I
don’t especially care to give Norman Lebrecht
publicity. Given his penchant for
self-promotion he seems to garner enough for himself. I know quite a few musicians who hold him in
low regard, but either find it useful to cultivate him as a promoter, or fear retributions
from him – and thus tolerate his antics. For those who don’t depend on his favor, he’s
something of a laughingstock. Despite seeing factual errors on his site
nearly as often as I view it, more often than not I decline to leave a comment
there - or to mention it here. Lebrecht
often presents opinions as facts, cherry-picks actual facts and places them out
of context, and uses sensationalistic and vulgar headlines as click-bait. He
also posts information from other sources without attribution. His posts run the gamut from the Chicken
Little “sky is falling” variety – foretelling the imminent demise of Classical
music, to stories of musicians as abuse victims from airlines and bureaucrats,
to stories of musicians as perverts and pedophiles. One seldom encounters in his posting any
actual discussion of music. Indeed, reading Lebrecht’s “journalism” has
left me with the impression he doesn’t know much about music. But this tidbit from Lebrecht’s recent
posting on the “Makers and Breakers of 2015” made my blood boil.
As
for Lebrecht’s statement that the Cleveland Orchestra is America’s finest, I’ll
accept that with good graces as a proud local.
Some will disagree, and that’s alright.
What makes one great orchestra stand above another is largely a matter
of opinion. The basics are a given: An
orchestra must play the right notes, must play in tune, and must play together. The Chicago Symphony is known for its great brass
section (or at least the loudest), the Philadelphia Orchestra is known for its
lush string sound, the Berlin Philharmonic for its depth of sonority, the
Vienna Philharmonic for transparency.
The Cleveland Orchestra, at its best, has all these. Not that the orchestra always plays at its
best. There was a period, roughly from
1990 until about a decade ago, when standards seemed to be slipping. I’m not basing this on any critic’s opinion,
because I’ve learned they
often have their own agendas – but what I’ve heard with my own ears: a
number a splattery entrances, fluffed notes (particularly in the brass), and
balances that were off. But in recent
years the orchestra has been back on form in repertoire ranging from Mozart to
Scriabin. I would also say that Franz
Welser-Möst, about whom I had a great many reservations in 2002, has really
grown into the job. (Nor would I say
that the Cleveland Orchestra’s rise to greatness was the sole result of George
Szell’s tenure, as they were already a Top Four orchestra under Artur
Rodzinski. But it’s true that standards
fell in the three years preceding Szell’s tenure, when orchestras world-wide
lost players during World War II, and Cleveland had a part-time and
inexperienced Music Director. But I’ll
save further discussion on that subject for another post.)
But
look at Lebrecht’s qualifier for his praise of Cleveland. “Severe social blight”. Excuse me?
Is Lebrecht stuck in 1978, when Cleveland went into default? Does Lebrecht still imagine the Cuyahoga
River catching
fire? Is the Hough neighborhood in
flames like it was in the
1960s? Cleveland has come a long way
since the bad old days of 30 years ago, and this is especially so in University Circle – which has been
extensively redeveloped. I’m aware that
Lebrecht paid Cleveland a visit earlier this year, but I wonder how much of
Cleveland he saw beyond Severance Hall and Hopkins airport. So, I will assume he didn’t see the revived
areas downtown, or Playhouse Square, Ohio City, or Gordon Square. Or, that he’d never experienced the bad old
days in Cleveland, so he had no reference point to see how far we’ve come.
Then
there’s this – which Americans will grasp but Europeans may not: the majority
of people who attend Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Severance
Hall do not live within the City of
Cleveland. They live in the
surrounding suburbs. I cite this obvious
fact because an earlier post from Lebrecht crowed about what a miracle it was
that a city of less than 400,000 could support such an orchestra – as if
Cleveland was Smallville, Kansas! This
is an example of how Lebrecht carefully selects facts and presents them out of
context, distorting the truth. In fact,
Cuyahoga County alone has nearly 1.3 million residents – and many who come to
the orchestra’s concerts come from beyond the county line. This is even more the case for those who go
to summer concerts at Blossom
Music Center which is way down in Cuyahoga Falls.
True,
Cleveland’s not perfect, and neither is the region. There are gross disparities of income, as is
the case everywhere in the US. There are
neighborhoods which suffer from neglect, which can be found in nearly any major
city, in and outside the US. That the Cleveland
Police Department is an embarrassment is known internationally. The Lakefront is poorly utilized. These and more are issues which need to be
addressed – to paraphrase President Kennedy: they are human made problems which
can be solved by humans.
But
what’s interesting to me is that the orchestra has mostly thrived even during our region’s
darkest eras. Could it be because the
Cleveland Orchestra, along with other cultural institutions and the Cleveland
Metroparks are some of the few things in our region which have never let the people down? Think about it. Have the Cleveland Indians, Cavaliers, or
Browns consistently brought as much fulfillment to so many as the
aforementioned institutions? Residents
of Cuyahoga County have long recognized this and generously subsidized these
institutions, by supporting property tax levies, and – just this year –
renewing a small tax on cigarettes and alcohol which goes a long way toward
supporting the orchestra.
The
success of the Cleveland Orchestra is not some anomalous blip in an urban
ghetto, as Norman Lebrecht would have you believe. It’s the result of the people who’ve
supported it – both in the orchestra and out.
Both those who live within Cleveland’s borders and those who live
beyond.
I’d
also point out that Norman Lebrecht’s home base, London, is far from
perfect. I saw my share of panhandlers
during our recent trip there, one harassing a women so aggressively that I had
to intervene. This took place a posh area
near Piccadilly Circus. Sometimes blight
occurs where one least expects it. And London’s main
orchestra pales in comparison with Cleveland’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment