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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Who Cares About the Music?

Posted by on July 25 at 11:29 AM

What exactly does Mayor Greg Nickels consider to be 23-year Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz’s chief contribution to “artistic achievement throughout the city”?

The overwhelming vote of no confidence he received from his musicians in a survey made public July 14, six days before the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs announced Schwarz would receive one of the city’s 2006 arts awards?

The way critics and players say the orchestra performs better with guest conductors than Schwarz?

How almost nobody cheered when Schwarz’s contract was renewed for another three years this spring, including the experienced orchestra executive director, who promptly resigned?

The way the other orchestras of the West Coast—Los Angeles, San Francisco, and even Oregon—have left the Seattle Symphony in the artistic dust?

How Schwarz’s programming utterly lacks conviction or vision about where classical music is going?

How Seattle Symphony’s Made in America festival of the last two years—its “risk-taking” experiment in “new” music—was so conservative that it was hardly worth doing at all?

So much to choose from. The awards ceremony will be Sept 1. Don’t miss your chance to salute this artist without whom our city’s classical music leadership would not be the disappointment it is.


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Ouch...

And another thing, can people stop licking Reggie Watts crotch? Every time I turn around this guys getting some kind of an award or write up in the papers.


That's because Reggie is really funny and talented with a fantastic voice. Works for me.

Mr. Schwartz is an expert at programming for the incontinent dowager set. It's a gift to create a program around pieces short enough to allow for frequent trips to the bathroom, and bland enough to limit the nightly death toll to two or three.
This season is exemplary in this regard: The Bach and Bathroom Breaks series, and the Pretty Much Mostly Mozart Much Past Menopause series, and The Eighteenth Century Avant Garde Avant La Lettre series - amazing stuff.
Nor do I really understand the complaint. Mr. Schwartz keeps a mean 4/4 time. If late entrances bother you, then you're in too much of a hurry anyways. Finally there is plenty of modern music on the program. They're even playing Tchaikovsky this year.

No kidding. In Seattle's market, with the young, educated, artistically adventurous, relatively affluent population, the SSO could be leading the way in concert programming, challenging Boston and San Francisco. Instead, we have Schwarz dragging us down into Classical Music Radio turf, with programs and performances meant more to put geriatrics to sleep. Thanks to Schwarz's non-leadership, the SSO is on par with such orchestral luminaries from the Midwest as the Louisville Orchestra, which have to play it safe to fill the seats. Seattle doesn't have to play it safe. It's an artistic crime, really, for this town to have to put up with three more years of soggy Brahms and freeze-dried Mozart.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give it up for Christian Knapp. I enjoy his work.

Given the programming at the symphony, it's too bad that the Seattle Chamber Players only perform a handful of times per year.

Given that Benaroya Hall has a capacity over fifty, alcohol, and live music after 10:00 p.m., I don't expect the symphony to be around much longer, anyway.

Not to credit Gerard and his Symphony, but this is all your opinion. How, Jen, do we quantifiably know that anything you said has any basis of truth to it?

For all we know, you just blindly hate the guy and you're bitter that the Mayor rewarded him.

Uh, Gomez, have you been following this story? I'm hardly the first, just the latest. But if you don't follow classical music anyway, why weigh in?

1. Brahms is great. Dvorak is better at the same thing. But Brahms is great.

2. Napoleon 13!!!

Are you trying to tell me that The Stranger's art critic is trying to foist off MERE OPINIONS? Good heavens. Next you'll be telling me that Harry Potter isn't true.

As near as I can tell, the criticisms levied against Mr. Schwarz are identical to those made for the last 70+ years. Too conservative, limited repertoire, keep the little old ladies happy. All still true, of course, though I don't think traditionally it's been the dowagers so much as the conservative business elite -- the names at the top of the benefactors list tell you all you need to know about who they want to keep happy.

There may well be a "artistically adventurous" crowd in Seattle now, but the question is, can or will they write $10,000 checks?

Kinaidos's post is very funny, though. Tchaikovsky! That freak! What next!

I dunno. This doesn't seem like a big deal at all. Symphonies in general these days are disconnected and pander to aristocrats. What does it really matter who runs the show and who gets awards from the Mayor? Like the Mayor's connected to reality himself anyway.

Has anyone noticed that Melinda Bargreen, the Seattle Times music critic, NEVER says anything bad about Gerry? What's up with that?

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