title: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERYL STUDER

author: Niel Rishoi

text:
--- A Community Educational Outreach Initiative ---
----------------------------
"In life, democracy.
In art, aristocracy."
--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
"¿Cómo se siente? ¿Cómo se siente ver que el horror estalla en tu
patio y no en el living del vecino? ¿Cómo se siente el miedo
apretando tu pecho, el pánico que provocan el ruido ensordecedor, las
llamas sin control, los edificios que se derrumban, ese terrible olor
que se mete hasta el fondo en los pulmones, los ojos de los inocentes
que caminan cubiertos de sangre y polvo?
¿Cómo se vive por un día en tu propia casa la incertidumbre de lo que
va a pasar? ¿Cómo se sale del estado de shock? En estado de shock
caminaban el 6 de agosto de 1945 los sobrevivientes de Hiroshima.
Nada quedaba en pie en la ciudad luego que el artillero
norteamericano del Enola Gay dejara caer la bomba. En pocos segundos
habían muerto 80.000 hombres, mujeres y niños. Otros 250.000 morirían
en los años siguientes a causa de las radiaciones. Pero ésa era una
guerra lejana y ni siquiera existía la televisión.
¿Cómo se siente hoy el horror cuando las terribles imágenes de la
televisión te dicen que lo ocurrido el fatídico 11 de septiembre no
pasó en una tierra lejana sino en tu propia patria? Otro 11 de
septiembre, pero de 28 años atrás, había muerto un presidente de
nombre Salvador Allende resistiendo un golpe de Estado que tus
gobernantes habían planeado. También fueron tiempos de horror, pero
eso pasaba muy lejos de tu frontera, en una ignota republiqueta
sudamericana. Las republiquetas estaban en tu patio trasero y nunca
te preocupaste mucho cuando tus marines salían a sangre y fuego a
imponer sus puntos de vista.
¿Sabías que entre 1824 y 1994 tu país llevó a cabo 73 invasiones a
países de América Latina? Las víctimas fueron Puerto Rico, México,
Nicaragua, Panamá, Haití, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, República
Dominicana, Islas Vírgenes, El Salvador, Guatemala y Granada.
Hace casi un siglo que tus gobernantes están en guerra. Desde el
comienzo del siglo XX, casi no hubo una guerra en el mundo en que la
gente de tu Pentágono no hubiera participado. Claro, las bombas
siempre explotaron fuera de tu territorio, con excepción de Pearl
Harbor cuando la aviación japonesa bombardeó la Séptima Flota en
1941. Pero siempre el horror estuvo lejos.
Cuando las Torres Gemelas se vinieron abajo en medio del polvo,
cuando viste las imágenes por televisión o escuchaste los gritos
porque estabas esa mañana en Manhattan, ¿pensaste por un Segundo en
lo que sintieron los campesinos de Vietnam durante muchos años? En
Manhattan, la gente caía desde las alturas de los rascacielos como
trágicas marionetas. En Vietnam, la gente daba alaridos porque el
napalm seguía quemando la carne por mucho tiempo y la muerte era
espantosa, tanto como las de quienes caían en un salto desesperado al
vacío. Tu aviación no dejó una fábrica en pie ni un puente sin
destruir en Yugoslavia. En Irak fueron 500.000 los muertos. Medio
millón de almas se llevó la Operación Tormenta del Desierto...¿Cuánta
gente desangrada en lugares tan exóticos y lejanos como Vietnam,
Irak, Irán, Afganistán, Libia, Angola, Somalia, Congo, Nicaragua,
Dominicana, Camboya, Yugoslavia, Sudán, y una lista interminable? En
todos esos lugares los proyectiles habían sido fabricados en
factorías de tu país, y eran apuntados por tus muchachos, por gente
pagada por tu Departamento de Estado, y sólo para que tu pudieras
seguir gozando de la forma de vida americana.
Hace casi un siglo que tu país está en guerra con todo el mundo.
Curiosamente, tus gobernantes lanzan los jinetes del Apocalipsis en
nombre de la libertad y de la democracia. Pero debes saber que para
muchos pueblos del mundo (en este planeta donde cada día mueren
24.000 pobladores por hambre o enfermedades curables), Estados Unidos
no representa la libertad, sino un enemigo lejano y Terrible que sólo
siembra guerra, hambre, miedo y destrucción. Siempre han sido
conflictos bélicos lejanos para ti, pero para quienes viven allá es
una dolorosa realidad cercana, una guerra donde los edificios se
desploman bajo las bombas y donde esa gente encuentra una muerte
horrible. Y las víctimas han sido, en el 90 por ciento, civiles,
mujeres, ancianos, niños efectos colaterales.
¿Qué se siente cuando el horror golpea a tu puerta aunque sea por un
sólo día? ¿Qué se piensa cuando las víctimas en Nueva York son
secretarias, operadores de bolsa o empleados de limpieza que pagaban
puntualmente sus impuestos y nunca mataron una mosca?
¿Cómo se siente el miedo? ¿Cómo se siente, yanqui, saber que la larga
guerra finalmente el 11 de septiembre llegó a tu casa?"
--- Gabriel García Márquez to Puppet Bush, Jr.
----------------------------
On 26 September 2000, the so-called great Mickey (Mouse)
"I-have-not-attended-a-performance-in-fifteen-years" (
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0309B&L=opera-l&P=R13279&D=0&H=0&I=-3&O=T&T=1
)
Richter performed a 'plug in', heroically, on behalf of Klaus Heymann,
the so-called authority behind ---naXos---:
{{ Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 21:40:41 -0700
Reply-To: Mike Richter <mrichter@M...>
Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues <OPERA-
L@L...>
From: Mike Richter <mrichter@M...>
Subject: Authoritative word on Naxos' methods
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
The following comments are from Klaus Heymann, the force behind Naxos
and other labels, to our posts on their approach to recording opera.
> Mike Richter wrote in response to Bob Kosovsky's post
[Bob Kosovsky of CUNY's Opera-L:  Homosexual, Jew, Liberal, Librarian,
and – would you believe it? – Censor]
>>Since the Naxos label is being lauded by some as forecasting a
future path of opera, I have a question. I know several people who
have participated in Naxos recordings of chamber music. All of them
have been paid a one-time-only fee, and have ceded the right to
royalties. Does this kind of contract also apply to Naxos's
recordings of vocalists in operas or recitals? (I hate to think that
Ewa Podles doesn't get anything more than her initial fee for that
Rossini recital of hers, Naxos 8.553543.)
### Yes, singers are also paid a flat fee. Ewa Podles is very happy
with her Rossini ... she would like to do more recitals but the cost
of recording her with orchestra and chorus is prohibitive ... we
still haven't recouped our investment in this recording. ###
>>It sounds a bit exploitative to me, IMO. On the other hand, my not-
yet-famous acquaintances jump at the chance to record for them. (They
are allowed only two or three takes, with no chance of fancy editing
to correct mistakes.)
### Most singers understand that recording opera is extremely
expensive, especially under our perfect studio (not live) conditions
and are happy with our modest flat fees. Look at our Fidelio cast!
The bit about being allowed only two or three takes and no chance of
fancy editing is nonsense ... artists are allow as many takes as
necessary to get the music right. However, having said that, we
expect our artists to be well prepared unlike many big-name artists
who rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance. ###
>>So I'm curious to hear whether vocalists are also bound to such
contracts. I believe you have it right. My understanding is that
Klaus and his people search the globe for artists and groups who
merit the exposure and are doing (or are able to do) the works he
wants to include in his catalogue. By providing one-time fees - often
of critical importance to such artists - and exposure, Naxos both
benefits the artists and produces high-quality, inexpensive
programming. There may be exceptions in which royalties are offered,
but that does not appear to be the rule. Of course, limiting studio
time also contains costs.
### We do not limit studio costs but our producer have the authority
to send poorly prepared artists home. ###
>>The other major factor in Naxos and its related labels keeping
prices down is that they give up much of the promotion the more
famous marks employ. Since the recordings are focussed on the music
and there are seldom acknowledged "stars", stellar advertising and
displays are unnecessary. It is a different approach to marketing and
seems so far to have been a most successful one.
Mike
Best regards,
Klaus
*********************
(My apologies for the confusion in indenting of Bob's original post,
my reply and Klaus's.)
Mike
mrichter@c...
Opera:
http://mrichter.simplenet.com/
CD-R:
http://resource.simplenet.com/
 }}
End of quote
----------------------------
Thus spoke the authority. We re-quote:
"Most singers understand that recording opera is extremely expensive,
especially under our perfect studio (not live) conditions and are
happy with our modest flat fees. Look at our Fidelio cast! The bit
about being allowed only two or three takes and no chance of fancy
editing is nonsense ... artists are allowed as many takes as
necessary to get the music right. However, having said that, we
expect our artists to be well prepared unlike many big-name artists
who rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance."
We ask:
1. Mr. Heymann seems to have contradicted himself by simultaneously
affirming that his artists are indeed allowed "fancy editing...to get
the music right" and ranting against the "many big-name artists who
rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance." What
exactly is the difference? Isn't fancy editing what earns producers
and editors their bacon, be it at naXos or Lucifer Classics? Or is
Mr. Heymann whining and bickering because Lucifer's console is bigger
than his?
2. Mr. Heymann seems to have fallen prey to the epidemic virus of
unfounded critical prejudice and the politics of defamation and
character-assassination (the rate of infection appears to be
abnormally high within the familial fraternity of
American/Anglosaxon/Anglophile critical bedfellows). His words can be
easily formulized: "Big Name + Big Label = Little Music (or
Falsity)". No need to state the converse but we'll do it
anyway: "Little/No Name + Little Label = Big Music (or Truth)". Who
exactly are these many unprepared big names? And how, where, and when?
3. A few years back, the authority was also quoted in "The Boston
Globe" - this other 'plug in' courtesy of CareerHomo-turned-critic-
turned-promoter Richard "local church mice are world-class people
too" Dyer. Lately, Dyer has been heard advocating for the equal part
Charity/Chimpanzee Acts that are The Three Mo' Tenors, Andrea
Bocelli, Charlotte Church, and Josh "popera boy" Groban.
[What is going on?]
["Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in
America", by Mark N. Grant, Northeastern University Press, 1998, ISBN
1-55553-363-9: n-o-t o-n-e f-o-o-t-n-o-t-e *not one* on Dyer ---
and this after a 25+year career behind him dedicated to latter-day
Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. And
just as long dedicated to sobbing after the footnote (but no
reference), indeed, that was Lucine Amara.]
But back to the authority:
"The market is shifting away from name artists, and the average music
lover is confused by bins crowded by recordings. What is the
difference between Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly
in a given piece? Whatever the difference is, it doesn't mean
anything to the average music lover who gives up and chooses our
recording because it is more reasonably priced, and the performance
is just as good. It is an absurdity for Plácido Domingo to sing 'The
Barber of Seville'; our recording is a better performance of the
opera. If Cheryl Studer were to come to me and ask to sing some of
the operas she has recorded, I wouldn't let her." {Author: Richard
Dyer / Date: 19.01.1994 / Page: 61 / Section: Living Arts}
We comment and ask:
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear t-h-e-
i-r barber gives a better haircut. Not that some of us (not nearly
enough) give a one-night-stand about Sir Domingo, at least not since
his early 90s (and thereafter) publicity and musical circus
prostitutions – this case of gonorrhea is treatable no longer.
3B. Let us cut to the chase: we propose that one encompassing reason
for the present-day crisis in this junkyard is that the
ever-so-important anecdotal and testimonial lore and the ensuing
language/narrative about the live stage experiences a-n-d about the
documented legacies of certain important big-names (those immediately
preceding the generation of today's Ass-ociated Press "A List")
literally fell through a g-e-n-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l and c-u-l-t-u-r-a-l
c-r-a-c-k - an abyss, really. Little or nothing was said. In
retrospect, a lot of people in this abortion-gone-bad of a business (a
system that, with alarming aggression, knows the price of everything
and the value of nothing --- rien --- nada --- a business that throws
the baby, the bathwater, and the mother) have a lot of answering to
do. Observe in comparison, if you will, how today's desperate and thus
general(ised) press a-n-d the chintzy, natty queens (old and new, male
and female) write about an integer to the far left of zero (if that)
such as one Ruth Ann Swenson or, for example, Tibor Rudas' Third(rate,
if that) Soprano and division by zero (if that), one other Kallen
Esperian. Simply impossible to believe … but sadly true. And this is
the flip side of the same coin --- and a penny it is --- that places
the 70+-year-old-Renata-Scotto-who-made-her-debut-in-1952-or-three-years-before-Cheryl-was-conceived-and-who-is-still-in-her-prime-and-getting-better-and-who-should-have-many-of-us-wondering-what-has-she-done-in-20-years
on the cover of "Opernglas," March 2003. Or the other septuagenarian
Montserrat Caballé, a
has-been-but-getting-better-and-still-interesting-yes?, on the cover
of "Opernwelt," April 2003. Or the penny that pays for space about
Leontyne Price's enormously important, yes?, Meisterclass in "The
Financial Times" (albeit bankrupt and then some) (see "Bernheimer,
Martin"). Or the outrageously dumbo piece in "Opera News" (keeping up
with their recent tradition) on the significant-other of
soupy-pop-ballads-Duetto infamy, blue-collar teddy bear Salvatore
Licitra – why yes, the pair even made it to the cover of "Opernglas,"
October 2003. And a penny it is. And a penny it will be.
In the realm of opera, this previous generation came "too soon" after
the Marias and the Renatas and the Joans and the Montserrats and the
Vickys and the Mirellas and the Regines and the whoevers....and "too
late" for today's democratic free-für-Alles (think of the deregulation
of the airline industry in the U.S.A. - surely it is cheaper to fly
and with more options but the experience is ghastly – and look now,
they is droppin' like flies!) in deadly mix with the quick fixes and
seductions of HyperPublicRelations and HyperText. Few artists can
survive without some form or other of critical and popular
encouragement. It became fashionable sport (nah, Mob Rule - nah,
Olympics --- but becuz this singular marathon has and is being run by
throngs-oh-so-bright, we will coin it The Special Olympics) for too
influential but equally ignorant, tin-eared and incredibly,
corrosively partial critics (and their bedroom partners) to dismiss
these artists' work faster than they could say Compact Disc (and
worse: to fully ignore too – consider the phenomenon that is the
Remarkable Eclipsing and Banishment by the press (we know of no
greater form of disrespect) of a certain  v-e-t-e-r-a-n  and  c-o-n-t-
e-m-p-o-r-a-n-e-o-u-s  soprano whose stage appearances are pre-judged
to be just that: Appearances: Phantom Ships In The Night, when
noticed ---- or to fully d-e-n-y the usual "critical anal(ysis)" -
is that what it is? - accorded dimmer lights ("Monsieur Giordani
could not sustain pitch b-u-t the Sicilian understanding" [by
coincidence, the same understanding which, according to the experts,
eludes fellow Southerner Riccardo Muti] - "Madame Phlegming [no other
soprano before or during Renée is known to have "taken chances"]
shrieked unnaturally, gurgling and flatting two high A naturals and
her overall intonation was insecure too b-u-t all that (jazzy)
rhythmic integrity!" (see "Tommasini, Anthony" --- and yet, you will
look in vain for his promotional write-up on that Verdi "Blanche
Dubois" from Houston - *after* the event, that is) – "Hausfrau Void
was in customary shrill and squally voice again last night and her
top sounded tired, though no fault of her own, b-u-t her sofa scene
was comfortably moving --- that Svelte Lil' Debbie didn't make that
final F-sharp is none of your business." - "Irish-American AFL-CIO
Heroine Flanigan [who, by the by, tries (and is carded) to "sing
everything"] [no other soprano before or during Lauren is known to
have "taken chances"] could not sing Reiza's music [she replaced
DeVoid, who had also cancelled all engagements in Vienna, and for the
2nd season in a row - not a bad thing when you try to remember – and
try you must - those Scheiße AIDAs at the MET where Crayola connected
them dots and none of the music - not to mention the brutal stupor
that were Luciano "snotty handkerchief" Pavarotti and the ever-
accomodating, yes? James "sweaty towel" Levine] b-u-t the visceral
ennui of it all") - "Madame Shout squalled an Elektra consistently
below pitch (that's about 75% of your evening) b-u-t it seems that
the excitement of some level or other of on-pitch faithfulness to and
by die Juden and a few silent-movie camp gestures secured her an
unqualified triumph...and an onstage kiss too from Jimmy Boy (or
rather, Jimmy the boy-paedophile - ladies and gentlemen, you too can
have it all: from orchestras in Munich, Boston, and naturally New
York to standing Os to gushing press coverage to paid Christian
holidays to state-sanctioned murder to state-sanctioned looting to
Presidential Pardons (see "Rich, Jonathan" - see "The Hassidic4
[that's right, not one not two not three]" - see "Hillary 'some of my
relatives are Jews' Clinton" and the race for the NY State
Senate....provided you are "one of us" or "with us") --- but for how
much longer? ....well, all that plus Gaby is getting better and
better and better, yes?" - "Madame Attila spreads her top like butter
on warm bread b-u-t her cool, Nordic, blonde looks carried the
night [our bladders burst open when trying to reconcile the paradox
that is the pre(and post)occupation with Aryan archetypes by these
duplicitous pseudo-minorities in the industry (you know who and what
you are), habitually the first to cry wolf at the whiff of perceived
or real prejudice] --- and more importantly, she took off her shoes!
(but what we'd really like to know is: what language was *that*,
Querida?)" – "Debbie 'Crayola Opera Program' Void's French (not
unlike the strangely clapped Yawn Upshaw's) and any language other
than the Dixie Chicks is for and about pigeons --- merde ---
[Crayola's sour and rusty tonal quality, let alone her musical
probity, are more reminiscent of the gold you see in soiled underwear
than of the Golden Age, by far...and worse: as stupid as the laundry
water you soak and scrub it in] b-u-t her 'major' contributions to
Culture are 'consistent.' --- or is it the other way 'round? --- B-u-
t why give a hoot about such things, what with all that `Juno-
esque' 'rhythmic integrity'! (see "Tommasini, Anthony" – yes, the
promoter used that again [as in Renée Fleming] to sell his Debbie)" -
"The consensus that Madame Shorties could not really sing Konstanze is
questionable and, in the end, unfair for she is a gifted, six-foot
taller......b-u-t more importantly, her name is not Cheryl Studer." -
"Monsieur Hiccup proved once more that you can crack loud and wide
before a Manhattan audience of tourists as long as your name is not
Cheryl Studer; b-u-t even better than that, the loss of 95-plus
pounds, in cocktail with a widely broadcast Sob Story, are sufficient
to satisfy the most discriminating thirst of
the-below-IQ-of-47.5(that's-50%-of-something-or-other-to-you)-and-minus-set
and anyday's coverage of the Arts in "The New York Times"" -
"Maestrisssssimo of Legend, Gilbert "Lego Blocks" Kaplan, swears he
can conduct but one piece of music and one piece of music alone b-u-t,
as one of "our chauvinistic own", full coverage by "The New York
Times" is fully warranted - all that plus a recording medal from the
syphilitic Deutsche Grammophon" – "The authentically FRENCH LetItRain
sounded anonymous and great b-u-t I blame the amplification for some
harshness up top" --- "Suzie B. Anthony's soft-grained portrayals are
just that, soft. B-u-t her problematic top notes, at this early stage
in her career already, should be of no concern to a superb evening." -
"Young Sondra mimed, for she couldn't sing, while (the) Old Nelly
sang, for she couldn't act – this one constituted a triple triumph –
two for the price of one Cheryl Studer – you do the math." - "Schäfer
is certainly no one's idea of coloratura b-u-t her hip-hop Violetta in
Berlin, under the tolerant/multidimensional/psychodepth baton of
Barenboim, must be remembered as an important achievement – please
don't ask why." --- "Make no mistake, Christine is no one's idea of
coloratura. B-u-t her gang-rape Gilda in London (conducted by Sir
Edward Downes of 1994 fame) caused Mickey (Mouse) Richter to
significantly wet his panties in print somewhere – at least we want to
believe we read the praise (but we can't)."
You know the skit.
Why yes, ladies and gents, even these public acts of levitation are
denied Midland, Michigan's Prodigal Daughter --- But then, taking
into account the desperate [in vain] efforts toward reconstruction
and regeneration, toward opening new markets (undue over-exposure in
Arts Journalism and in Arts Ad(as in advertising)ministration - over
who counts - over what counts – and when and where --- and why and
how and how much --- and for how long --- all this being the final
vestige of their former Imperial selves), what is the increasingly
brilliant, independent-minded, informed, impartial, cultured, mature,
eloquent, and sympathetic Anglo/Judeo/Homo-centric Promotional
Universe to do with a creature refusing easy categorization? - of
what value or use is the lady? - of what value or use is the artist? -
who is neither aesthetic suppository (credit where credit is due to
Mr. James Jorden of Parterre Box Productions, certainly Ltd.) nor
psychobabble nor English (nor pretender) n-o-r r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t n-o-r
c-i-t-i-z-e-n n-o-r D-a-m-e nor Faerie Queene nor Greek (nor
pretender) nor black-and-blue (nor pretender) nor Slav (how could she
pretend?) nor German (nor pretender) nor Austrian (nor pretender) nor
squally
Kammersängerin nor French (nor pretender) nor Cinema Paradiso Italian
(nor pretender) nor Eastern European (nor pretender) nor
Spaniard/Latin American bombshell (they are the flavor of the moment
and how could she pretend?) nor Brasilian bossanova nor Argentinian
tango nor Appalachian spring nor Yiddishbbuk nor Anonymous4 (that's
right, not one not two not three) nor Asian (how could she pretend?)
nor Aussie nor Canadian --- nor deemed sufficiently A-m-e-r-i-c-a-n
--- n-o-r r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t nor MET-centric nor
Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway belcher nor Saint
Francis-can nor Angelena nor Chicagoan nor Texan nor New Mexican nor
Washingtonian nor Saint Louis Gal nor panderer nor tall nor thin nor
heroine-overdose chic nor deaf nor dumb nor blind nor blonde nor
Blonde Ambition nor Barbie Doll nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig
nor power hungry nor agenda driven
nor faghag nor lesbian nor hairy chested nor cherub nor fashion rag
nor glamour puss nor arriviste nor aspirant nor aspirate nor
potential nor promise (what you hear is what you get, sweetheart) nor
apology nor antiquity nor preserved museum mummy nor soccer mom nor
sucker nor trend nor hip nor H.I.P. nor hip-hop nor joined at the hip
nor hippie nor barefoot at Carnegie Hall nor folkie nor cantor nor
castrata nor contralto nor countertenor nor counterculture nor
anarchist nor antichrist nor lyric mezzo nor soprano on the verge of
a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor chanteuse nor soubrette nor
starlet nor coquette nor canary nor woodbird nor nightingale nor
cuckoo clock nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor geriatric nor vanity
record label owner nor downwardtransposer-Hochfinancier-conductor-
doubleintendant-baritenor-voicecompetitor-crossoverpimp-moviemogul-
realestatemagnate-restaurateur-sexsymbol-playboy-jetsetter (all in
one and one for all and all in a night) nor married to one nor lazy
nor lovely nor beloved nor shrinking violet nor daddy's lil' lass nor
mystic nor myth nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist nor
Konzept nor symbolism nor ying nor yang nor Dreams and Fables nor
metaphysics nor philosopher ("Philosophier' Er nicht, Herr
Schatz...") nor scholar (nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor
peasant nor lecturer nor soapbox preacher nor symposium nor
musicologist nor composer (you know, like Callas who wrote all them
masterpieces now falsely ascribed to one Bellini, one Donizetti, and
one other Verdi) nor paladin of the glorious avant-garde nor ostinato
nor experiment nor rarity rat nor rat tat tat nor archaeologist nor
room temperature nor Sponsored By Talbots nor Anglican Service nor
Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA [opera's answer to the 80s business
phenomenon --- everyone has one --- but look, ma, they is droppin'
like flies!] nor Britten Ph.D. nor Janácek Nobel Prize nor stunt nor
parody nor caricature nor Hallmark Card nor Disney nor Ozzie &
Harriett nor Will & Grace nor smiley face nor horseface nor humor
monger (in any event, not the shtick you grew up with) nor camp nor
marketing-promo tramp nor cliché nor slogan nor acronym nor t®ademark
nor image-chaser nor sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-
listenin' nor pleasure ride nor automatic cruise control nor
sentiment-al nor cripple nor married to one nor victim nor tearjerker
nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor fund-raiser
(so to speak) nor social worker nor United Way nor Red Cross nor
Katie Couric nor Walk For A Cure nor We Are The World nor Sound Of
Music nor Under the Stars nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow Coalition
nor Summertime nor Supper Time (nice tunes if you can) nor fruit
salad nor cotton candy nor apple pie nor melba toast nor peaches in
double cream nor café au lait nor cinnamon roll nor dark chocolate nor
civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag survivor nor married to one
nor refugee nor married to one nor UN Ambassador nor married to one
nor member of any one precious special interest group (you know who
and what you are) n-o-r m-a-r-r-i-e-d t-o o-n-e n-o-r
s-t-r-a-t-e-g-i-c-a-l-l-y w-e-d-d-e-d (you know who and what you are)
nor politician nor
married to one nor inter-national political crisis parasite nor ad-
minister of propaganda nor grassroots peace activist (you do know,
don't you, that them ancient favourite warhorses of yours composed by
Bach and Beethoven and Brahms and Schubert and Schumann and Wagner
and Liszt were explicitly AND implicitly inspired by the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict --- or even better, by the epicentric causes of
Israel, Zionism, and of Universal Jewry --- everything, and we mean
everything, seems to revolve around this Axis, no? --- ask Mehta and
Señor Honorario und Tolerant Barenboim --- by the by, in a recent
Chicago program of Hugo Wolf's Lieder, the "Great Jewish Musician"
[and we thought it un-Klezmer to allude to the man's other career] in
harmony with his German/Christian sub-ordinates - a "physically
handicapped baritone" and an "underpitch soprano" (see "Kubiak,
David") (the soprano is one Angela Denoke, whose disastrous Fidelio
Leonore at the Salzburg Easter Festival of 2003 under Sir Simon will
surely have to be patched by the studio wizards before the "Please-
Save-EMI" hype campaign unfolds) - were heard "r-e-c-l-a-i-m-i-n-g
the true meaning of the 'heilge Deutsches Kunst'" --- again,
see "Kubiak, David" --- kindly note, please, that no one else
before `GJM & Co. GmbH' had accomplished nearly as much, and in a
mere evening --- but we live n' learn --- now we know that Herr Wolf
wrote his songs inspired by populations everywhere holding hands - to
promote future handholding. But Wolf was more than that – he was
gracious and generous, which stands as a synonym for: in addition to
reaffirming the existence [and illegal expansion] of Israel, he also
sought to reaffirm the existence of a specific sexual-orientation
population --- and all this, ladies and gentlemen, for a song) ---
where were we?, ah yes --- nor married to one nor Adler Fella nor
Crayola Opera Program alumna nor Karajan-Harnoncourt-Cardiff-
VeraRosza-Schwarzkopf-Auger-GeorgeLondon-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-
Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie groupie nor traveler along the
Anglo Silk Road --- the LandOfOz-BerlinStaatsoperUDL-LaMonnaie-ENO-
Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-DallasO-
HoustonGO-FloridaGO-WashingtonO-n-such workshop ghettoes.
[Imagine, if you dare.]
E-N-V-Y = D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
but
S-I-L-E-N-C-E = D-E-A-T-H
Enter into the equation the contemptibly stupid (discerning,
discerning) audiences who (wanted to and still do) believe everything
they read...and voilà, the science gives the (false) i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-
o-n of yielding the expected (forced) hubris. Then add the ones who
stayed away from attending these artists' performances because they
were simply told to do so (in so many words). Never mind the c-o-w-a-
r-d-s who n-e-v-e-r attended, self-admittedly, but who later saw
fit to publish obituaries passing for legitimate eyewitness report
(again, check out "Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music
Criticism in America", 1998, by Mark N. Grant, and see if you can
spot "Dyer, Richard"). Never mind the h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s who, in
addition to prematurely and irresponsibly issuing death certificates
(see "Davis, Peter G."), years later were caught with their pants
down performing auto-erotica to the tune of "Returns Triumphantly!"
(see "Davis, Peter G."). Little wonder many ceased listening --- and
begin listening with others' ears and without their own little heads
and hearts they did. But leave it to the bloodless (and if you don't
have blood you don't need a heart and if you don't have blood you
will find yourself thirsty, very thirsty, guaranteed) - it is in fact
their exclusive province - to accomplish such feats. No, they
were/are neither Maria nor Renata nor Renata nor Joan nor Leonie nor
Gwyneth nor Anja --- impeccable vocalists that they were --- and why
should they be? --- Take the particularly complex case of a
fascinatingly complex yet elemental yet thoroughly modern, and yet
not, artist...Cheryl Studer --- was/is the backlash really for l-a-c-
k o-f q-u-a-l-i-t-y, for l-a-c-k o-f a-r-t-i-s-t-i-c w-o-r-t-h, for
l-a-c-k o-f t-e-m-p-e-r-a-m-e-n-t, for l-a-c-k o-f
p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l-i-t-y?
A decade or so later there is a pregnant, pulsating and penetrating
sense of panic and fatigue among critics, industry folk, and fanatics
(naughty word but only and only when linked with you-know-who) alike,
most shockingly noticeable within the gated communities of the old and
the jaded, who can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean
anything)....
[....as long as their names are n-o-t Cheryl Studer.]
[God Willing.]
[And yet more Enchantment/Jubilation courtesy of the
Panacea/Schadenfreude of Cheryl Studer-Free Zones/Ground Zeroes.]
[Sternstunde.]
[God Willing.]
[Young Ones - Do not be duped by the hollow enthusiasms of the age ---
ever seen a sad clown playing happy?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, what passes for
it....and every new product or stage appearance tossed our way by the
Star System we hate to love (certainly a system long preceding but
fatally ran to the ground by the quasi-empty rhetoric and prissiness
of political correctness run amok and afoul, and the Gestapo-like
censorship tactics of the instinct/thought-control police, in concert
with the 'World Music Congress' - the Rudases, the Breslins, the Sire
Jonases, the Mehtas, the Holenders (whose nose is long and arrogant
enough to sniff all the way to the Volksoper and as far as Berlin),
the Levines, the Maazels, the Heymanns, the Previns, the self-
professed rap-music fans of the world (see "von Dohnányi, Christoph" -
-- uncle must be spinning in his ashes --- ladies and gentlemen, more
often than we are led to believe, death CAN be in vain), The Due(tto)
or Three or Four or Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are losing
count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. S.A. GmbH – the Ozawas and the
Gergievs too (both would rather accommodate [and have] the Blind n'
Pop(ular) Lounge Singer than the likes of Gorchakova ---
yes, to this level we have sunk) are prime shareholders (and puppets)
in this jUdErEi – (that's right) - i.e., by the Wish-Upon-a-Star
System of Bocelli, of course, or Hampson (now pretty much an
undisputed by-the-book Straussian, Wagnerian a-n-d ...hear
hear...Verdian...of Stature, don't you know) or the Alagnas (f-a-k-e
recordings of Verdi's -Trovatore- for Sire Tony/EMI and Bizet's
-Carmen-, also for Sire-to-be Whoever/EMI --- Grecian Approximation
No. XXVI - we have lost count - has yet to sing Leonora or Carmen
where it counts) or the other Bocelli and Michael Bolton comrade,
Fleming....well, all of it h-a-s sudden Meaning and Necessity, so the
public relationists tell us....the Magic courtesy, n-e-i-t-h-e-r
because of especially great voices nor exceptional interpretive wills
nor because of bona fide personalities n-o-r because of remotely
acceptable n-e-w music, but because:
NUMBER 1: their names are n-o-t Cheryl Studer
and
NUMBER 2: ...*in good portion and out of proportion* due to the
PromoOp-Catchpenny that has become 9.11 and its aftermath --- a
monstrous crime monstrously debased by the Infernal Spinning Wheel of
opportunism and commerce and avarice and mayhem and revenge and
murder (widely disguised as justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically
hijacked to peddle everything from Arms Races to Military Buildups to
Far Right-ism (see "Sharon, Ariel" --- how come we don't hear strings
of consistently shrill High Cs crying for h-i-s removal and disposal
of h-i-s (that is, ours) Weapons Of Mass Destruction --- the latest
government double-standard/media buzzword and insult to our dignity
and intelligence --- this time, however, we applaud Barenboim for
being practically the only one playing fiddle on the roof [the
root, the root] of the problem) to Nationalism to Patriotism to
Requiems to Anglo-Zionist Terrorism --- the latter conducted both
musically and extra-curricularly, most prominently with (critical
mass-destruction) Heavy-Metal made in the squeaky clean U.S. of A.
and paid for with y-o-u-r humble American tax dollar (as if you had
a choice) and the blood of y-o-u-r sons and daughters. --- So why
won't Israel and its Business/Washington lobbyists fight their next
door neighbors, which include Iraq and now Syria and Iran, all by
themselves and with t-h-e-i-r o-w-n currency and leave us all a-l-
o-n-e a-n-d i-n p-e-a-c-e?]
[Consequently, would that t-h-e o-t-h-e-r terrorists (for there
are two sets) went home too.]
[Did we fail to add that the terrorists need the U.S. as much as the
U.S. needs them?]
[As it turns out, no other country --- no other --- is as arrogant,
as infantile, as selfish, as bellicose, as disrespectful, as
insulting, as pervasively poisonous, as dubious, as abusive, as
destructive, and as dangerous as the USA (in "universal" coalition
with its satellites: its former occupier the UK and the UK-occupied
Palestine, Israel). And we mean militarily, economically,
politically, diplomatically, spiritually, culturally, and
philosophically – about the latter five, it is the stuff of
bankruptcy courts and all are on equal footing. Sviatoslav Richter
knew (better yet, f-e-l-t) this and never came back. So did Brigitte
Fassbaender. Terrible.]
[In other words, and in some order or other of appearance...
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE WILLIAM KRISTOLS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE PAUL WOLFOWITZES
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE ARI FLEISCHERS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE ALAN GREENSPANS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE JOE LIEBERMANS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE LEFT-WING JEWISH LOBBY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE LEFT-OF-CENTER JEWISH LOBBY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE CENTERED JEWISH LOBBY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE RIGHT-OF-CENTER JEWISH LOBBY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE RIGHT-WING JEWISH LOBBY
NO MORE BLOOD FOR SHARON'S SANDBOX
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE DICK CHENEYS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE DONALD RUMSFELDS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE JOHN ASHCROFTS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR ARROGANCE
NO MORE BLOOD FOR OIL
NO MORE BLOOD FOR VENGEANCE
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE TONY BLAIRS
NO MORE BLOOD FOR THE MARIONETTE/MINSTREL ACTS OF
   Sir COLIN POWELL
...Dame CONDOLEEZA RICE
...AND...
...Sir Koffi Annan]
[Discuss, if you dare.]
[About the new studio-product ('tis is what we call them fakery, no?)
from EMI ---IDOMENEO---, we have read puff like "a recording that n-
e-e-d-e-d to be made." --- after all, it contains the antipodean
missionary of all things English, Sir Charles; British Will o' Wisp
Bostridge; the Bocelli collaborator Frittoli; and, to top it all, the
New (Age) Callas – the organically-grown, FDA approved, anodyne,
pastel, drab as damp cardboard, and dull as fishwater, LetItRain
Hunt(hyphen – I married a techie with composer pretensions + I too
have a little Sob Story in circulation - what is yours?) Lieberson.
But do not for a second believe the ad-men....for this product is yet
more of the ho-hum variety.]
[And don't forget that LetItRain is an "a-r-t-i-s-t", sensitive and
musical - albeit a part-time one - but please understand that very
few others are as musical, let alone sensitive and artistic].
[About the GRAMMY®-winning but not-so-new DECCA ---COCKSUCKER
BLUES---, we have read fluff like "A New F-i-r-s-t L-a-d-y of Bel
Canto - Renée Fleming very nearly manages to shake the insistent ghost
of Maria Callas." (see "
http://www.andante.com
") --- But we are
neither deaf nor naïve nor stupid. You see, n-e-v-e-r e-v-e-r
f-o-r-g-e-t, we insist, that sopranos of the caliber of Cheryl and
Maria (to name but two), frayed of voice and heart or not, n-e-v-e-r
e-v-e-r  s-t-o-o-p-e-d this low (below the navel) in the style
department. But after all, the new product (foreplayed in a studio
some years ago but not ejaculated for another 2 or 3) is being
cart-wheeled under a neon sign that reads "bel canto" (yes, in
lowercase and with the 'b' dangling), complete with a $2 rebate
incentive b-e-l-o-w its already reduced repo artistic value - ya know,
in the manner of the stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad
used-car salesman – breathy, cajoling, cheap, cheesy,
insincere, sleazy, slimy, slippery, sticky -- in that order -- and
that's the singing -- a raw deal -- a lemon.  Hard to swallow, ain't
it?]
----------------------------
IF YO NO KEEP `EM ENTERTAIN' N' DISTRACTED N' IGNORANT N' PLACID(O),
WHO GONNA FIGH' YO WARS?
Blue-Collar/Working-Class Cheap Labor (and the aesthetics, or lack
of, of --- but why stop there? --- how about the absolute absence of
artistic acumen? --- see "Flanigan, Lauren" - see "Radvanovsky,
Sondra" - see "Goerke, Christine" – see "Makarina, Olga"- see "Queler,
Eve" - see "Eastern Europeans" – see "the little touring companies
that could") and Blitzkrieg-style Public Relations and Marketing have
been summoned to the cause of salvaging something or other from the
debris of these self-appointed arbiters/stewards of taste [tastes
ranging from (Z)ubin to Purcell to Kirkby to (A)nalSex – the rawer the
longer the harder the faster the sooner the better] and self-avowed
"opera/music lovers'" own making. And thus have the armies of
businessmen landed, triumphantly, with portfolios chock-full with the
losers, the useless, the amateurs, the dilettantes, the pedigree-less,
the unaccomplished, the homo-geneous, the vocally faceless, the
emaciated, the pretty, the photogenic, the grotesque too, the church
rodents, the H.I.P.-voiced, the H.I.P.-mannered, the pedigree-less,
the correct, the obedient, the mega-amplified, the firefighters, the
policemen, the heroes, the construction workers, the factory slaves,
the custodians, the industrial quality, the white trash, the divas
next door; the divas next door with the cute children as gimmicks; the
divas next door who are so nice and behave so well and who must
reassure us about it; the divas next door who seek psychotherapy and
then have the distaste to announce it; the vedettes next door who love
all that jazz and then scat and squat through e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g that
is European a-n-d Classical and not --- but then, in music that
requires precisely that, the phlegm gets in the way of that thang
called swing; the divas next door who thrive on wrestling, meatloaf,
and fish n' chips --- and look and sound it; the garish mansions next
door who marry well, transgenderly; the divas next door who, although
already in their 40s and beyond, must appease us by "taking baby steps
to protect their voices" and who swear that that's why they will still
be in their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we
will want to hear them then; the optically challenged, the physically
handicapped, the sob stories, more sob stories, the victims, the
politics of victimhood, the politics of sexual orientation, the
politics of identity, the
politics of race, the politics of reverse racism, the politics of we-
are-holier-than-thou, the politics of lifestyle, the politics of
triviality, the politics of image, the politics of artifice, the
politics of banality, the politics of favoritism, the politics of
partisanship, the politics of corruption, the politics of indecency,
the politics of Puritanism, the politics of fleecing, the politics of
the willing, the politics of "coalition", the politics of crass
deception, the politics of the willful, the politics of oppression
disguised as liberation, the politics of extracurricular social
agendas, the politics of inadequacy, the politics of "The American
Peepole," the politics of dumbing-down, the politics of the lowest
possible common denominator, the pedigree-less, the pedigree-less, the
pedigree-less, and yet more of that. And some more sob stories. And
not to be missed: the Teddy Bears (think of – well not really, since
you can't – the vocal troubles, the gross embarrassments of stunt-ed
live programs - everything from Beg Your Indulgences to Public Regrets
to Tosti to Walkouts - from, for instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez, the
Brightman/Bocelli/Church/Sissel-comrade Domingo, the other Sissel and
Bocelli comrade-in-arms Terfel, and Heppner – no matter - the insulted
audiences correspond to their own cheating with tears and Standing Os
--- but no surprise here, for it is nothing but another perversion of
our desensitized, demoralized, diseased, frivolous, diluted, and
vulgar days.)
FUCK ME
Even Joseito Carreras became the object of one of these demonstrations
- and this in the enlightened and improved and newly innocent and
important again (or so it goes) Salzburg of the summer of
two-thousand-and-two-After-Christ --- to you that's 20+ years since
the Spaniard lost IT --- or almost a quarter century riding on the
[petty]coattails of his own sob story).
FUCK ME HARDER
On the opposite receiving end we read the quasi-ecstatic notices on
behalf of Merola-ite but no one's conception, until now
(mysteriously), of sound vocalism, Luana DeVol.
And thus today's so-called "A-List" (really, nothing but a paid
announcement transmitted by the "Ass-ociated Press"), the P®ops, the
Pops, the Popp Clones (she of the intellectual and revisionist and
hyperkonzeptual and seminal and monumentally popular programs, right
Sir Peter?), the Grümmer Clones, the Callas Clones, the Tebaldi
Clones, the Sutherland Wannabes, the Steber Clones, the Schwarzkopf
Clones, the Sarah Vaughan Clones, the Price Clones, the Janowitz
Clones, the Freni Wannabes, the Fischer-Dieskau Clones, the
Furtwängler Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites --- poor, pitiful
facsimiles a-l-l ---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover
Hustlers, the Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns, the
Postmortems, the
Multiculturalists, the Community Initiatives, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars (in the tradition of Peter n' Ben,
Sir Peter n' Sancta Lucia, Galina n' Misha, Richard n' Joan, Edita n'
Friedrich, Dietrich n' Julia, Anja n' Wieland, Christoph n' Anja,
Christa n' Walter, Walter n' Elisabeth, Maria n' Ari, Plácido n'
Marta, Nicoletta n' Luciano [we have lost count], now we have Arnold
n' Maria, Peter n' Petra, Angela n' Roberto, Mia n' André, André n'
Anne-Sophie --- by the widest and longest possible stretch of the
imagination, her greatest career move since Karajan and since
commissioning two or three (m)utterly charmless and obsolete b-u-t
oh-so-rigorous! works for fiddle), the Exquisite, the Divine, the
Fabulous, the Delicious, the Magnificent, the Paramount, the
Fantabulous, and the Little Labels That Could all have it relatively
easy in comparison to that preceding generation. And the critical
standards --- what standards? - whose? – of what era? --- have
reformed, or rather, have doubled and tripled....But injury is
often prone to insult. Hell, standards have liquified and then
evaporated vis a vis the new generation. It is no longer Sound Music
Criticism but Lowest-Common-Denominator Public Relations Spin [and
much worse: the fixation with that elusive something known as
technique --- technique and organization and perfection as ends in
themselves: music-making as athletic match: missing the forest for
the trees --- but this is another angle for another day – or is it?].
So much so that it has become strangely and suddenly k-o-s-h-e-r once
more (Jesus!, how many more times are we going to hear about market
over-saturation?) to make records [and k-o-s-h-e-r again to be an
"American Opera Singer"] (Remember when you and I were advised [or
should we say advertised?] to please r-e-j-e-c-t, swiftly AND
wholesale, them records [or anything containing Cheryl Studer --- or,
for that matter, any, and we mean any attempt at open discourse on her
art? --- Do you remember the longstanding efforts amounting to a
campaign to discredit the lady and her work? --- Must you be made
aware of the pall hovering over the mere mention of her name in some
circles? --- You do not need to be told, do you?, of the air-tight
atmosphere surrounding the lady's name, tantamount to Can-Do-No-Right
– not then, not now --- Have you forgotten the p-r-e-v-e-n-t-i-o-n
measures taken by the taste/censorship police in these forums in order
to curtail all
possibility of even the minutest measure whiffing of favourable
discourse on her art?] --- Oh, you know the litany --- something
about digital and generalized and faked and frigid and manufactured
and calibrated and illusory and phony and phoned-in and un-necessary
and un-fair and in-competent and in-personal and contrived and in-
experienced and un-felt and in-expressive and ex-pensive and un-
popular and over-exposed and under the note and un-communicative and
dull and null and sterile and perfect and flawed and clinical and
precise and international (curiously, we hardly read such venom
spouted at failed-serialist-turned-serial-partitur-surgeon Pierre
Boulez) (and yes, yet again our bladders burst open --- consider that
these traditionally liberal-anythinggoes-wandering-international
minorities are the same ones seen n' heard wailing like widows over
the caskets of
national/regional styles --- but *try* telling them *that* --- try
telling them that their notion of
musical-personalities-and-music-making-as-china-doll has come unglued
and undone --- finished --- or ought to be) and this and that and that
and this - beautiful even - artistic even - you know, the toxic
byproduct of uncontained Kapitalismus - the same Kapitalismus, isn't
it?, that gave us such goodies as Meyerbeer Halévy & Sons, penicillin,
Bocelli & Sons, cheap sentiments, more penicillin, Alan
`my-competence-includes-championing-the-OJ-Simpson-cause-and-the-case-FOR-torture-but-as-a-Jew'
Dershowitz, more penicillin, the Holocash, the Armenian, Russian, and
Chinese Holocausts no one *and we mean no one* made an Industry of,
the current Holocaust under our noses in Congo no one hears or cares
about, Convenience Dictatorships, convenience stores, preservatives,
PCPs, cigarettes, cancer, sunglasses, sunblock, suntanning, more
cancer, opera glasses, the megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the
photograph, the ("fideistic" and most pleasurable) Mapleson cylinders,
maple syrup, Marston Records, naXos, the phonograph, the light bulb,
gaslight, lamps, shades, nostalgia, animated pictures, the telegraph,
the typewriter, carbon paper, the telephone, the clock, the metronome,
the pitch fork, the antenna, the satellite dish, the radio, the
television, bandwidth, TV dinners, the calculator, the metric system,
calendars, famine, feast, walkie-talkies, headphones, headsets,
X-rays, MRIs, cat-scans, night vision goggles, Google, Usenet, Yahoo,
beepers, intercoms, elevators, escalators, bicycles, stationary
bicycles, stationery, faster trains, the automobile, the jet plane,
motorbikes, snowmobiles, surfboards, skateboards, rollerblades, ice
skates, rollercoasters, houses of horror, houses of cards, houses of
mirrors, Martha Stewart, Wal-Mart, Jerry Springer, NASCAR, The Vagina
Monologues, Cori Ellison, Anne Midgette, Manuela Hoelterhoff, the
efforts to erode the composition and sound and culture of the Vienna
Philharmonic (in the manner of your favourite American Affirmative
Action country club or of your favourite International-sounding
ensemble), trailer parks, fast food, junk food, malnutrition,
gluttony, obesity, anorexia nervosa, nervousness, bulimia, lawn
mowers, snow blowers, vacuum cleaners, detergents, mops, brooms, dust
pans, rags, sponges, shags, wigs, afros, mini-skirts, bellbottoms,
platform shoes, pajamas, lingerie, bikinis, stockings, lava lamps,
disco, beat poetry, grunge, turbos, sedans, vans, buses, minibuses,
limousines, tanks, bulldozers, canoes, motor boats, sail boats,
battleships, submarines, B52s, F16s, space shuttles, robots, rockets,
missiles, bombs, stealth bombers, torpedoes, landmines, telescopes,
Star Wars, Nuclear Races, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Agent Orange,
palm trees, palm pilots, Napalm, Nepal, Free Tibet, Save the Whales,
note pads, Post-Its, Hiroshima, Dresden, Vietnam (to name but a few of
these insignificant mishaps, right?), MOABs (about the testing in
mid-March of 2003 of such destructive a WMD in Florida, USA --- about
the latest sham, that of Schwarzenegger in California, USA --- that
either fiasco failed to generate as much environmental, moral,
philosophical and whatnot concerns all around as a photo-op, says
everything we need to know about the collective swamp we are),
Apaches, Indian Reservations, indians, cowboys, Kleenex (we often
cultivate and later spoon-feed you the Sob Stories but we also arm you
with the tissue to wipe out the tears --- all on OUR terms), duct
tape, gas masks, mascara, cosmetics, perfumes, Tammy Faye Baker, Mary
Kay, Pink Cadillacs, Tupperware, bingo, lotteries, the welfare system,
WICs, Vegas, Niagara Falls, casinos, Elvis, brilliantine, Crisco,
hairspray, hair dryers, exhaust fumes, exhaustion, stimulants, sleep
deprivation, sedatives, alcoholism, depression, depleted Ozone layers,
synthetic fibers, fiberoptics, boxing, wrestling, rugby, frying bacon,
monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette,
the LP, stereo systems, stereo sound, surround sound, boom boxes,
faxes, paper clips, nail clippers, paper shredders, photocopiers,
laser printers, overnight mail, the (unfortunate and devastating to
the testimonials of a vast majority of contemporary artists) digital
technology, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, hot dogs, alarm clocks,
wristwatches, dishwashers, ice boxes, refrigerators, toasters, ovens,
microwave ovens, food processors, blenders, the CD, SACD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the famous (pitch re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the
(disgracefully influential, sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise)
Anglo/Judeo DECCA/Culshaw/Solti Ring, MTV, commercial infrastructures,
eBay, Spam, frozen French fries, burnt-thin-weak American coffee,
diners, Java, Starbucks, generators, engines, batteries, bartering,
butter, department stores, super stores, supermarkets, mega stores,
shopping malls, strip malls, overdevelopment, superstores, parking
lots, overspending, high debt, low savings, high crime, rampant
violence, credit cards, more credit cards, Carte Blanche (for some ---
you know who and what you are), bonus points, more fleecing, fees,
fees, fees everywhere, more penicillin, toothpaste, toothpicks,
magazines, annual reports, filing cabinets, paper paper paper
everywhere, papered halls, confetti, more paper shuffling,
bureaucracies, red tape, yellow ribbons, deforestation, tourism,
eco-tourism, Chevron/Texaco, Tibet, Mt. Everest, B&Bs, R&B, hotels,
hostels, motels, park benches, jacuzzis, T-lifts, plastic surgery,
breast implants, Vail, Viagra, ski resorts, Park Ave., Madison Ave.,
boulevards, summer homes, increasingly short vacations, ice cream,
cotton candy, cotton balls, Q-tips, ear plugs, The Boston Pops, more
wallpaper, formica, wood paneling, pop tarts, lollipops, soda pop, pop
psychology, popcorn, corn flakes, vitamins, herbs, steroids,
gymnasiums, hoola-hoops, pinballs, Chinese checkers, yo-yos, Yo-Yo Ma,
Tan Dun, John Williams, Bobby McFerrin, PBS, Yanni, yet more
wallpaper, more penicillin please, jams, jelly, jell-o, J-Lo, day-glo,
go-go, psychedelia, fans, air conditioning, wallpaper, Vivaldi, The
Four Seasons, 600+ variations on a theme, silk flowers, plastic
flowers, fake spring water, faux marble, faux fur, faux leather,
animal rights, stuffed animals,
andante.com
, 12,000 other music
websites, the pirates, special effects, the VHS, HTML, the WWW,
Apples, Windows, ATMs, FTD, LSD, FTC, IMF, DNA, UPS, the cell phone,
the LD, the DVD, MP3s, HMV, Opera In The Original (that's English to
you, naturally and perennially), survivor shows, SUVs, BMWs, VWs,
IRAs, 401Ks, BBQs, bb guns, water coolers, televised war crimes,
video games, Andy Warhol, instant soup, instant gratification,
Instant Opera, Opera For All (a noble Konzept but it's just that
the "critical masses" ain't there any longer...nor do they care to
be),
Shock n' Awe, more penicillin, Toys r' Us, CNN operas, soap, soap
operas, Oprah, Howard Stern, more penicillin, Hollywood blockbusters,
Hollywood stereotyping (but seldom of "their own" --- you know who
and what you are), Jewish Racism (an issue of semantics, for we hardly
dare call it what it is), more penicillin, Sellars Konwitschny
Neuenfels Beito Wilson & Zambello, yet more penicillin, El Niño,
septic tanks, latrines, toilet stalls, more penicillin, yet more
Regietheater, yet more penicillin, graffiti, tattoos, wax, S&M, M&Ms,
teflon, styrofoam, disposable incomes, tax loopholes, tax havens,
creative accounting, ENRON, insurance scams, for-profit health care,
nannies, nurseries, nursing homes, retirement communities, inner-city
squalor, overpriced sneakers, gangs, segregation, not-in-my-backyard
liberals, For-God-and-Country right-wingers, country clubs,
fraternities, underpaid overseas labor, economies of scale, ever
widening income gaps, The Gap, GNP, NASA, the NASDAQ, the NYSE, all
out grossness, waste dumps, twisted metal, scrap heaps, junkyards,
scaffolds, the ENO, more penicillin, karaoke, red light districts,
peep shows, more penicillin, laxatives, aspirin, contraceptives,
antacids, the legal and illegal drug culture, the corner drugstore,
super drugstores, syringes, methadone, band-aids, prophylactics, test
tube babies, petri dishes, no culture, bagels, pretzels, lox, hummus,
Hummers, hybrids, Vilar gardens, Vilar foyers, Vilar lobbying, Vilar
titles, Vilar entitlements, Vilar foreclosures, Vilar defaults, Vilar
promises, skyscrapers, corporate-filtered news and op-eds, supply and
no demand, no supply and demand, overflow, overlap, overhead,
exaggerated price markups, unpaid overtime labor, the cheapest labor
since slavery and then bread --- the Economy of Volunteerism, the
Economy of Temporary Labor, outsourcing, more fleecing, multitasking,
micromanaging, compartmentalization, specialization (and yet today we
celebrate in the best way we can, posthumously, the versatility,
repertory escapades and consistently diamantine vocalism, yes?, of a
century+ ago of, say, the immortal [and Jewess] Lilli Lehmann or, for
that matter, of anyone – provided their last name is not Studer ---
and for that matter, how many of you experienced either one where it
counts?), teleconferencing, telemarketing, wireless technology (but
what are we really communicating?), multimedia, microchips, silicon
(perhaps all that sand in the Middle East, which includes Israel,
could be put to good use – BLOOD FOR SAND? --- nah, not worth it),
underutilized solar energy, superhighways, software, hardware,
peripherals, acoustically enhanced opera houses and concert halls,
euphemisms, masked balls, virtual reality, cloning, artificial
intelligence, Callas martyrs, more penicillin, Caruso, Ponselle,
Callas, more Callas, more penicillin, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI
Callas re-re-re-re-re-regurgitations, more penicillin, yet more Sony
Glenn Gould re-re-re-re-re-compilations, yet more penicillin, yet more
Vladimir Horowitz re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more penicillin --- and
of course, the same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So Long
Anticipated, Oh So Very Important and, at last!, Oh So Necessary
EWIGE WELTKULTURERBE belonging to, for example and randomly,
Pavarotti's new excremental release (the Pop album), Bocelli, Cecilia,
Bryn, Barenboim, Zubin `I owe my spectacles to the Jews' Mehta,
Petra-Maria, E-di-ta! E-di-ta! E-di-ta!, LetItRain, Beverly, Sir
Simon, Ozawa, Renée, Gergiev, Galina, Neil, Aprile [these days reduced
- or is it enhanced? – to croon, pathetically and below the note,
opposite Danny Boy The 9.11 NYPD Singin' Cop], Alessandra, Grace,
Shirley, Jessye, von Otter, Schäfer, "Marilyn Monroe Purr" and
"Broadway Casting Agent's Dream" Debbie (see "Ross, Alex" and
"Tommasini, Anthony" respectively) - (a f-a-k-e recording of R.
Strauss' -Friedenstag- for Sinopoli/DGG --- "...Deborah Voigt's
Maria...was in fact dubbed in after the recording was completed, after
the original soprano had dropped out...." -'Fanfare', Sep/Oct 2002, p.
214), Cathy, Kathy, Jane, Ruthie Ann!, "Veteran Wagnerian" Karita (see
CareerHomo-turned-critic-turned-promoter "Tommasini, Anthony") - (a
f-a-k-e recording of Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder- for Sire Simon/EMI -
http://andante.com/magazine/article.cfm?id=17979
), Violeta (a f-a-k-e
recording of Poncielli's –Gioconda- for Sir-to-be Viotti/EMI – Urmana
has yet to sing Gioconda where it counts (and neither has her
Spanish-Fly cohort as Enzo) – but at least she is still in possession
of her renowned italianità and coloratura abilities, yes?, sufficient
to render her a Favorite of critics and maybe, just maybe, to secure
some paltry "Please-Save-EMI" sales), Waltraud - and much much more)
----- for naXos, FARAO, Rare Opera, Mom & Pop, even for Lucifer
Classics. No matter.
[But......we are afraid it's t-o-o l-a-t-e --- because the
registers, they ain't ringin' (and all too often and in contradiction
to what we are led to believe, not just the cash ones). Regrets.]
3C. How exactly is naXos alleviating the crisis of overcrowding and
confusion among consumers? In opera titles alone, they have recorded
yet a-n-e-w: Boheme, Fidelio, Butterfly, Tosca, Flying Dutchman,
Barber of Seville, Aida, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, and on and on and
on. Correct us if we are wrong, but these bread and butter works were
not lacking in existing documentation, whether historical or not,
hysterical or not, distinguished or not, low end or not. And the
combined sad efforts from naXos simply do not measure up. Why pay
less, then, when you can get better and more for twice the price?
3D. "Oh but it does mean something, it does", we say. So the "average
music lover" has become the barometer of quality and relevance?
Indeed they don't deserve Muti, Abbado, or Chailly (however much they
deserve the three-minute-aria-cum-top-ten-hit and however little they
give a dime or deserve whatever happens before and after the
goddamn Big Tune). And is the Hulun Hu Tympany Orchestra really
better than Amsterdam, Dresden, Berlin or Vienna? (although, truth be
told, too many of us have heard the Vienna, for one, play and sound
like a school of simians under the stick shift of a colonized and
assimilated but loyal to Queen Mum, and thus celebrated, Indian
cabbie).
3E. And Cheryl Studer, she's not one of the unwashed, is she? Were
they her contemporaries, would Mr. Heymann have singled out Callas,
Tebaldi, Sutherland, or Caballé, to name but a few, in his lowly,
opportunistic manner? After all, they were/are *Daughters Of Lucifer*,
to our benefit. Presumably naXos treats its "illustrious" roster with
more dignity, respect, and vocal support. Speaking of vocal support,
perhaps the crafty and clever Mr. Heymann is unaware that *his own*
Floria Tosca (Madame Nelly Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "más sabe el burro que
tú") has reportedly bombed in this and other roles numerous times in
numerous places. However, these catastrophes have failed to make a
dent in the armory of the "cognoscenti" and their media spokespeople,
strangely. For those not "in the know", Madame M is rumoured to be the
Bastard Child of the Incestuous Union of the Twins Callas and Heymann,
now all grown and matured into a very 'Rare Opera' singer complete
with numerous fancifully edited recordings to her name. No matter.
4. Many of us have heard naXos' Caruso edition (and not just naXos')
(mind you, not that the long-deceased tenor is remotely a Heymann
discovery/original --- and neither are --- not one --- any of the
others --- not one --- that Sir Heymann & Co. keep dumping as
remasterings upon this reverential but funereal shopping cart). We
have to wonder what Mr. Heymann's authoritative producers and editors
(and his Public Relationists) would have made of the great man today
for violating at least a couple of standards of sound conduct such as
throat-clearing smack in the middle of a take and a glaring false
entry at the beginning of another? And what of the poor pianist?
Good God.
----------------------------
Considering the Grand Meltdown (not lacking the "Grand Manner" you so
prefer – or do you?) of new opera recordings (on Compact Disc alone?)
from the Universal Classics family of labels (DGG, DECCA,
Philips)....and now from Sony and EMI Classics too, it seems....let us
take a Long and Hard (as you like it) look at the following
repertorium ---
* Title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, rec 8/90, London SO,
Marin, Lucifer Classics
* Hanna Glawari in Lehar's Lustige Witwe, rec 1/94, Vienna PO,
Gardiner, Lucifer Classics
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 1-2/94, Vienna PO,
Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 5/91, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Lucifer Classics
* Title role in Rossini's Semiramide, rec 7/92, London SO, Marin,
Lucifer Classics
* Florinda in Schubert's Fierrabras, rec 5/88, Chamber Orch of
Europe, Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Title role in R. Strauss' Salome, rec 12/90, Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, rec 6/93, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto Act III, rec 9/91, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics
* Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, rec 5/93, Opéra Bastille, Chung,
Lucifer Classics
* Violetta in Verdi's Traviata, rec 1/91, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '88, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '89, Bayreuth, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics
* Senta in Wagner's fliegende Holländer, rec 1/91, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics
* Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung, rec 5/89, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics
* Title role in Floyd's Susannah, rec 3/94, Opéra de Lyon, Nagano,
Lucifer Classics
* Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, rec 2/91, Toulouse, Plasson, Lucifer
Classics
* Salomé in Massenet's Hérodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson,
Lucifer Classics
* Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, rec 9/90, Vienna PO, Muti,
Lucifer Classics
* Konstanze in Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail, rec 4/91, Vienna
Symphony, Weil, Lucifer Classics
* Queen of the Night in Mozart's Zauberflöte, rec 7/89, ASMF,
Marriner, Lucifer Classics
* Giulietta in Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann, rec 87/88/89, Dresden
Staatskapelle, Tate, Lucifer Classics
* Matilde in Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, rec 12/88, La Scala, Muti,
Lucifer Classics
* Madama Cortese in Rossini's Viaggio a Reims, rec 10/92, Berlin PO,
Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Title role in Spohr's Jessonda, rec '84, ORF Orchestra, Albrecht,
Lucifer Classics
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 1/90, Bavarian RSO,
Sawallisch, Lucifer Classics
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 6/89, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Lucifer Classics
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec 2-12/87, Bavarian
RSO, Sawallisch, Lucifer Classics
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec '92, Vienna PO,
Solti, Lucifer Classics
* Title role in Verdi's Aida, rec 6/94, Covent Garden, Downes,
Lucifer Classics
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6-7/89, La Scala, Muti, Lucifer
Classics
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6/90, La Scala, Muti, Lucifer
Classics
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
Lucifer Classics
* Drolla in Wagner's Die Feen, rec 7/83, Bavarian RSO, Sawallisch,
Lucifer Classics
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Bayreuth), rec 6/90, Bayreuth,
Schneider, Lucifer Classics
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Vienna), rec '90, Vienna PO,
Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger, rec 4/93, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Lucifer Classics
* Irene in Wagner's Rienzi, rec 7/83, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Lucifer Classics
* Ortlinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 8/81, Dresden Staatskapelle,
Janowski, Lucifer Classics
* Sieglinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 2-3/88, Bavarian RSO, Haitink,
Lucifer Classics
* Zemlinsky's Der Geburtstagder Infantin, rec 83, Berlin RSO,
Albrecht, Lucifer Classics
* Coloratura Arias by Bellini (Sonnambula/Norma), Verdi
(Traviata/Trovatore), Donizetti (Lucia/Lucrezia Borgia), Rossini
(Barbiere/Semiramide), rec 4/89, Munich RSO, Ferro, Lucifer Classics
* Mozart Arias
(Entführung/Zauberflöte/Idomeneo/Nozze/Giovanni/Clemenza/Cosi), rec
9/89, ASMF, Marriner, Lucifer Classics
* R. Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder/Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder/Isolde's
Liebestod, rec 1/93, Dresden Staatskapelle, Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics
* Isolde's Liebestod, rec 1/88, Bavarian RSO, Tate, Lucifer Classics
* Wagner Gala (Tannhäuser/Lohengrin/Meistersinger/Walküre), rec
12/93, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* First Europakonzert - in Prague (Mozart: "Non mi dir"/"Ch'io mi
scordi di te-Non temer amato bene"), rec 5/91, Berlin PO, Abbado,
Lucifer Classics
* Covent Garden Gala (Otello/Traviata/Fledermaus), rec 7/88, Covent
Garden, Barker, Lucifer Classics
* Sacred Works
(Bach/Schubert/Mendelssohn/Handel/Mozart/Gounod/Faure/Poulenc/Bernstei
n/Bruch), rec 3/91, London SO, Marin, Lucifer Classics
* Samuel Barber Songs, rec 9/92, Browning (R.I.P.), Emerson String
Quartet, Lucifer Classics
* Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, rec 8/91, Vienna PO, Levine, Lucifer
Classics
* Beethoven in Berlin (Ah! Perfido/Choral Fantasy/Egmont), rec 12/91,
Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Brahms' German Requiem, rec 10/92, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics
* Schubert Lieder, rec 1/90, Gage, Lucifer Classics
* Salzburg Recital (R. Strauss/Schubert/Debussy), rec 8/92, Gage,
Lucifer Classics
* Mahler's Klagende Lied, rec 11/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli, Lucifer
Classics
* Mahler's Symphony No. 2, rec 11/92, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 11-12/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 1/94, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 6/87, La Scala, Muti, Lucifer Classics
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 11/91, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics
* Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, rec 4/89, Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti,
Lucifer Classics
* Bruckner's Mass in F Min/Mozart's Vespers, rec 3/77, MIT Choral
Society, Oliver, Lucifer Classics
* Donizetti's Requiem, rec 1/84, Bamberg SO, Gómez-Martínez, Lucifer
Classics
* von Schweinitz's Messe Op. 21, rec 7/84, RSO Berlin, Albrecht,
Lucifer Classics
* R. Strauss Choral Works, rec 9/84, RIAS Kammerchor, Gronostay,
Creed, Lucifer Classics
"L-A  Ú-L-T-I-M-A..........que ríe, ríe mejor."
Bravissima Cheryl Studer, verlorene Tochter.  Very beautifully and
exquisitely done.  A most wonderful, exemplary, and unforgettable
legacy, a legacy of  e-x-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-a-l  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  and  d-i-
s-t-i-n-c-t-i-o-n.  Thank you for  u-n-c-o-m-p-r-o-m-i-s-i-n-g
Artistry of  u-n-c-o-m-m-o-n  i-n-t-e-l-l-i-g-e-n-c-e  and
i-n-s-t-i-n-c-t --- the work of a consummate being.  Thank you.  Thank
you for Dedication, Seriousness, and Integrity.  Thank you for
remaining True to your self, to the artform (on life-support as it
is), and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Good Music.  Thank you for a Universe of
Sound and Texture and Expression and Communication  a-l-l  o-f
y-o-u-r  o-w-n.  Thank you for  g-e-n-e-r-o-s-i-t-y.  Thank you for
H-i-g-h  I-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l-i-t-y.  And (to boot) individuality
within the bondage of and respect for the  T-r-a-d-i-t-i-o-n.
Thank You.
And thank you too, Universal, EMI and Sony, for having had the
foreskin to recognize and capture genius (we know, we know – but worse
has been written and said about the artist) in our midst while the
going was good (now that these dinosaurs' [delusional] populist
causes, causes lately so palatable to the Anglo/Judeo-centric and
their Axes-[oh irony!]-Of-Love, have caused them to
trim....ouch....their future....for that squeaky clean look and
sound....and potent[ial] self-extinction).
----------------------------
And now, a little something to ponder about ---
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served
the 'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it
was not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed
both their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are
always ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there
are those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions.
What, then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to
behave like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed
cad. How is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the
majority of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy
for me, since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone
could object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of cud-
chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other
purgative if you want to have an impression. The effect remains
essentially the same, and you spare yourselves the price of the
ticket. And so a public, the despicable tool of a despicable press,
will pass judgement on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that
enters the concert hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the
noblest possessions of mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that
is not satisfactory, arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and
ceremoniously hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the
shibboleth. That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder,
and rightly so, since it was directed no less at the splendid
accomplishment of the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than
at the work itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this
Lisztian composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did
Liszt's admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-
demonstration? They were simply giving due honor to service
rendered."
Hugo Wolf
Vienna
25 April 1886
----------------------------
A HARPSICHORD GLISTENS AND TRIUMPHS
You and I, we know that something in the air is profoundly d-e-g-e-n-
e-r-a-t-e when a nobody of a harpsichordist and her twinklin' little
instrument command more respect and accolades and anal(ysis)
from 'the chosen people' (The Rake's Progress --
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/rake96dvd.htm
) than those
ass-igned a certain soprano.
{{It is a delight to find an ebullient, effective recording on DVD.
There are some flaws, to be sure, but overall this disc provides an
exciting and entertaining evening of opera. Credit must be
distributed liberally among composer, librettist, cast, conductor,
orchestra, designer and recording crew.
The central voice in this opera is that of the rake himself and it is
difficult to picture a more effective one than Jerry Hadley. He seems
to find the music easy, which is as it should be, and he realizes
the 'progress' by effective acting with voice and body. Upshaw is
hardly less attractive as his true love. Her challenges are primarily
vocal and she conquers them so easily that one does not even hear
that they were encountered. Pederson is a bit less satisfying,
presenting a colorless devil accurately; one would hope for
more 'bite' in the character and in other productions one finds a
more interesting and less shadowy Nick. This reviewer found the
casting of Henschel as Baba disturbing since it appears to exploit
her physique; still, she delivers a fine performance so presumably
was comfortable with the casting. Those four and all the other
soloists show exemplary enunciation and accuracy; even the chorus is
generally understandable.
The production is remarkable with brilliant sets and costumes
prompting the viewer to look forward to the insights offered in the
next scene. While some of the choices need a second viewing to
decipher, none so dominates the stage that it distracts from the
performance. Tom's jeans and tee shirt are consistent even as he
achieves and loses wealth; the implication that he is the same man
throughout is clear and relevant, while simply adding a hat shows his
advancement. Makeup is used effectively, with reality reflected in
the natural appearance of Ann throughout and Tom at the beginning and
the end, where grotesquerie is used when he is dissolute. Why, then,
the artifice for Trulove and the near-natural appearance (beard
aside) of Baba? More viewings will be needed to appreciate those.
Technically, the disc ranks among the best of its era. The picture is
crisp throughout. Sound is effective stereo without surround; clarity
is exemplary and Ann Beckman's harpsichord glistens without blaring -
just right in performance and in recording. Subtitles are in English
only and cannot be suppressed; that is unfortunate since their style
and color (yellow) are sometimes diverting and they are superfluous
in this performance.
Overall, the word for this disc is 'delightful'. It rewards repeated
viewing and serves the work well.}}
Now consider this shibboleth ---
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
Verdi: AIDA
Reviewed by Mickey (Mouse) Richter
27 May 2002
Cast: Cheryl Studer (Aida), Luciana d'Intino (Amneris), Dennis
O'Neill (Radames), Alexandru Agache (Amonasro), Robert Lloyd
(Ramfis), Mark Beesley (Il Re), John Marsden (Messenger), Yvonne
Barclay (Sacerdotta), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, Sir Edward Downes (conductor). Elijah Moshinsky
(director)
{{One can now prove that it is possible to make a performance of Aida
dull. Singing and conducting are altogether competent, but the only
elements of this release which enliven the work are those of the
production - and they are more often confusing or distracting than
constructive. Lloyd infuses some life into his character, but Beesley
is both vocally and dramatically subpar. D'Intino has some moments of
expression but they are not those most needed; the opening scene of
Act IV, for example, is flaccid. Studer, O'Neill and Agache sing all
the notes and none of the music. Many points in the score are
marked 'a piacere', but the pleasure of the artists appears to be to
do nothing at all. The effect is altogether colorless - a grey and
pointless recitation of one of the most vibrant scores in opera.
Color is present on the screen in profusion, thanks to the striking
sets and costumes. Unfortunately, those bear little relationship to
action in the work. Where the banks of the Nile seem to be
represented in Act III by poles topped by cat figures, the same
symbol is carried into the first scene of Act IV, clearly suggesting
that the designer had something else in mind. It is difficult to
believe that the stunning, traditional production of the La Scala
Aida with Chiara and Pavarotti came from the same director as this
one. Characters mill about on stage, doing mysterious things and
thereby diverting attention from what is written and what is being
sung. For this reviewer, any production requiring explanation is in
and of itself faulty.
Technically, this disc is fine with clear sound and picture. Large's
direction is in line with his preference for extreme closeup. Many
find that distracting even on tape; on DVD, often seen on a large
screen, it can be even less attractive, but that is a matter of
personal taste.}}
And thus spoke our hero. We re-quote:
{{One can now prove that it is possible to make a performance of Aida
dull. Singing and conducting are altogether competent, but the only
elements of this release which enliven the work are those of the
production - and they are more often confusing or distracting than
constructive. Lloyd infuses some life into his character, but Beesley
is both vocally and dramatically subpar. D'Intino has some moments of
_expression but they are not those most needed; the opening scene of
Act IV, for example, is flaccid. Studer, O'Neill and Agache sing all
the notes and none of the music. Many points in the score are
marked 'a piacere', but the pleasure of the artists appears to be to
do nothing at all. The effect is altogether colorless - a grey and
pointless recitation of one of the most vibrant scores in opera.}}
Let us ponder some more:
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served
the 'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it
was not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed
both their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are
always ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there
are those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions.
What, then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to
behave like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed
cad. How is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the
majority of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy
for me, since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone
could object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of cud-
chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other
purgative if you want to have an impression. The effect remains
essentially the same, and you spare yourselves the price of the
ticket. And so a public, the despicable tool of a despicable press,
will pass judgement on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that
enters the concert hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the
noblest possessions of mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that
is not satisfactory, arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and
ceremoniously hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the
shibboleth. That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder,
and rightly so, since it was directed no less at the splendid
accomplishment of the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than
at the work itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this
Lisztian composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did
Liszt's admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-
demonstration? They were simply giving due honor to service
rendered."
Hugo Wolf
Vienna
25 April 1886
----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C OF THE FUTURE
Berg, Alban / Wozzeck / Marie
Tchaïkowsky, Piotr Ilyich / Evgeny Onegin / Tatyana
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Così fan tutte / Fiordiligi
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Don Giovanni / Donna Elvira
Puccini, Giacomo / Manon Lescaut / Manon Lescaut
Puccini, Giacomo / Tosca / Tosca
Strauss, Richard / Capriccio / Gräfin
Strauss, Richard / Salome / Salome
Verdi, Giuseppe / Un Ballo in Maschera / Amelia
Verdi, Giuseppe / Don Carlo / Elisabetta
Wagner, Richard / Tristan und Isolde / Isolde
MORE M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS
Beethoven, Ludwig van / Fidelio / Leonore
Lehár, Franz / Die Lustige Witwe / Hanna Glawari
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Le Nozze di Figaro / Contessa d'Almaviva
Strauss, Richard / Elektra / Chrysothemis
Verdi, Giuseppe / Aida / Aida
Verdi, Giuseppe / Otello / Desdemona
Wagner, Richard / Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg / Eva
AND YET MORE M-U-S-I-C
Strauss, Richard / Arabella / Arabella
Strauss, Richard / Ariadne auf Naxos / Primadonna/Ariadne
Strauss, Richard / Die Frau ohne Schatten / Kaiserin
Strauss, Richard / Der Rosenkavalier / Marschallin
Wagner, Richard / Der fliegende Holländer / Senta
Wagner, Richard / Lohengrin / Elsa von Brabant
Wagner, Richard / Tannhäuser / Elisabeth
Wagner, Richard / Die Walküre / Sieglinde
----------------------------
"Wie wenn singen so leicht wäre! Nur Karriere-Machen ist für
Sängerinnen und Sänger noch schwerer. Dabei wissen sie alle von
vornherein, welche Partien zu singen sich lohnt, in welchen man auf
jeden Fall Eindruck zu schinden versteht: Partien, die sich
gewissermaßen von selber entfalten, gestalten und singen.
Daneben gibt es natürlich auch reichliche Mengen von Wurzen-Rollen, um
die man sich lieber herumdrückt; ihnen, wenn irgend möglich, aus dem
Wege singt, sie mit Kusshand den Kolleginnen und Kollegen überlässt.
Sollen sie doch selber sehen, wie sie den Singhals am glücklichsten
aus der von Komponistenhand geknüpften Schlinge ziehen, wenn das
überhaupt möglich ist.
Es ist schon so: Um die Rolle der Irene, der bleichblütigen Schwester
des letzten römischen Tribunen Rienzi, hat sich noch keine Sängerin je
gerissen. Das wird wohl auch Neu-Bayreuth lernen müssen, wenn es -
gegen Wagners erklärten Willen - unter Eva oder Nike, den
Großenkelinnen auf Festspiel-Erneuerungskurs, das höchst
kürzungsfreudige musikalische Römerdrama Jung-Richards auf dem Grünen
Hügel vorzeigen will. Es sei denn, Bayreuth spränge eine junge
Sängerin zu Hilfe, wie es 1983 bei der Eröffnungspremiere den Münchner
Opernfestspielen unter Wolfgang Sawallisch durch Cheryl Studer
geschah.
Vielleicht hätte selbst Wagner seinen "Rienzi" damals schlankweg auf
"Irene" umgetauft. Cheryl Studer jedenfalls stahl ihren Mitsängern,
trotz René Kollo, die Opern-Show. Damit macht man sich nicht gerade
bei den Kollegen beliebt, aber berühmt kann man darüber schon werden,
und Studer wurde es auf der Stelle. Es war halt eine Zeit, in der das
Feuilleton noch rundum funktionierte.
Von buchstäblich einem Tag auf den andern sah sich Studers Ruhm
etabliert. Sie durfte weltweit singen, was nur immer sie wollte, und
sie wollte viel. Ihr Repertoire schwoll, wie bei kaum einer anderen
Sängerin, mächtig in die Breite; und in die Höhe wuchs es, sie selber
überraschend, gleichzeitig auch.
Mit den Koloraturen der Königin der Nacht klopfte sie, zumindest auf
Schallplatten, unternehmungslustig, sogar geradezu vorwitzig an die
geheiligten Pforten von Gruberova-Land. Sie gab sich, wann und wo
irgend möglich, als Mozart-Sängerin zu erkennen. Studers Stimme schien
sich geradezu selbstständig gemacht zu haben: Sie sang gewissermaßen
auf dem Ausflug nach künftigen vokalen Abenteuern.
Sie war Salome, Desdemona, Semiramide, Violetta, aber gleichzeitig
auch Lucia, die Heldin von Lammermoor. Sie sang Wagner am laufenden
Band: die Senta im "Fliegenden Holländer", Elsa in "Lohengrin",
Elisabeth im "Tannhäuser", die "Wesendonck-Lieder": das ganze lyrische
Fach. Sie griff aus auf das Richard-Strauss-Repertoire: nach der
Chrysothemis in "Elektra" lockte "Ariadne" und natürlich die
Marschallin im "Rosenkavalier". Die Schallplatte riss sich um Studers
Mitarbeit.
Sie sang unter den bedeutendsten Dirigenten: unter Abbado, Sir Georg
Solti, Levine, Gardiner, Sinopoli. Als Partner kamen überhaupt nur
noch die feinsten Kollegen wie Placido Domingo oder Luciano Pavarotti
in Frage. Auf breiter musikalischer Front ging es stetig voran. Die
Leuchtkraft der Stimme, die Natürlichkeit des Empfindens, die
Fähigkeit, rückentwickelnd aus altbekannten Operngestalten wieder an
ihren Schicksalen beteiligende Menschen zu machen, zeichnete Studers
schier einzigartige Kunst aus.
Die Metropolitan in New York hieß sie willkommen. Sie sang an der
Mailänder Scala. Berlin gab ihr einen Vertrag. Die Salzburger
Festspiele ließen sich nicht lumpen. Ohne Studer schienen die Bühnen
der Welt mit einem Schlag nackt und bloß.
Was war bloß geschehen, das bald zu beunruhigen begann? Studer hatte
über das ringsum herrschende Kästchendenken, über die Ränder der in
immer enger geschnürten Fächern verwahrten Rollen hinausgesungen. Sie
hatte wieder aufklingen lassen, was im 19. Jahrhundert noch
selbstverständlich war, da ein Ludwig Schnorr mit seinen
neunundzwanzig Jahren bereits den Tristan sang, gleichzeitig aber auch
Ottavio im "Don Giovanni", und Lilli Lehmann buchstäblich alles, was
sich von einer Frau in der Sopranlage singen ließ, mit
Selbstverständlichkeit, Technik und Gottvertrauen dem Publikum
vortrug. Studer versuchte, es ihr gleich zu tun.
Sie eckte damit an. An allen Ecken und Enden tauchten plötzlich
Beckmesser auf. So etwas wie künstlerisches Mobbing zeigte sich in den
bislang einhellig geheiligten Opernkulissen. Man versuchte, Cheryl
Studer verstummen zu machen. Man annulierte ihre Verträge. Man
versuchte, sie in mindere Rollen umzutopfen. Jeder Buhruf vom Olymp,
altgeübter leidiger Brauch, der schon Callas und Tebaldi umklungen
hatte, wurde plötzlich zu Gottes Stimme erklärt und verklärt.
Imponierend wiederum: Studer zog vor Gericht. Sie ließ sich diese
Missachtung ihrer Kunst, ihres Könnens nicht bieten. Sie wollte sich
nicht als Schallplatte aus Fleisch und Blut, als volltechnisierte
Singmaschine eingestuft und zwangsläufig als Künstlerin abgewertet
sehen. Sie wollte Frau bleiben dürfen: singender, jeden Abend auf
offener Bühne sich preisgebender Mensch. Man gab ihr Recht.
Das Publikum gab ihr Recht. Studers Rückkehr ins Zentrum des
musikalischen Erfolges vollzog sich in imponierend gelassenen
Schritten. Sie hat, singend, alle Querelen, die man um sie anzettelte,
hinter sich gelassen. Seither singt sie nicht mehr mit dem Rücken
gegen die Wand. Sie hat sich ihre jubilierenden Freiheiten
wiedererobert: nicht nur eine bedeutende Künstlerin, zugleich eine
tapfere Frau."
----------------------------
"Sie begann ihre Ausbildung im Alter von 12 Jahren an der Interlochen
Arts Academy; dann während drei Jahren am Berkshire Music Centre in
Tanglewood Schülerin von Phyllis Curtin. 1978 gewann sie einen
Gesangwettbewerb der Metropolitan Oper New York und setzte darauf ihre
Ausbildung an der Wiener Musikakademie, u.a. bei Hans Hotter, fort.
Sie war bereits in ihrer amerikanischen Heimat als Konzertsängerin
aufgetreten. 1980 erhielt sie ihr erstes Bühnenengagement an der
Staatsoper von München (Debüt als erste Dame in der "Zauberflöte").
1981 hatte sie dort einen aufsehenerregenden Erfolg als Marie in
Smetanas "Verkaufter Braut". 1982-84 war sie Mitglied des
Staatstheaters von Darmstadt, 1984-86 der Deutschen Oper Berlin. Es
kam dann zur Ausbildung einer großen, internationalen Karriere. 1985
hatte sie bei den Festspielen von Bayreuth einen sensationellen Erfolg
als Elisabeth im "Tannhäuser". Diese Partie wiederholte sie dort
1986-87 und 1989; 1988-90 wurde sie in Bayreuth als Elsa im
"Lohengrin" gefeiert. 1986 zu Gast an der Grand Opéra Paris als Pamina
in der "Zauberflöte" an der Covent Garden Oper London hörte man sie
1987 als Elisabeth, 1988 als Elsa, 1994 als Aida; an der Münchner
Staatsoper 1987 als Sieglinde in der "Walküre", dann als Kaiserin in
der "Frau ohne Schatten" von R.Strauss, 1996 als Arabella in der
gleichnamigen Oper von R.Strauss. An der Oper von Rom wirkte sie 1987
in einer konzertanten Aufführung von Webers "Euryanthe" mit, an der
Mailänder Scala sang sie das Sopransolo im Verdi-Requiem. 1988
erschien sie wieder an der Grand Opéra Paris, jetzt als Elsa.
Ebenfalls 1988 kam es zu ihrem Debüt an der Metropolitan Oper New York
in der Partie der Micaela in "Carmen". 1989 übernahm sie an der
Staatsoper von Wien wie bei den Salzburger Festspielen die
Chrysothemis in "Elektra" von R.Strauss. 1989 trat sie an der
Mailänder Scala als Elena in Verdis "I Vespri Siciliani" auf, 1991 als
Odabella in "Attila" von Verdi. 1990 sang sie an der Wiener Staatsoper
die Elsa im "Lohengrin" (mit Placido Domingo in der Titelrolle) und
die Donna Anna im "Don Giovanni", 1991 die Gräfin in "Figaros
Hochzeit", die sie auch 1995 an der Londoner Covent Garden Oper
vortrug, 1996 an der Oper von Lyon die Leonore im "Fidelio". Bei den
Salzburger Festspielen war sie 1990-91 als Elettra in Mozarts
"Idomeneo", 1992 als Kaiserin in "Die Frau ohne Schatten" von
R.Strauss 1995 als Marschallin im "Rosenkavalier", 1996 als Leonore im
"Fidelio" anzutreffen. Sie gastierte am Teatro Liceo Barcelona, am
Opernhaus Bonn und an den großen amerikanischen Bühnen, war aber nicht
weniger erfolgreich als Konzertsopranistin. Auf der Bühne lagen
Schwerpunkte ihres Repertoires im Mozart- und im Wagner-Fach, dazu in
Partien wie der Mathilde in Rossinis "Wilhelm Tell" (Mailänder Scala),
der Elena in Verdis "Vespri Siciliani", der Marguerite im "Faust" von
Gounod und der Titelpartie in Rossinis "Semiramide". 1989 übernahm sie
in Philadelphia mit der Lucia di Lammermoor eine der großen
klassischen Koloraturpartien und unterstrich damit einmal mehr ihre
vielseitige, die Fachgrenzen übergreifende Begabung. Beim Rossini
Festival in Pesaro sang sie 1990 die Mme. Cortese in "Il Viaggio a
Reims" von Rossini.Bei der Vielzahl von Schallplattenaufnahmen kann
nur eine Übersicht gegeben werden: Ariola-Eurodisc (Walküre im
Ring-Zyklus), Orfeo ("Die Feen" von R.Wagner, Requiem von Donizetti),
HMV-Electrola (Verdi-Requiem, 9. Sinfonie von Beethoven, Elena in "I
Vespri Siciliani", Kaiserin in "Die Frau ohne Schatten" von R.Strauss,
"Attila" von Verdi, Sieglinde in der "Walküre"), DGG (Elisabeth im
"Tannhäuser", Gutrune in der "Götterdämmerung", Elsa im "Lohengrin",
"Fierrabras" von Schubert, "Salome" von R.Strauss, "La Traviata" mit
Placido Domingo, Gräfin in "Nozze di Figaro", "Lucia di Lammermoor",
"Das klagende Lied" und 8.Sinfonie von G.Mahler, Hanna Glawari in der
"Lustigen Witwe"), Philips (Königin der Nacht in der "Zauberflöte",
Giulietta in "Hoffmanns Erzählungen"), Schwann ("Der Geburtstag der
Infantin" von Zemlinsky), EMI ("Faust" von Gounod, Eva in den
"Meistersingern", Salomé in "Hérodiade" von Massenet), Virgin-EMI
("Susannah" von C.Floyd); Virgin-Video (Chrysothemis in "Elektra" von
R.Strauss), Philips-Video ("Lohengrin", "Tannhäuser"), Castle-Video
("Lohengrin"), Videoland Wien ("Attila" von Verdi)."
----------------------------
And why not end this session with a tad more courage?
How the PC brigade is destroying our orchestras
by Norman Lebrecht, "The Evening Standard"
8 October 2003

"I went along to be enlightened and came away consumed with despair at
the political realities which oblige arts managers to give up a
working day for a preach-in on multiculturalism. The symposium was
called 'Cultural Diversity and the Classical Music Industry' and it
yammered on all day yesterday in a dreary side-room at the Royal
Festival Hall, overlooking the railway cuttings. There was a sell-out
attendance from just about every classical body in Britain bigger than
a string quartet. This might make you think that the theme was
compulsive.
Compulsory is more like it. As things stand in British arts, only an
autist would dare to profess disinterest in diversity. With 7.9
percent of the population derived from ethnic minorities and the
government sloganising away about inclusion, it would have been a
brave orchestral boss who stayed away from diversity day. One manager
whispered to me that his absence would surely have been 'noted'.
There was an ominous edge to the proceedings. The organising body, the
Association of British Orchestras (ABO), had 'aligned the event with
the objectives of Arts Council England' - specifically with the ACE's
aim to make cultural diversity 'central to all that it undertakes'.
The ACE sent no fewer than ten observers to a room holding 160. An
awful lot of next year's funding must hinge on diversity compliance.
As for sell-outs, that was the fundamental premise. The ABO,
representing a dwindling and dangerously uncool sector, was waving a
white flag of acceptance that art must, for the time being, take
second place to social engineering. Orchestras are increasingly
expected to hire 'audience development managers' and work with
'grassroots communities' if they want to carry on playing the
symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms.
The day began combatively with a speech from Lord Moser, once chairman
of the Royal Opera House and now of the British Museum Development
Trust. Lord Moser, 81, told the apparatchiks that orchestras 'do not
deserve lectures or pressures from the arts councils - what is lacking
is on the other side of the coin, in the education and funding
systems.'
The reason orchestras have so few non-white players - only two, for
instance, in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the heart of
multicultural Midlands - is because music teaching has been neglected
in the poorest areas. State school recruitment of music teachers was
down 12 percent nationally last year. Most of those teaching music in
secondary schools were, he said, untrained in music. Until they
provide music teaching for minority children, the authorities cannot
point a finger at orchestras for failing to engage non-whites as
players, staff and audiences. 'Classical music will always be a
minority interest,' asserted Lord Moser, 'but it should not be as much
of a minority as it has been allowed to become in this country.'
After that, it was all downhill as the diversity industry turned its
rage on the orchestral craft. Professor Lola Young, head of culture at
the Greater London Authority and previously chair of the ACE's
diversity panel, said we must 'change the look of the classical music
industry'. The professor, resplendent in an African-style headwrap,
named 'George Augustus Bridgewater', the black violinist for whom
Beethoven wrote his concerto, as a useful role model. Every classical
buff in the room knew the name was Bridgetower, but they were too
cowed to correct a dominatrix of political correctness.
Kim Evans, executive director of arts at the ACE, argued that if
diversity was good for business, it must be twice as good for art. 'We
are asking you to use your funding in different ways,' she instructed,
'to approach audiences in different ways.' A chill set in as she drew
parallels with the ACE's assault on the theatrical sector, which it
condemned as 'institutionally racist' and then promised to help
reform. Evans urged orchestras to develop 'positive action plans'
before they were similarly sin-binned.
Roger Wright, head of Radio 3 which is getting flak from classic
lovers for its output of world music, confessed that everyone at the
BBC now undergoes 'diversity training'. Roger Lewis, head of
easy-listening Classic FM, exhorted us, perhaps ironically 'to get out
of comfort zones'.
And so it went on, a daylong drizzle of ambiguities, hypocrisies and
dissimulations that could not conceal a grim inevitability. Diversity,
or the policy that speaks its name, is a means of diverting orchestras
from what they ought to be doing, making music, to what the Government
ought to be doing, creating social harmony.
Few rose to challenge its preposterousness. Diversity is, to most of
us, a fact of life. One does not have to travel far these days to find
a cafe serving braised ostrich, or look beyond the next street corner
to realise that forced marriages, honour killings and female
circumcision exist in our midst. There are bright and dark aspects to
the mass immigration of the past 30 years.
The cultural benefits are, however, overwhelmingly heartening. The
literature, art and music of this country have been enriched beyond
measure by a generation of inter-mingling on equal terms with other
traditions. London in particular has become the hub of cross-cultural
fertilisation as Paris was between the wars and New York briefly
afterwards. Such melting-pots are made by mutual respect. No-one wants
qawwali ensembles to doff caps and sing Haydn any more than a symphony
orchestra should have to drop oboes and bang dustbin lids.
Yet that is what the diversity peddlers are pushing. Orchestras which
struggle against an already inhospitable zeitgeist are being told to
change their ways, while immigrant cultures are celebrated for their
supposed purity. It is absurd, unfair and inherently disastrous.
Sitting amid the Blairite blather, I was transported back to the
notorious Zhdanovitsa of 1948, when Soviet composers were summoned to
Leningrad to be instructed by party hacks, on pain of exile, on how to
write music for the new society. There was something of that fear on
the South Bank yesterday.
And an uglier precedent sprang to mind. The ACE's aim is to accelerate
the integration of minorities into established arts, heedless of
cultural consequences. It amounts to a mirror image of Hitlerite
policy which entailed the removal of non-aryan races from German
music, even though this would relegate the art to the margins of
civilisation.
That one policy is well-intentioned and the other unutterably evil is
immaterial. What the world learned from Stalin and Hitler is that
state organs have no business meddling with culture. That lesson is
being obliterated in Britain where cultural diversity is brandished as
a weapon to intimidate the performing arts and ultimately to
emasculate them."
----------------------------
A VERY HAPPY 48th BIRTHDAY TO THE GREAT CHERYL STUDER AND MAY SHE BE
BLESSED WITH GOOD HEALTH AND HAVE MANY MORE BIRTHDAYS IN THE YEARS TO
COME.  GOD BLESS THE INIMITABLE CHERYL STUDER, WHO STILL CONTINUES TO
AMAZE US WITH HER UNIQUE ARTISTRY, INTELLIGENCE AND WIT.
----------------------------
"The dangers of life
are infinite
And safety is among them."
--- Goethe