Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
More Beethoven is more Beethoven
An unexpected flurry of attendance
Sculpture of Beethoven from Naples.
As I scrolled through the Flipboard app checking out various articles on classical music, the “typical” quality of the topics became oppressive. There were a few articles on presenting classical music in new ways which, alas, are rarely new ways unless telepathy is involved or perhaps headphones that attach to the audience’s foreheads trying to access our leftover sonar ducts from our ancient aquatic predecessors.
There were a few interviews that pushed the limits of pedestrian interactions, a few upcoming concert notifications, the obligatory “How to make classical music cool” titles, and then something interesting in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Orchestra had scheduled only Beethoven for the month of January. They performed all the symphonies and all the piano concertos. The average attendance was at 95 percent capacity.
Video:
"Symphony No. 2"
Beethoven
This type of marathon doesn’t fall under the category of new ways to present classical music, it falls under effective ways to present classical music — at least in Minnesota. Haven’t people heard enough of Beethoven symphonies? That was the criticism when the Minnesota Orchestra’s schedule was announced.
No, people have not heard enough of Beethoven’s symphonies. Here’s one way of looking at it. I and thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people have heard Beethoven’s symphonies more than Beethoven heard them, notwithstanding his loss of hearing. The access to recordings makes this possible.
On second thought maybe that’s not even a relevant point since I’ve probably watched the original Star Trek more than Gene Roddenberry did. This takes us toward a different topic — the difference between creating culture and consuming culture. I’ll try to focus.
Why did this Minnesota Beethoven marathon work? There were factors working against it. The key demographic for this type of thing, the Minnesota snowbirds, were gone for the winter. Going out to a concert in Minnesota in the winter can’t be without some discomfort. Star Wars and The Revenant were in theaters. Everyone had spent all their extra money and credit on Christmas and New Years.
These are some reasonable excuses for poor symphony attendance. Yet the attendance was unreasonable.
I feel as if this boils down to Beethoven’s music itself. I don’t know if this type of attendance happens with a Brahms marathon or a Bruckner marathon or even a Mahler marathon.
Here's something you might be interested in.
More Beethoven is more Beethoven
An unexpected flurry of attendance
More Beethoven is more Beethoven
An unexpected flurry of attendance
Sculpture of Beethoven from Naples.
As I scrolled through the Flipboard app checking out various articles on classical music, the “typical” quality of the topics became oppressive. There were a few articles on presenting classical music in new ways which, alas, are rarely new ways unless telepathy is involved or perhaps headphones that attach to the audience’s foreheads trying to access our leftover sonar ducts from our ancient aquatic predecessors.
There were a few interviews that pushed the limits of pedestrian interactions, a few upcoming concert notifications, the obligatory “How to make classical music cool” titles, and then something interesting in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Orchestra had scheduled only Beethoven for the month of January. They performed all the symphonies and all the piano concertos. The average attendance was at 95 percent capacity.
Video:
"Symphony No. 2"
Beethoven
This type of marathon doesn’t fall under the category of new ways to present classical music, it falls under effective ways to present classical music — at least in Minnesota. Haven’t people heard enough of Beethoven symphonies? That was the criticism when the Minnesota Orchestra’s schedule was announced.
No, people have not heard enough of Beethoven’s symphonies. Here’s one way of looking at it. I and thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people have heard Beethoven’s symphonies more than Beethoven heard them, notwithstanding his loss of hearing. The access to recordings makes this possible.
On second thought maybe that’s not even a relevant point since I’ve probably watched the original Star Trek more than Gene Roddenberry did. This takes us toward a different topic — the difference between creating culture and consuming culture. I’ll try to focus.
Why did this Minnesota Beethoven marathon work? There were factors working against it. The key demographic for this type of thing, the Minnesota snowbirds, were gone for the winter. Going out to a concert in Minnesota in the winter can’t be without some discomfort. Star Wars and The Revenant were in theaters. Everyone had spent all their extra money and credit on Christmas and New Years.
These are some reasonable excuses for poor symphony attendance. Yet the attendance was unreasonable.
I feel as if this boils down to Beethoven’s music itself. I don’t know if this type of attendance happens with a Brahms marathon or a Bruckner marathon or even a Mahler marathon.
Comments