove for balance in life, at least in print. Balance is ridiculously hard to achieve and even harder to find in others. Perhaps one day we’ll all get a little closer; in the mean time, my bet is that Dudamel will learn from his experiences and put the critics behind him.