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Dan Coren
Last summer, I decided to cancel my subscription to the Philadelphia Orchestra. If you've followed my articles on BSR, you may recall that this isn't the first time I'd considered this drastic step (for me, something like a Catholic disowning the Trinity). But this time my decision stuck.
In a February 2008 article, I expressed my annoyance with the Orchestra's then forthcoming 2008-2009 season; at the end of that article, I touted Ignat Solzhenitsyn's Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia as a viable alternative. The Chamber Orchestra at that time was in the midst of a season that, I thought, proved my point. Its concerts uniquely blended standard (and not so standard) repertory with adventurous new music in an intimate concert space (the Kimmel's Perelman Theater) before appreciative audiences. Its program of Berg, Bartok and other moderns that I cited in that earlier article (it was reviewed on this site by Robert Zaller) still resonates in my memory; and the Chamber Orchestra's final concert of that season more than fulfilled my very high hopes.
But when the Chamber Orchestra announced its 2008-2009 season, I was a bit disappointed. It offered much less contemporary music; in its place was more of the kind of lightweight repertory"“ lots of very early Mozart and Baroque music"“ that the Chamber Orchestra's immediate ancestor, Concerto Soloists, used to play almost exclusively under the direction of Mark Mostovoy. When I called the Chamber Orchestra's offices and asked why, I was told, "Well, those contemporary concerts really never sold that well."
Needed: A shell at the Perelman
Still, the season was sufficiently attractive for me to buy a subscription. The schedule included performances of the Brahms German Requiem (a choral concert, as it turned out, largely undermined by the Perelman's lack of an acoustic shell); music of Bach and the contemporary British composer John Taverner, a composer whose music might be labeled mystic minimalism, very much in the same pure sonic space as Arvo Pärt's; and, opening and closing the season, two all-Beethoven concerts: the Second and Seventh Symphonies in September, and, in May, the Eighth Symphony paired with Solzhenitsyn conducting and playing the Fifth Piano Concerto, the "Emperor."
It was the Beethoven that sold me: Solzhenitsyn's performance of the "Pastorale" Symphony at the close of the 2007-08 season had demonstrated how successfully Beethoven can be played with a small string section.
The brochures arrive
In the weeks preceding the Chamber Orchestra's season finale this month, announcements of the 2009-10 seasons of the Kimmel Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Astral Artists arrived in the mail, offering a feast of varied repertory"“ jazz, organ music, new works, old favorites, all nicely spaced out over the season and, for the most part, at reasonable prices.
As my wife and I studied these brochures, we agreed that perhaps it was time to spread our concert money around a bit more. I hadn't missed the Philadelphia Orchestra a whit, but I was damned if I was going to pass up, among the many concerts that caught our attention, a chance to hear Joey DiFrancesco play the organ or to take at least one of the several opportunities the Chamber Music Society is offering to hear the Beethoven Op. 59 Quartets.
An envelope in the mail
It was worrisome, though, that nothing had yet arrived from the Chamber Orchestra. I wasn't really surprised when an envelope arrived in the mail, not to announce a new season (although we were assured that there would somehow be one), but to ask for a supplemental donation to sustain the Chamber Orchestra in these hard times.
So, on May 10th, as I reveled in Solzhenitsyn's wonderful accomplishment of rendering Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto both intimate and powerful, I did so with a sense of sadness, fearing that this might be the last time I would hear this vibrant group that had given me such pleasure over the past two seasons. I don't know which makes me sadder: the prospect of the Chamber Orchestra's demise or its abbreviated schedule of four programs that was finally released this week.
Of course, it's disheartening that the Chamber Orchestra has been forced to shrink its season so drastically. But did they have to go about it in such a timid and innocuous fashion?
One thing seems certain: Nobody will be upset by these concerts. An October program called "Scandinavian Perspectives" will feature some very mild 20th-Century music; the most recent work on the program is Howard Hanson's Pastoral, composed in 1950. (Hanson is a native of Nebraska, by the way.) The most recent work on the other three concerts is… the Brahms Violin Concerto!
If you offend nobody…
Every concert on this schedule is full of pleasant music (as I write this, the details are not yet posted on the Chamber Orchestra's website): some Haydn, but, aside from his La Passione Symphony, not very exciting Haydn; the Mozart 31st Symphony paired with the Mendelssohn "Italian" Symphony; and the Brahms concerto paired with his Op. 11 Serenade. The Chamber Orchestra's artistic motto seems to have become: "Offend nobody, and they will come… we hope."
The Chamber Orchestra offered, for a while, an answer to the Philadelphia Orchestra's conservatism and stood as a worthy companion to James Freeman's Orchestra 2001 (come to think of it, I can't find anything about its new season, either); those days seem to be over.
The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2009-2010 repertory, astoundingly, has become even blander and less adventurous. Suffice it to say that, yes, you can hear Stravinsky at the Orchestra next year. But do you really want to hear Firebird, Petrouchka and The Rite of Spring yet again?
Philadelphia's orchestral music repertory for the 2009-2010 season has become like the menu at a high-end retirement community. Meal by meal, it's really not bad. Hmm, the roast beef is pretty good tonight. I'll have the mashed potatoes with that"“ just a little gravy, please. But if you crave the occasional exotic dish or something nice and spicy for a change, you'll have to go elsewhere, to some city where adventurous orchestral programming has demonstrably succeeded. Los Angeles comes to mind.
To read a response, click here.
In a February 2008 article, I expressed my annoyance with the Orchestra's then forthcoming 2008-2009 season; at the end of that article, I touted Ignat Solzhenitsyn's Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia as a viable alternative. The Chamber Orchestra at that time was in the midst of a season that, I thought, proved my point. Its concerts uniquely blended standard (and not so standard) repertory with adventurous new music in an intimate concert space (the Kimmel's Perelman Theater) before appreciative audiences. Its program of Berg, Bartok and other moderns that I cited in that earlier article (it was reviewed on this site by Robert Zaller) still resonates in my memory; and the Chamber Orchestra's final concert of that season more than fulfilled my very high hopes.
But when the Chamber Orchestra announced its 2008-2009 season, I was a bit disappointed. It offered much less contemporary music; in its place was more of the kind of lightweight repertory"“ lots of very early Mozart and Baroque music"“ that the Chamber Orchestra's immediate ancestor, Concerto Soloists, used to play almost exclusively under the direction of Mark Mostovoy. When I called the Chamber Orchestra's offices and asked why, I was told, "Well, those contemporary concerts really never sold that well."
Needed: A shell at the Perelman
Still, the season was sufficiently attractive for me to buy a subscription. The schedule included performances of the Brahms German Requiem (a choral concert, as it turned out, largely undermined by the Perelman's lack of an acoustic shell); music of Bach and the contemporary British composer John Taverner, a composer whose music might be labeled mystic minimalism, very much in the same pure sonic space as Arvo Pärt's; and, opening and closing the season, two all-Beethoven concerts: the Second and Seventh Symphonies in September, and, in May, the Eighth Symphony paired with Solzhenitsyn conducting and playing the Fifth Piano Concerto, the "Emperor."
It was the Beethoven that sold me: Solzhenitsyn's performance of the "Pastorale" Symphony at the close of the 2007-08 season had demonstrated how successfully Beethoven can be played with a small string section.
The brochures arrive
In the weeks preceding the Chamber Orchestra's season finale this month, announcements of the 2009-10 seasons of the Kimmel Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Astral Artists arrived in the mail, offering a feast of varied repertory"“ jazz, organ music, new works, old favorites, all nicely spaced out over the season and, for the most part, at reasonable prices.
As my wife and I studied these brochures, we agreed that perhaps it was time to spread our concert money around a bit more. I hadn't missed the Philadelphia Orchestra a whit, but I was damned if I was going to pass up, among the many concerts that caught our attention, a chance to hear Joey DiFrancesco play the organ or to take at least one of the several opportunities the Chamber Music Society is offering to hear the Beethoven Op. 59 Quartets.
An envelope in the mail
It was worrisome, though, that nothing had yet arrived from the Chamber Orchestra. I wasn't really surprised when an envelope arrived in the mail, not to announce a new season (although we were assured that there would somehow be one), but to ask for a supplemental donation to sustain the Chamber Orchestra in these hard times.
So, on May 10th, as I reveled in Solzhenitsyn's wonderful accomplishment of rendering Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto both intimate and powerful, I did so with a sense of sadness, fearing that this might be the last time I would hear this vibrant group that had given me such pleasure over the past two seasons. I don't know which makes me sadder: the prospect of the Chamber Orchestra's demise or its abbreviated schedule of four programs that was finally released this week.
Of course, it's disheartening that the Chamber Orchestra has been forced to shrink its season so drastically. But did they have to go about it in such a timid and innocuous fashion?
One thing seems certain: Nobody will be upset by these concerts. An October program called "Scandinavian Perspectives" will feature some very mild 20th-Century music; the most recent work on the program is Howard Hanson's Pastoral, composed in 1950. (Hanson is a native of Nebraska, by the way.) The most recent work on the other three concerts is… the Brahms Violin Concerto!
If you offend nobody…
Every concert on this schedule is full of pleasant music (as I write this, the details are not yet posted on the Chamber Orchestra's website): some Haydn, but, aside from his La Passione Symphony, not very exciting Haydn; the Mozart 31st Symphony paired with the Mendelssohn "Italian" Symphony; and the Brahms concerto paired with his Op. 11 Serenade. The Chamber Orchestra's artistic motto seems to have become: "Offend nobody, and they will come… we hope."
The Chamber Orchestra offered, for a while, an answer to the Philadelphia Orchestra's conservatism and stood as a worthy companion to James Freeman's Orchestra 2001 (come to think of it, I can't find anything about its new season, either); those days seem to be over.
The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2009-2010 repertory, astoundingly, has become even blander and less adventurous. Suffice it to say that, yes, you can hear Stravinsky at the Orchestra next year. But do you really want to hear Firebird, Petrouchka and The Rite of Spring yet again?
Philadelphia's orchestral music repertory for the 2009-2010 season has become like the menu at a high-end retirement community. Meal by meal, it's really not bad. Hmm, the roast beef is pretty good tonight. I'll have the mashed potatoes with that"“ just a little gravy, please. But if you crave the occasional exotic dish or something nice and spicy for a change, you'll have to go elsewhere, to some city where adventurous orchestral programming has demonstrably succeeded. Los Angeles comes to mind.
To read a response, click here.
What, When, Where
The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. www.chamberorchestra.org.
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