2006-09-12

Concert Review: Matt Haimovitz



A while back, I heard an NPR story on the cellist Matt Haimovitz: Cellist Channels Bela Bartok... Led Zeppelin, Too. He has a good sense of current music and reaching people in our age cohort: Cellist Matt Haimovitz has a knack for showing up in odd places. In 2002, he gave the first-ever classical music performance at New York's legendary punk rock club, CBGB. More recently, he visited all 50 states for his "Anthem" tour, performing Bach at venues such as Austin's Cactus Cafe, and The Palms in Davis, Calif. He and his string quartet did a pretty cool acoustic version of Zeppelin's Kashmir; I liked it enough that I bought it from iTunes. So I was surprised to find that he was playing at the local chamber music society, doing solo cello. I knew that despite being behind on work, I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

He played several Bach cello suites--I'm quite familiar with them, and really love them. He interspersed some 20th century music as well--Ligeti's Sonata for cello (for my records, two movements: I. Dialogo: Adagio, Rubato, Cantabile II. Capriccio: Presto Con Slancio). He also played two new commissions from Pulitzer prize-winning contemporary composers: Lewis Spratlin and Paul Moravec (no, I don't know them either--and I call myself a music geek. Sheesh.).

In the modern pieces, there were several great 'how does he do that?' moments--such as extended glissando slides on strings. Also, he bowed a melody on a high string, while simultaneously playing ostinato pizzicato arpeggios on the remaining strings (sorry... that was full of music jargon; let me know if you need translation).

I decided that I wanted to support contemporary music enough that I bought one of Haimovitz's CDs at the concert: Après Moi, le Deluge, a post Katrina lament for solo cello and a cappella choir. Poet Eleanor Wilner captures the havoc and despair of the Katrina aftermath, using Noah and his ark as a political allegory to make a provocative, critical statement. The work was commissioned by cellist Matt Haimovitz as part of his "Buck the Concerto" series. I'll give it a listen sometime today.

There were some amusing and incongruous moments. For instance, the local chamber music society seems to be somebody's house; it feels like you're intruding into their living room, with improvised seating made out of LP record shelves. The decor of the music room was decidedly Brady Bunch 1970's chic. Also, there was an older audience member who fell asleep during the recital, and started whistling/snoring--loudly--throughout.

Another thing that bothered me was the demographics of the audience--despite Haimovitz's youthful appeal, only a small fraction (less than 25%, maybe 10%) were in the thirtysomething or younger range. I know the graying of the classical music audience has long been a concern. I've seen it (but to a lesser degree) in New York and at the BSO; but it was even more striking with this audience. I finished Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class: Perlick's review here, which summarizes the book better than I will. Florida pointed out that younger 'creative class' audiences tend to reject structured and passive audience events, such classical music concerts or sports games. Instead, they prefer more interactive experiences, such as walking down the street and popping in and out of music clubs to sample what's going on. It does not bode well for 'big classical music' as an institution--I know people have been forecasting this for a while, but I wonder and worry what direction it will take.

5 Comments:

At 1:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There's a couple other factors in the graying of the classical music audience.
(a) It's fricking expensive to go to a big symphony concert. I like classical music and I rarely go because it's hard to justify a $50 ticket. And the cheap community stuff is often not very good. Yes, I'm a snob.
(b) There is no classical music education happening. Older generations were brought up with some appreciation for classical music, either through playing the music or through their parents. The new generation has no way into the music so they dismiss it. This is one of the reasons I really respect MTT. He regularly does concerts where he introduces the music and gives the audience motifs to listen for. He also has started the initiative towards making classical music more accessible via television, radio and the web.

 
At 2:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Crap. Stupid HTML.
Keeping Score initiative is what I meant to say.

And as long as I'm posting again, I think MTT's outreach efforts towards the community is part of why the San Francisco Symphony is one of the few major orchestras that is not in dire straits financially. One of my favorite quotes was from the American Mavericks festival where the SF Chronicle reviewer overheard two patrons saying "Wow. This is a different kind of blue hair audience", referring to the number of young people that had shown up.

 
At 2:41 PM, Blogger dan said...

There was a nice article in the NYT some time ago about how perhaps the rumours of the death of classical music were a bit exaggerated. I think this depends a lot on the city and the musician and the hall. KWCMS is very much Jan's baby, and my understanding is that it's always skewed old. There are a lot of season-ticket holders.

You should come back next year for Open Ears.

 
At 6:15 PM, Blogger Bats said...

There was a nice article in the NYT some time ago about how perhaps the rumours of the death of classical music were a bit exaggerated.

Yeah, I found that article in the archives (yay! sister doesn't use her dead-tree subscription online!)--"Music: This is the Golden Age" (May 28, 2006).

Pretty interesting stuff--the article talks about the 'long tail' effect on classical music--even though CD retail pickings may be low, online (sales like Amazon, or downloads like iTunes) sales are disproportionately large. It also mentioned that ticket sales (adding up smaller and larger venues) are increasing, and that more symphony halls are being built. That and Perlick's posting about outreach make me feel pretty hopeful.

Also encouraging is that a given generational cohort seems to shift towards classical music with age: "But now that those same people have begun ''graying,'' are they joining it? Demographic information over the couple of decades institutions have been collecting it suggests that they are. For whatever reasons -- changes in taste, a desire to expand their musical experiences, a lack of interest in current pop -- middle-aged listeners continue to join the audience. And the generational shift is coloring both programming and performance."

If anybody wants a copy of the article, I can email you the PDF.

KWCMS is very much Jan's baby, and my understanding is that it's always skewed old. There are a lot of season-ticket holders.

Yeah, the group did seem to have the feel of a somewhat closed "club," which makes sense for the demographic--'this is our chance to get together regularly' or something like that.

You should come back next year for Open Ears.

April 24-29 2007, huh... let me see if I can end up with a trip here around that time...

You got to the KWCMS before we did. I've been meaning to get onto their mailing list for... about 5 months (sigh).

Well, let me know next time you're interested in going--even last minute, I figure I'll be able to pick up a ticket at the door.

 
At 7:28 AM, Blogger dan said...

Yup, that's the article. (You have lexis/nexis, incidentally, via UW. Stop by the reference desk at the DC library, and they can show you how.)

Open Ears kicks ass. That people of that calibre are willing to come here is just f'ing awesome. (If you look at my LJ for the range around late April/early May of '05, you can see my reviews from then.) Negativland in the City Council chambers. Bang on a Can. Diamante Galas (who apparently sucked). New opera. Awesome choral music.

So worth going to.

 

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