Topic: Classical Revolution--Great Idea or Sacrilege?

[secondwind]

I learned about this organization yesterday morning when three young musicians came to a monthly chamber music seminar I attend to get some feedback on the Beethoven and Turina trios they are preparing for their debut performance as the DC branch of Classical Revolution. 

Here's the website of the organization.   It originated in San Francisco and is evidently very active there.  http://www.classicalrevolution.org/

For those in the DC area, here are details about the first skirmish in our local cultural revolution:

Classical Revolution DC Debut @ LaPorta's in Alexandria, VA
Chamber Music for the Nation's Capitol People
Host:    
Classical Revolution DC
Type:    
Music/Arts - Performance
Network:    
Global
Date:    
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time:    
7:30pm - 11:30pm
Location:    
LaPorta's Restaurant and Jazz Room
Street:    
1600 Duke Street
City/Town:    
Alexandria, VA

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[MN Dave]

Can't be bad. 

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[secondwind]

Can't be bad. 

So vote, Dave, vote!

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[Harry]

I voted for the first option, great idea, let the music be heard everywhere.

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[Opus106]

21st Century Bach Collegium Musicum.

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[MN Dave]

So vote, Dave, vote!

I did. 

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[Cato]

I voted yes, but with an atrabilious musico-dyspepsia.   

The attention span given to the music in such places is - obviously - not the best.  I can imagine e.g. the notoriously atrabilious Schoenberg being outraged at having his Second String Quartet being used as the background music for the crunching of tacos or the slurping of linguini.

And Linguini says he would prefer a shower anyway!

But, who knows?  Maybe someone will actually listen, wonder what the work might be, and give Schoenberg a chance.

Which leads us to that famous song:

"All we aaaaskiiing
Is give Schoenberg a chaaaaance!!!!"   

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[some guy]

This "new idea" is quite old, actually. 20th century folks started leaving the concert halls many many decades ago, taking music to bars and hotel lobbies and abandoned factories and book stores and museums and art galleries and cafes.

As I mentioned on another forum, many of the concerts I attend are in cafes. Last year, the bulk of the concerts of the Portland New Music Society were in a waffles and beer place. Before that, we went from bar to art gallery and back.

So to those of us who follow new music, this "revolution" is what we've been living for most of our lives. (Maybe this will leave the concert halls free for new music again, though. And the sound in those places is often pretty good. Hmmmm....)

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[secondwind]

The attention span given to the music in such places is - obviously - not the best.

My hubby reading over my shoulder pointed out that the attention paid in concert halls is not always that great either--he has witnessed a lot of snoozing going on and heard the occasional snore up in our perch in the second balcony of the Kennedy Center concert hall.  Of course, that's up where people are tired from working for a living.  I expect down in the boxes, where people are more well-rested, the attention is much more focused.

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[Franco]

I voted yes, but not because of the tag "the more music the better". 

The value in this kind of approach rises or falls on the quality of the performances and if they bring real Classical music done without spectacle, or if they are primarily interested in self-aggrandizement.

I am all for playing Classical music in venues other than concert halls, but I am definitely not for dumbing down or rocking out the music.

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[secondwind]

I voted yes, but not because of the tag "the more music the better". 

The value in this kind of approach rises or falls on the quality of the performances and if they bring real Classical music done without spectacle, or if they are primarily interested in self-aggrandizement.

I am all for playing Classical music in venues other than concert halls, but I am definitely not for dumbing down or rocking out the music.

If the performance I heard yesterday is representative, the quality of the performances will be very good.  These players were quite serious about honing their interpretation and perfecting their ensemble skills, both of which were already very good, IMHO.  It was a pleasure to listen to them yesterday. 

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[Carolus]

Classical music can be done on the most incredibile places:

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[jochanaan]

Well, it is a great idea.  And none the worse for having been done before.  In fact, I think we should remember that in the 18th and 19th centuries, most "classical music performances" took place in homes or salons, which were essentially house parties.  Remember, that's where Chopin made his reputation. 

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[Brewski]

Here in NYC, a club called (Le) Poisson Rouge (formerly the Village Gate) has become enormously popular in a little over a year of operation.  The founders were tired of hearing classical music in the usual venues, and also like to listen to other things, so the programming reflects this diversity.  Mark Swed had a good blog post on the place back in July, here. 

I've been maybe 2 dozen times, and it's definitely fun, inexpensive (some shows are $10) and making a big impact.  It's like a cabaret, but for classical music.  A few weeks ago pianist Simone Dinnerstein and cellist Zuill Bailey had their CD release party there, celebrating their new recording of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas.  And last year the JACK Quartet did all four Xenakis string quartets there. 

There are minuses: the air conditioning system adds some ambient noise, as do glasses clinking, faint chatter, and other sounds.  (Patrons are generally very quiet, but strict silence is not enforced.)  I don't think I've heard a concert there yet that wasn't amplified; the amplification is not to create a huge volume level, just a consistent balance within the space.

But the pluses seem to be enormous.  Imagine: a night on the town with dinner (the food is actually good) in a Greenwich Village club--but you're hearing Bach, instead of electric guitars.  (Or if you stay for the late show, there may be electric guitars.)  From the popularity, they have hit on something.  My hunch is that the Washington, DC site above indicates that this concept is spreading--and will continue to do so.  Venues like this won't replace concert halls, but they are a fine addition to them.

--Bruce

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[offbeat]

Classical music can be done on the most incredibile places:

So true - reminded of Messiaen composing and playing his Quartet for the end of Time in
a prisoner of war camp in January in the freezing cold in front of the other prisoners
Must have been bizarre but what a great work to come out of such adversity !!!!!

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[Wanderer]

A great idea; although the name Classical Revolution is rather cheesy. More classical music outside the concert hall is self-evidently beneficial and it might do a lot to familiarize people with the actual sound of acoustic instruments.

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[Maciek]

Fantastic pic, Carlos! (It is you, isn't it?)

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[Carolus]

Yes, It's me. A sad, terrific picture. But an fantastic example of
the profound impulse for the search for beauty in the most awful circumstances.

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[schweitzeralan]

I voted for the first option, great idea, let the music be heard everywhere.

Years ago executives of certain malls and small outdoor markets would allow the playing of classical music at  certain hours of the day,where often many potential customers, or, should I say, young loitering teenagers who had little or no interest in purchasing anything. (Some) shopping areas had become loud, noisy, and obnoxious. The pervasive sound of  classical music often drove these young crowds away. It would be wonderful if and when fine, "cultured" (Western aesthetic propensities created in the past) musical works could prevail and would interest potential gaterings of listeners.  I'm all for it.

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[some guy]

Hmmm, yes. I think I see what's going on here. Some musicians who play old classical music have taken that music into cafes. And that seems like a revolution.

OK. But new classical music has been going on in cafes and bars and the like for so long now that some of that music isn't even new any more.

This whole business will only seem new and revolutionary if you think that "classical" means Mozart and Beethoven. (Oh, and maybe Xenakis!!) The so-called "Classical Revolution" is neither a great idea nor sacrilege, but simply something that's been going on (with new classical music) since early in the twentieth century and increasingly going on as the century goes on and continuing to this day. The last two performances of Phill Niblock's music that I know of (in Ostrava) were in a factory and a bar respectively. This has become so normal that no one who listens to new music gives it a second thought until, that is, some "classical" musicians decide that playing Beethoven in a cafe is newsworthy!!

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