What I’ve not missed out on: part 2…and a tribute

Having written  in June about my love of conducting  Ballet and with my recently announced appointment as Principal Pops Conductor with the Fort Worth Symphony one might think I’m trying to banish myself to the equivalent of Conducting purgatory.  I beg to differ!……..

Over on the Minnesota Orchestra blog Inside the Classics authored by Sarah Hicks and Sam Bergman, there is a lively discussion between them about the experience both positive and negative of performing Pops concerts.  I was very pleased to read of Sarah’s advocacy, since as a graduate of Curtis, I don’t imagine the canon of Peter Paul and Mary was deeply analyzed!  A cynic might point out that with being an associate/resident/assistant one who conducts mostly Pops and Young People’s Concerts, she’s just defending the work she does.  Well, that is certainly not the way it comes across:

Because, as I keep saying, we’re all in this together; we’re all musicians, we’re all trying to reach other people in some way. Too often, I feel that the classical approach becomes exclusively cerebral. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with complicated music that requires the analysis of not only the musicians on stage but the audience itself (and sometimes the brain loves the exercise). But there’s nothing wrong in performing and enjoying music that’s immediately graspable, with an instant emotional effect either; in fact the ideal output of a performing arts organization finds a judicious balance of both.

Kudos for having this approach Sarah, I completely concur and have repeatedly emphasized that since the majority of the concerts most orchestra’s do are outdoor, family, YPC’s, community and Pops concerts, there needs to be specific training for conductors to be able to handle them.  Aside from this, some of the richest and exciting experiences I have had on stage are with such performers like the aforementioned Peter Paul and Mary, Arturo Sandoval, Marvin Hamlisch, Kathy Mattea (Sam mentions her), Mark O’Connor, Audra McDonald, Wynonna and many more.  These are great artists and yes the music they write and/or perform is termed “popular” music which means….it’s beloved!   They are mostly very humble and honored to be working with an orchestra.  I actually feel that way about working with them!  These have been incredibly rich experiences and furthermore they are far from easy to pull off because the audience for the Pops is more often tuned into how songs are supposed to go, as opposed to an audience for a Classics concert and how Classical works are “supposed” to go.  There is much latitude in a Symphony.   Not that there are not challenges there, I’m not suggesting that, but breaking it down, in the Classics series I find from the audience that there’s more hope than expectation but in a Pops, there is much more expectation.  If Tony Bennett is standing there, you cannot botch the accompaniment! (He’s on my hope to work with list).  What I’m personally pleased to see is that the majority of our subscribers go to both Classics and Pops.

In a conductors workshop I put to the students this question:

If you are doing a concert with selections from “Oklahoma” followed by Beethoven’s 5th, for which work is the tempo the most critically important?

I think all but a couple (there were 36 of them) answered Beethoven.  In my opinion, that’s the wrong answer.  The Beethoven can go many ways, but for Oklahoma chances are the audience will know the words and you can buy the original cast album and still see the show.  Therefore the tempi are critical, and if you don’t get them to be at least close, you might even offend people.  In the Beethoven authenticity is subjective, in Pops authenticity can be downloaded, so the audience is right to have expectations!  There’s an even bigger challenge when they are Orchestra only Pops, then it’s all (the conducting and the entertaining) on us!  I have tremendous fun with these also, who doesn’t get goose bumps for instance when doing the music of John Williams!

Bottom line, Pops concerts are not a phase, they are here to stay and they are not feeder concerts into the Classics series.  They need to be equal in quality to any other kind of concert, the audience will know if we are not putting everything into it, and a large part of many an orchestra’s revenue depends on a successful Pops series.   As a conductor they must be approached with sincerity, an open mind and with energy and integrity, prepared the same way as any concert but with even more concern for time management, since rehearsals are limited to one or two.  I completely understand an orchestra musician preferring to play the Classics and same goes for conductors,  no problem with that, I love doing Classical concerts more than anything, but there are rich genuine and authentic experiences to be had in the world of Pops and I can’t wait to get started in Fort Worth!

Monday was a sad day for us at the Springfield Symphony as we said goodbye to Samuel Minasian who from 1969 – 2000 was the concertmaster.  When I became music director in 2004 he was playing as a sub, he had battled cancer and at that time was starting to win.  Since he was able to then resume playing again regularly he was reinstated as a member of the 1st Violins and then we collectively decided to make him Concertmaster Emeritus.  This was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation from the orchestra and the audience.  When he retired last year the Governor of Missouri Matt Blunt sent a proclamation and the ovation was even longer than the first.  When the Governor was in the 5th grade he attended a Springfield Symphony YPC and Sam was the Concertmaster!  Last Tuesday Sam lost his final battle.   His career was varied and accomplished having graduated from Eastman in 1952 and playing as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic till 1959, and that is just the start.  He has an incredible legacy of students, one of whom Allison Steiner (who is in the Springfield Symphony) is my youngest son’s Violin teacher.  I so enjoyed working with him, he had a tremendous spirit and love for music, the audience and his students and consistently encouraged me. He was beloved and will be missed, but as Pam Davis our assistant concertmaster pointed out to me, since so many of the parts in our library have his markings, he will still be with us and leading us!