The Cult of the Old

Lang Lang was magnificent in Sydney. Shrugging off his reputation as a shallow showman, he performed Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto with poise and feeling. Along with the Sydney Symphony, it was a sterling performance, with only one or two ragged sections where the dialogue between the solo instrument and the orchestra became strained.  An encore of Liszt’s 3rd consolation topped it off, as did the foot stomping and the ‘bravos’ from the crowd. Anna likened it more to a rock concert than a classical concert, which I took at face value, not having been to a rock concert for about 15 years.

But perhaps more interesting was the lack of decorum exhibited by the audience, which was comprised of a large number of Asian families with children in tow. The audience clapped between movements, and on one occasion almost clapped during a movement. People coughed and sneezed during the Consolation, without regard for the gravity of the moment. Some audience members even moved about, holding up the start of the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony (which was on pre-interval). During all of this, the conductor Jahja Ling showed great restraint, waiting patiently for novice concert-goers to ‘observe the formalities’.

Straight after, several tweets lambasted the crowd for incivility and a lack of decorum. It was almost as if they were saying ‘I’m better than them, the louts’. It turned my thoughts to the stuffiness of classical concerts and to the dwindling audience for these types of events. The truth is, our reverence for classical music of the old variety is relatively new. I quote Mozart from Alex Ross’ excellent collection of essays, Listen to This:

Right in the middle of the first Allegro came a passage that I knew would please, and the entire audience was sent into raptures–there was a big [applause]–and as I knew, when I wrote the passage, what good effect it would make, I bought it once more at the end of the movement–and sure enough there they were: the shouts of  Da capo.

It probably all began with Forkel, a German writer who revered Bach and other ‘art’ music. It was confirmed at Bayreuth in the late 1800s, where the audience mercilessly suppressed applause, even to the point of hissing Wagner, whose ‘bravo’ during one scene at a performance of his own Parsifal was unacceptable. The other consequences of this were the suppression of all improvisation (so admirably evident in Mozart’s quote above) and the shift towards an emphasis on the venerable masters. New music took a back seat in the orchestra hall to Beethoven, Bach, Brahms. Even today, it is easy to find concerts presenting one or more pieces from the big three, but a rare gem to be able to attend a work by Adams, Bartok or Ades. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (yes, a composer that is alive today and that most people have never heard of) has criticized the orthodoxy of most conductors, who would rather ‘keep their world safe’ by playing established works from the past. Jeremy Nicholas raises a similar issue in International Piano, likening his visits to the concert hall to deja vu.

Gabriela Montero is a young pianist of outstanding virtuosity. Like Lang Lang, she has received unfair criticism not because she has no talent, but because she has prodigious talent that doesn’t quite align with the rigid conventions of today’s concert hall. Montero improvises, just like Mozart and Beethoven did in their time. Give her a tune — say, an advertisement jingle or a folk melody — and she’ll transform it on the spot. It needs to be seen to be believed. Fun and spontaneous, she engages audiences intimately and completely. Watch the link and witness it for yourself. Lang Lang has the same effect on the audience. In Sydney, people clapped and stamped and didn’t observe the neat conventions of the modern concert hall, because they were more interested in expressing their deep felt appreciation than in adhering to some overly formalized expectation. When Lang Lang flings his arms, closes his eyes, stares and grimaces and grins, he is summoning what music once was.

Vivid Sydney

Sydney is in the throes of Vivid Sydney, a festival of lights, music and art. Anna and I watched as the Opera House was painted with various images. It’s difficult to convey through photos, but I think this at least captures the spirit. It seems fortuitous that we’d be in Sydney when this festival was on. Then again, Lang Lang is flamboyant, so perhaps he chose to give his recital at this very time. Perhaps, even, he’ll be treated as a living canvas, and lit up like a Christmas Tree.

Architecture Love

I’m one of those strange people who goes to a new city and immediately begins taking photographs of the abstract and rectinlinear shapes of building edges. You know, snap that archway, capture that strange juxtaposition, get that sliver of sky or that oddly mesmerising staircase. It’s an illness, so have sympathy. And to spread the illness, I’ve decided to share my fetish with you by placing a few photographs of NY here. If you don’t like them, you clearly you have no taste. And if you do like them, then you’d better seek therapy. I’m holding an AA meeting next week, if you’re interested.

Stairs in MoMA

People on escalator

Buildings and sky

Edges

Liszt and Rihanna

In the lounge on the A380 coming back from NY, I read through the latest edition of that most eminent of music magazines, Rolling Stone. Along with an excellent investigative article on war abuses by US soldiers in Afghanistan, it contained a multipage spread on Rihanna, lauding her looks, her sass and even her unashamed vanity. I read it with morbid fascination. Today, I was lost in the pages of another prestigious music magazine, International Piano. It had an article on Franz Liszt. Pious, bold, lustful and egotistical, he was the Romantic period’s version of Rihanna (or Lady Gaga or Kei$ha), the most photographed man of the 19th century, desired by the opposite sex, feted by kings. In short, he was an icon.

Franz Liszt produced some of the most sublime music for piano one could hear. Take a moment to listen to Beside a Spring from his Annees de pelegrinage and you’ll appreciate the texture and colour he was able to wrest from a keyboard, the richness of his musical ideas, the capacity he had to conjure emotions in sound. Each note was written by an undoubted genius. His compositions pushed the boundaries of musical structure and convention. Anton Rubinstein, a master at the piano, once compared himself to Liszt as a common soldier before a General. Liszt gave generously of his time and his wealth, never charged for a lesson and changed the face of music. His ideas still influence the music we listen to today.

Compare this with Rihanna, who openly brags of hiring 50 song writers to write songs for her latest album and of employing her management to select those most likely to be a commercial success. Rihanna, who commanded so many pages in Rolling Stone, pages focussed on her legs, her looks, her desire to shock. Rihanna, who will be forgotten before she passes her 50th birthday.

Liszt, born 200 years ago, lives on.

Arlington

Day 14
Wednesday 18 May

08:30
Hilton Restaurant
Simon: Happy Birthday Anna. 43. Wow. And you shouldn’t have been surprised that I had a card. I’ve never forgotten your birthday. Maybe, later, we can go out and buy you a birthday present.

13:00
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Simon: Work requires that I visit the Air and Space Museum. Daniel and I went on a great simulator. I was the pilot and Daniel was the gunner, and the whole thing spun completely upside down as I spiraled us through 2 minutes of aerial combat. Daniel’s feet came out of the straps and flopped around with every barrel roll, so we spent most of our time laughing.

19:53
Chinatown

Simon: Just sat down in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Food was on the table practically before we ordered. Must be for somebody else. Eating as fast as I can to make sure they don’t come claim it.

Arlington Cemetery was sobering but quite beautiful. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was perched above the cemetery, and the changing of the lone guard was very serious, as befits the intent of the tomb. The highlight for me was Audey Murphy’s tomb: from hero to movie star to tragic.

Much Ado About Nothing…

Day 6
Tuesday 10 May
Day to rest at home

Daniel: Today I woke up and played my D.S because there was nothing to do at 4:00 in the morning. Played my D.S until my parents woke up that was about 7:49. Had breakfast and then got ready because Mum wanted to go to this shopping centre to buy me some warm clothes because she says I’m complaining to much in the morning that I’m cold.

10:04
Light rail

Daniel: Went on this train thing. Was very bored even though we were only on it for 5 minutes.

12:36

Got some lunch. It was very yum. I got a chicken wrap and my Mum got this salad thing.

1:00

Daniel: Went to the super market to get some breakfast for tomorrow. Got a Mountain Dew slurpy. It was very nice. Then went back home.

2:30
Home

Slept….zzzzzzzzzzzz

5:34
Woke up

Daniel: Woke up had dinner had a bath went to bed slept…

9:20
Can’t get to sleep

Daniel: can’t sleep, miss pets, want to torment Nelson….

Was awake until 4:30

Anna: We had an easy day today and took the light rail to the local mall. Very quiet and not particularly interesting. Mainly clothes shops. Did not buy Daniel any clothes as they were not particularly cheap.
Went to the food court on the 3rd floor. Everything looked the same. Let Daniel choose so we got Mexican after he was given a sample. Cost more than what it should have. It turns out that the choices offered in my one were not included in the price as I expected but extra!
We then went downstairs again and decided we needed to find a toilet (restrooms or bathrooms here). When I looked at the directory the only ones were on the third floor, so again we went up.
I then wanted to go to the supermarket to get some things for breakfast. As it turns out there is no supermarket in the mall. We had to walk out of the shopping centre (spelt center here), across the road and through a giant car park (I later found out that this was the next train stop – after we had traipsed back through the shopping centre to get the train).
Supermarket was huge. It included a pharmacy, optometrist, dinkum donuts and other things I am sure. Could not find bagels at the supermarket so I got them at dinkum donuts. The girl seemed surprised that I did not want anything in my (raisin) bagel. Lots of bread and Danishes and cakes and biscuits in the supermarket- all very cheap. I bought some apples too – only about $1.30 a lb (approx half a kilo). Bananas about the same price. I am told that all the fruit here is from Florida. I’ve had some raspberries from there now on 2 occasions and they are beautiful. And they are only $3 from street vendors in New York!

Anyway, we were home by 2.30pm and I slept for 2 hours!

Exhaustion Setting In

Day 13
Tuesday 17 May

1:06
The Baseball

Simon: No. No. No more. 432nd innings. Score 2/1…

Later
The Hotel

Anna: Went in to Washinton again today with the intention of looking at monuments (Washington is full of them). Daniel decided he needed to go to the toilet immediately and so we went in to the Museum of American History. He then decided he wanted to stay and have lunch and we had a brief look around.

Apparently the highlight was seeing the star spangled banner so we went along to this. Everyone was very serious in this room. The flag was made when America became independent.

We also saw a few other exhibits. We saw the gowns of the first ladies, inventions and some other things that I cannot remember. Then we had a look in the kitchen of a woman (who I had never heard of) who apparently started cooking shows there.

We then walked to the Washington Monument, WW2 memorial and we wanted to see the water but it was under construction. We decided the Lincoln Memorial was too far to walk so we went back to the hotel.

19:30
The Flying Fish

Simon: Dinner in Old Town Alexandria again, this time at the Flying Fish. It was great to catch up with a good friend (and colleague), who also happens to be married to my cousin. don and I chewed the fat and bored Anna to tears with talk of work. The food was really good too. I guess good company makes a meal. I had Jambalaya (Don copied me).