The New York Philharmonic Goes to Pyongyang
Reprising a traditional role as Cultural Ambassadors
By blackhedd Posted in Culture | New York Philharmonic | North Korea — Comments (39) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
You've heard that the New York Philharmonic is going on tour to the hermit kingdom of North Korea. I'll admit when the definitive news came out a couple of weeks ago, I was darned surprised. I'd heard various things about this through the grapevine since August or so, and I'd have bet a lot of money that it wouldn't happen.
Needless to say, the politics of this are fraught, and subject to a range of interpretations. Here's some additional background and context, for those of you who have never been involved in planning and executing a tour by a major performing-arts organization. (As it turns out, I have.)
Read on...
First of all, the Philharmonic is my big hometown band. I have several acquaintances and old schoolmates among the musicians, and I love hearing them whenever I get the chance. They have a well-deserved reputation as a wild bunch. During the tenure of music director emeritus Kurt Masur, they overcame a serious tendency to morale problems, and are now as consistent as you please. They're one of America's Big Five symphony orchestras, and on any given night they can be the best in the world.
American symphony orchestras have a distinguished history as cultural ambassadors in politically challenging settings. The Philharmonic traveled to the Soviet Union in 1959 with then-music director Leonard Bernstein, and to Israel in 1948. The Philadelphia Orchestra went to the People's Republic of China in 1973. These tours and others like them of course were triumphs, both artistically and diplomatically.
Going on an international tour is a vast undertaking for a major arts organization, and this one is no different. The tour is being funded by Credit Suisse First Boston, among others, and will run for three weeks in February 2008. The original tour plans called for performances in Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Music director Lorin Maazel has programmed mostly unadventurous repertoire, consisting mostly of nineteenth-century warhorses (with the Barber Violin Concerto and Gershwin's An American in Paris as the only exceptions).
After the overture from the North Koreans, the orchestra arranged to add two additional performances to the tour: one in Seoul and one in Pyongyang, two days apart. The orchestra will spend two days in the North, traveling on an plane chartered from a South Korean airline. (The tour consists of about 250 people and about 100 musical instruments, some of them very large, and most of them very temperamental.) While in the North, orchestra members will give master classes, and a rehearsal that will be open to professional musicians and students, in addition to their concert performance.
Contrary to some reports, the Philharmonic will not be performing Handel's Messiah on tour. Being an oratorio with large chorus and four vocal soloists, the Handel would have required traveling perhaps 200 additional personnel. Not bloody likely.
Philharmonic management, led by President Zarin Mehta, insisted on a set of special conditions before agreeing to perform in Pyongyang. (And yes, Zarin is related to conductor Zubin Mehta, the former Philharmonic music director and current music director of the Israel Philharmonic: they're brothers.)
The North Koreans agreed to allow foreign journalists to attend the concert, which means we ought to get reasonably unbiased reviews. The orchestra will be allowed to open their concert by playing The Star-Spangled Banner. Importantly, the Koreans also agreed to broadcast the performance via live radio throughout North Korea, to address the concern that only an audience of hand-picked political elites would hear it.
Among the private citizens and organizations who are quietly acting as sherpas in this undertaking, it's noteworthy that the South Koreans appear to have taken a major role. I've long had the belief (from talking to friends and associates from South Korea) that they expect the peninsula to be reunified in the next ten to fifteen years, but no one is in any hurry to force the issue. Though few will say it, one suspects that Kim Jong-Il (now in his mid-60s) will need to die first.
Americans often suspect the South Koreans of coddling the Northern dictator out of a lack of backbone. That may or may not be true. But it certainly is the case that no resolution to the North Korean situation (either in its nuclear-security or its humanitarian dimensions) can come without the full cooperation of people in the South.
Some Americans, notably John Bolton, have spoken out against the Philharmonic's North Korean adventure. They argue, reasonably, that nothing should be done to give credibility and prestige to a hostile regime at a time when our Administration is engaged in delicate negotiations with them over the nuclear issue.
But now that the tour is a done deal, it's worth recalling the illustrious history of American cultural ambassadors to non-free lands, by way of at least looking at the bright side.
It's far too much to hope that a tour by a symphony orchestra will end the isolation of North Korea, and the oppression of the North Koreans by their own rulers.
But it's worth hoping that, by seeing and hearing some of the most wonderful people in America at the top of their game, some North Koreans will start to realize that there are other, and better, ways to run their country. And it may help them look ahead to the end of their isolation.
To the guys and ladies I know in the New York Philharmonic: Have a great trip, play well, and carry the American flag high! And I can't wait to hear your stories when you get back.
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But that's hearsay for one thing, and their radios only get official government programming for another.
Still, the Philharmonic did go to commendable lengths to ensure that this wouldn't turn out to be a lollipop for 1500 people.
In particular, having seen that nightime picture of North and South Korea, the question is how many North Koreans who have radios will also have electricity to play their radios at the time that the symphony program is broadcast?
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
I'll bet they have a "routine" test of the Emergency Broadcast System, which happens to last one second longer than the Star Spangled Banner.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
but I don't think so. If N. Korea didn't want the Orchestra to play the Star-Spangled Banner, they wouldn't have let the Orchestra play it--at least, I hope so.
Because I know you're not thinking of the NY City Opera orchestra. (I know I'll catch h*ll for saying that. I have a lot of friends there.)
that would give NY a run for their money.
...the best in the world, on any given night.
There are nine or ten orchestras I'd say that about. Five of them in the US.
Regarding the Met Orchestra: I really, really love hearing those guys, but they are an opera orchestra. Different style, different psychology. They play with augmented forces when they play as a symphony orchestra in Carnegie Hall.
And for what it's worth, I've heard the Philharmonic try to play operatic and vocal music in concert. Oh, brother. They're not that good at it :-) Whereas the only pit band I'd put in the same class as the Met Orchestra is the Vienna Philharmonic (which doubles as the Wiener Staatsoper orchestra).
And the difference in pitch is always just spectacular to my ears. At the Met, the pitch is almost precisely 440. Most nights, the Philharmonic tunes to 444, at least. When they accompany singers, they bring the pitch down, and they end up sounding out of tune. ;-)
Verdi had his A set at 432. Italian parliament had to pass a bill on that.
As for the NYP-- Mehta kept moving the pitch higher-- to 442, and now-- wow, it's a high as a kite 444.
The sound is more "brilliant" according to the snobs that pretend they know things about music. It however, strains the voice.
Move it to 470 and bring in the castrati.
And he went right up to them all the time. That's why so much of his music, written with a lower pitch in mind, is right at the outer edge of humanly possible with today's pitch.
It wasn't just Mehta. In Berlin they've tuned at 445 since the Karajan days. Most big symphony orchestras do the same.
I must be one of those snobs. Except in vocal and operatic music, I love the higher pitch :-)
And of course there's no need to tell you that, like all the big orchestras, the Philharmonic is ear-splittingly loud, even without the extra kick from the high pitch.
Here is an enlightening letter to the NY Times from the editor of the magazine Opera Fanatic on the subject of Verdi and tuning pitch.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DC1F3DF931A25751C0A...
As a conservative, I must be skeptical of the idea of a government commission's making findings and recommendations on musical pitch. On the other hand, it would be marvelous to live in a place where this was a subject of passionate public debate.
(Btw, your remark - "Move it to 470 and bring in the castrati" - is hilarious.)
W.C. Fields for President!
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of tuning to a higher "A" is pretty funny. Although now that I think about it I was religiously stuck to 441 for most of my career. :)
Anyway, as for the NYphil, I have never heard them in person, only their recordings and broadcasts. I honestly can't tell the difference between them Minnesota, Chicago, LA, etc. The biggest problem with orchestras in general is what makes them so great: the standards. The behind-the-curtain audition has really set up a climate of snoozifying playing.
I think the old Leningrad Phil had it right when they viewed new players as an investment in the future, expecting them to grow into greatness, rather than showing up with the correct programming.
how does the behind-the-curtain audition set up a climate of snoozifying playing?
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With auditions that are blind and decided by a majority vote of a committee, the committee is basically left with (not necessarily in every case- but the majority) having to use certain objective measuring sticks. While it seems like a great idea, and in some ways it is, it has created a culture of playing that puts emphasis on technical precision, rather than musical prowess.
There is large difference in sounds of European Orchestras such as Berlin, Vienna, etc. and their counterparts in the US. European orchestras (and soloiats) are noted for their warmth and phrasing, US players are noted for their exactness and precision. Generally speaking, it is not unusual to find an entire section of European strings who all come from the same teacher. While that kind of requirement may result in less than precise individual players, the advantage is a musically unified section, and the idea that a player will grow into the job. Like I mentioned earlier, the Leningrad Philharmonic of the 60's and 70's is probably the best known for this, and probably one of the best orchestras ever.
Also, the absence of the Music Unions in Europe make for players who actually care about the music, since there job's are nontenured. Although every musician in US orchestras appreciates the security the union provide.
The whole thing about tuning to 440 or higher is pretty trite. I really doubt anyone notices it, except for those who actually have to tune their instruments with a tuner. It used to be thought that different keys created different moods, such as G major and D major- the Greeks even regulated it to a certain extent. Yet, I doubt you would even notice the difference if Mozart's Symphony Concertante was played in D major rahter than E flat major, other than it would actually be in tune.
I will have to listen to recordings by the Leningrad Philharmonic of the 60's and 70's to understand more perfectly what you mean, but I can understand the logic well enough.
It would not surprise me if the blind audition is a fairly recent invention - perhaps one imposed by the unions. The American orchestras under, say, Walter and Koussevitsky were certainly distinguished for their musical feeling.
W.C. Fields for President!
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They've been around for quite a long time in the US, at least 50 years or more, going back into the bad old days when music directors could fire any orchestra musician at will. (By the Seventies, the power of the AFM (the musicians' union) had put an end to that.)
European orchestra musicians and opera singers don't have an AFM or an AGMA. But in most cases, they are civil servants paid with tax dollars. And that makes them every bit as ornery as union members, just as hard to discipline and fire. In Europe as in America, performing-arts organizations have some of the worst labor relations you'll find anywhere. And this I say from direct personal experience.
But I think that widely disseminated recordings is what has done the most to homogenize the sound and style of top symphony orchestras around the world. Except perhaps in central Europe, which retains a sound unto itself, partly because they actually use different instruments and different technique.
A few remarkable things: membership in American orchestras is chosen on a strictly meritocratic basis (except for principal positions, which require proven leadership, committees evaluate auditions by number and they know nothing at all about the person behind the screen). So it's an interesting sociological experiment. No surprise that the majority of orchestra musicians chosen blindly turn out to be Jewish. Also no surprise that an ever-increasing proportion are Asian. Perhaps surprising is how young many of them are. Perhaps very surprising is that the vast majority of new violin hires (nearly all of them in fact) are women.
I'm way too young to have ever heard the Leningrad Philharmonic. But I have heard a lot of their recordings (many with Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting) and I have to say, it wasn't an impressive-sounding band. It certainly was a unique sound, and they had unique things to say about composers like Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Glazunov and Shostakovich. Still I never became a big fan of those recordings.
I think the Vienna Philharmonic is the surviving example of an orchestra that maintains an academy of young students and hires predominantly from among them. Berlin once was the same way. But the aging Karajan boldly opened that orchestra to women, and started a complete transformation from a classic chocolate central-European sound to the tight, tense, brilliant sound they have today. And I love it. I hate to admit it, but I have great respect for that old Nazi.
I conducted the Mozart once in grad school and once in undergrad. (If you knew who the four soloists were, you'd be very impressed.) Both of my viola soloists played the piece in E-flat, rather than in D with Mozart's scordatura. Obviously violas in Mozart's day didn't have steel strings. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if he wanted to make the piece easier for them by putting it into a far easier key.
Since 470 is a few cents above a B-flat, it'd be easier to just transpose everything up a semitone if you wanted to tune that high. Just let me know ahead of time so I can stay away. That would drive me up the wall, just like chalk scratching on a blackboard.
and the winning combo is to play the most middle of the road tempos, bow strokes, intonation (tempered) and phrasing. Nothing wild, nothing outlandish, but perfect intonation and Rhythm. When you do that, you will always be a finalist in any audition.
Whether that is because of recordings or what, who knows, but the reality is, US orchestras today (with exception of a principal wind players) are a group of craftsman, no longer a group of artist.
Now I am not personally complaining about this, in playing, it was those hard measuring sticks that I actually enjoyed the most, and actually found the whole audition proess pretty enjoyable. I am just stating that the finished product is not so desirable.
You go to Berlin, where you audition in front of the whole orchestra, and the results are different.
I thought it was more enjoyable, once I learned about Beta Blockers. :)
Not only in opera, of course: their Carnegie Hall series is amazing.
What do you think of this "Lincoln Center Abu Dhabi" idea?
(The tour consists of about 250 people and about 100 musical instruments, some of them very large, and most of them very temperamental.)
Too damned precious.
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We are all heroes, you and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
Philarmonic checklist:
1. Make sure entire violin section is staffed with CIA direct operatives. (As a refresher to this strategy, rent "The Living Daylights" w/Timothy Dalton as James Bond. Yes it's PG. And yes, the cello player in the movie is a hot chick (given) that also is a KGB agent. As Olga would say: "Zexy."
2. Know that the request for the concert was probably some stupid demand made by Kim Jong-Il in one of those three day negotiations with Christopher Hill. Chris probably said "for ___'s sake, Kim, all right then, just pretend like you're not working on nukes for another five years-- okay?"
You've convinced me, and I was on the Bolton side. I support our ambassadors in the NY Philharmonic, and trust that they will do every one of us proud.
...God gave it to us in the first place, is that it brings people together. Even people otherwise inclined to fight each other.
A good thing to remember, perhaps, at Christmastide.
And actually broadcasts the entire thing, including the Star Spangled Banner. What percentage of North Koreans actually have radios anyway?
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
don't take the opportunity to take potshots at the Bush Administration during the tour.
While I doubt that any of them would be so bold as to post a sign saying "We didn't vote for Bush" on the back of their music stands, it wouldn't surprise me if a few were willing to comment to those "foreign journalists" on their dissatisfaction with the current Administration. And, pray tell, what will those foreign journalists do with those comments?
The Bush administration could have stifled this visit, but it didn't. I'm confident that some of the Philharmonic's musicians will show their appreciation to the Bush administration by insulting it publicly, if they can.
And so it goes...
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
...with little American flags sticking out of their pockets. They love their country as much as anyone does. In any case, I assume that they will have been given very careful orders about what to say and what not to say.
At least one of the current members of the Philharmonic (principal clarinetist Stanley Drucker) is a veteran of both their tour to Israeli battlezones in the thick of the war of independence, and their tour to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. And the institutional memory runs deep.
(Drucker is nicknamed "Junior." A child phenom, he got his job at the age of 19, and his nickname shortly thereafter from Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein, another phenom, was then regularly criticized for getting high-profile conducting opportunities even though he was only in his mid-twenties.)
From what I've been able to see, the State Department has been heavily involved in planning the tour-extension to NoKo, advising the orchestra what conditions to insist on, etc.
with little American flags sticking out of their pockets
The Brave Bridge Players of Beijing love their country, too. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if several of the Philharmonicians---and their State Department advisors---see themselves as messengers, with a chance to reassure the world that yes, there are still decent Americans who crave...er, value the world's approval...er, partnership. If there's an opportunity to throw out a shot or two at this administration---and the DPRK PR mechanism and/or the international press will create such opportunities if they can---don't be shocked if some of those musicians simply can't resist. I was only half-joking about the music-stand-that-Speaks-Truth-To-Power.
Also, I'll bet that musicians---like anyone---crave the approval of their peers. (Somehow, the NY arts scene doesn't strike me as Dubya-friendly.) If nothing else, I'll bet some feel compelled to take some public shots at the POTUS, in order to reassure their friends back home---and the readers of the Village Voice---that they've not fallen in the thrall of Chimpymcbushalliburton by making this tour stop.
I hope you're right, blackhedd. But I'm not holding my breath.
We will all see, soon enough.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
As cultural ambassadors, they beat the heck out of sending the National Lawyers Guild. At least one presumes the Philharmonic will want to come back.
Hey wait, maybe... ;)
W.C. Fields for President!
http://www.shortenurl.com/7cxfm
Actually, if I were them, I'd be apoplectic about going to North Korea in the middle of winter. Given the mess that is North Korea, staying even warm enough to be able to finger violin strings may be a problem.
The comments about how people will be able to listen in on radios in a country with a dearth of electricity is well-taken.
They should have done this in the summer when they could play outdoors for everyone to hear.
Just the NYP playing Shostakovich 5 outdoors in Pyongyang might be enough to topple that crummy regime....
I heard Mehta interviewed on the radio about this trip, and a caller asked him to play Shostakovich 5. He said he had thought of it, but wasn't going to do it.
As for playing outdoors in the summer instead, I don't think it would make a difference since only those invited by Jung Il would attend.
W.C. Fields for President!
http://www.shortenurl.com/7cxfm
...provocative choice. After all, the Fifth is usually understood as the composer's capitulation to Stalin. Whereas the Fourth was suppressed by the composer for nearly 30 years, until he felt he little left to lose.
It's also a most, most extraordinary and uncompromising work, and I strongly recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach.
But either the Fourth or the Fifth would be a poor choice for a tour. For one thing, the Fourth requires an extremely large, augmented orchestra. For another it's a big challenge for the orchestra as well as the audience. You don't undertake it under unusual circumstances.
I am glad to hear they are going .
There will be opportunites for eye opening on both sides .
Traveled with the then Columbus Boychoir - now American Boychoir - out of Princeton decades back. The stories about LB were legend.
one of the horn players and/or perhaps, a violinist, is also a member of our intelligence agencies.
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soli Deo gloria
potential harm. I think Teachout and the others who have criticized the trip as appeasement are going too far.
This shouldn't even register as an issue in light of all the other issues we have to face with North Korea.
But do you happen to know how many North Koreans actually have access to a radio? I'm guessing very few.
W.C. Fields for President!
http://www.shortenurl.com/7cxfm