It has been an exciting month in my life, which is why this is the first post in a very long time. Gala concert with Renée Fleming, opening concerts, guest conducting, etc. But last week the folks in Edmonton were treated to a Hallowe’en preview. Yes, Frankenstein was dancing.
For 30 years the classical music industry has been amused, confused, bemused by a gentleman named HK Gruber and his fabulous dark gothic ‘pandemonium’ Frankenstein!! which is based on poems by H. C. Artmann. Everyone in the music biz to whom I mentioned that I was going to have the opportunity to conduct this work, with Gruber himself as chansonnier, has expressed jealousy on the level a mortal sin. May I suggest 8 Hail Mary’s and swinging a chicken over your head.
Having the composer of a piece looking over your shoulder can be quite intimidating. Since I have premiered my fair share of music I’m somewhat used to it, but to have said composer be the main performer was a new experience. I can only imagine how the young Simon Rattle felt 30 years ago when he premiered this work in Liverpool. Herr Gruber, though, is one of those composers you really want to work with. Not only is he a very nice guy but he has a great sense of humour and he knew precisely what needed to happen to make the performances the best possible. This included the way to use the kazoos, the proper size of the car horns, the exact pitches of the penny whistles, etc., etc. A good time was had by all and sundry.
Or by most and sundry, because whenever you program something like this you have to deal with the fallout. There are some audience members who were determined, absolutely completely determined, to not enjoy anything, and it is there God given right to fire off an email to you about how you are contributing to the downfall of Western civilization and how could you pollute our ears with this rubbish!!! etc., etc., etc. On the flip side of that are those people, who tend to be new subscribers, that were so taken by the performance that they excersized their own God given right to tell you how much they enjoyed the evening.
The question is – can the average symphony orchestra afford to program something like Frankenstein!!? You are going to relentlessly piss off some people who are your regular audience. Hopefully you will attract others like the aforementioned new subscribers, but there’s something else working here. Patrons of symphony orchestras seem to be the most unforgiving people who patron the Arts. Regular movie goers, if they don’t like the movie they’ll write off the experience. For people who go to art galleries there is the knowledge that some of the art they’re going to see might not be their cup of tea. But for them that’s ok. But all the Gods forbid that an orchestra programs something, anything, that isn’t exactly how that patron want is to be. Letters are written, emails are sent, subscriptions are returned, the whole nine yards.
Somehow we in the classical music industry have managed to destroy the idea of continuous music education for all of our patrons. Instead of coming to concerts to have their lives enriched many of our patrons now use orchestral concerts as a safe haven because they know that nothing in the least bit confrontational will ever happen. So when it actually does happen we end up losing those people instead of peaking their interest for more challenging stuff. This all spirals into a vicious cycle and we end up doing Mozart Festivals to try and recoup. Needless to say, the new subscribers are bored out of their minds by the idea of the Mozart Festival. The orchestra ends up caught in the proverbial catch-22.
Meanwhile, Frankenstein keeps dancing……..