Arts I Knew It Was Bad, But …
From David Patrick Stearns this morning comes a review of how the Mostly Mozart Festival has been revived from its comatose state in the 1990s, when it was led by music director Gerard Schwarz, and now is livelier than ever. (Schwarz, for those who don’t know, is Seattle Symphony’s music director, the one whose contract the board recently renewed despite languishing programming at the symphony and a vote of no-confidence from musicians.)
Schwarz ran the Mostly Mozart Festival (into the artistic ground, as Stearns writes) for 17 years, ending in 2001:
Not so long ago, if you wanted to know what was wrong with classical music in America, you looked no further than the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. The brand-name summer concert series had grown increasingly derelict by the mid-1990s, playing mostly to disgruntled critics and clueless tourists. Rumors abounded that Mostly Mozart would be joining its namesake in some powdered-wig heaven, thanks to routine performances, the too-large, acoustically unsympathetic Avery Fisher Hall, and soloists seemingly incapable of generating surprise.
When I finished reading this, I Googled “Gerard Schwarz Mostly Mozart,” and the very first link to come up was a 1998 evisceration of Schwarz by Greg Sandow in the Wall Street Journal. IMO, Sandow is the most trenchant critic around on classical music. To some, this story may be old news, but I’ve been a fan of his only a few years and hadn’t seen this astonishing piece before.
I will quote liberally, because you will enjoy it.
What almost killed the evening was the conductor, Gerard Schwarz, who’s been music director of Mostly Mozart for 16 years. In his favor, I can say that he kept the soloists, chorus and orchestra together and moved everything along at the proper speed.But in his hands the music had no line, no motion from place to place. It had no color, only the most routine kind of clarity, and no sense of Mozart’s style.
Mr. Schwarz didn’t even breathe or phrase with the singers, giving them no support at all, as if to him they were just some minor element in an otherwise orchestral texture. Sometimes he’d demonstrate his control by emphasizing details—accented notes, or momentary counter-melodies, all of which seemed pointless in a performance with no tone or shape, no strong contrast between loud music and soft, and sometimes in fast passages (like the final chorus) not much rhythm.
Why, I might ask, should someone with so little to offer be entrusted with a major musical event, let alone one that so clearly demands a point of view? …
In a festival of this emerging quality, Schwarz—once known for running chamber orchestras in New York, but now not much respected outside Seattle, where he leads the Seattle Symphony—wouldn’t be invited to conduct. That he should be music director is, quite simply, astonishing.
Then, on his web site, Sandow adds a coda, which is also a damning portrait of Schwarz as an artist:
[Some people find this review very strong. Maybe I should have added an explanation, which would have gone something like this:We have two baseball teams in New York, and when there’s an issue concerning one of them, everybody knows it, sportswriters and fans alike. It’s debated intensely.
But that’s not true in classical music. There’s hardly any debate at all. Gerard Schwarz can be a washout as music director of Mostly Mozart and everybody in the business knows it—but it’s never discussed openly. The critics don’t say a word.
So I thought I’d try writing what everybody says backstage. …
Late flash—I got a phone call from a member of the Seattle Symphony, whom of course I won’t name, though I’ll stress that it’s someone I’d never met or spoken to. This musician wanted to thank me for this review, and said, assuring me that all but two or three players in the orchestra would agree: “If they fire him at Mostly Mozart, maybe that will make it easier for us to get rid of him here.”
Never before, after writing a review, have I gotten a call like this.]
And due to that code of discreet conduct Sandow refers to, never before have most music directors received a thrashing like this, and that was eight years ago—he may have left Mostly Mozart, but he’s still our city’s most visible (where, you might ask?) ambassador for classical music.
As Sandow cites, it’s no secret in the world of classical music that Schwarz is no great shakes. It’s too bad that the board of trustees of the symphony has decided that, since Schwarz is quite the fundraiser, it is better to carry on with lifeless programming and deadening pseudo-competence. American classical musicians are known for their technical training and wizardry, but criticized widely for their lack of inspiration and experimentation, their lack of artistic life. Sounds like Schwarz to a tee. Are technically proficient concerts enough?
Maybe Schwarz is capable of more. Maybe I’m selling him short. I’ve only been in his audience a handful of times because, frankly, his performances and his selections have bored me. But has anyone ever experienced a truly magical concert led by him? Or more than one? I’d like to hear from the lovers (OK, haters and the ambivalent, you’re welcome, too).
His recordings of Hovhaness, Diamond, Creston are favorites. I won't say they are great. The interpretations are at least convincing, especially the performance of Diamond's 3rd. Sadly I've heard little of that side of Mr. Schwartz or this orchestra since I moved here.