I wonder what this NYT critic has against the younger generation.
First it was a criticism of Clang Clang's pyrotechnics. (They weren't quite on par with that of Rubenstein's.)
And now, a criticism of a 33-year old last-minute replacement conductor to fill in for Riccardo Muti.
Bernard Holland's main criticisms?
a) That this conductor didn't fill the shoes of someone twice his age
and
b) that he might as well have not been there, since ". . . an ensemble this good always plays more or less together, without help from anybody."
(As an aside, they also play more or less together, without any pedantic reviews from anybody. . ..)
By Holland's logic, great orchestras don't really need conductors. (Which is why the LA Phil just recently invested a lot of time and money to conduct a search to replace Esa Pekka-Salonen, and Berkeley SO is currently undergoing its own year-long search to find a successor for Kent Nagano, I suppose. )
And this patronizing attitude towards younger musicians. . . it makes me wonder what he might say about a 25-year old Mozart, if he were living in the present-- "this symphony has its shining moments, but Haydn it ain't. Mozart is a decent aspiring composer, with potential, but not quite of the grandeur of Bach and not nearly as prolific as Haydn. He's quite north of good, but considerably south of great. His symphonies have a few too many notes. . ."
May I request that the NYT find someone under 40 (or at least someone who will not look down upon people under 40) to review the younger artists and perhaps assign Holland to reviewing CDs of Rubenstein and other dead people?
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4 comments:
Couldn't agree more. I say this as the person who got turned down for job after job in academia, with the sole reason given being that I'm in my twenties. I saw job after job going to people with CVs no better than mine, but who were in their forties. What am I supposed to do, sit around scratching my butt for twenty years before I'm considered suitable?!
This reviewer constantly writes stuff of this sort. If he wants this field to perpetuate and live on beyond the generation represented in the audience, he (and others) really ought to respect the younger generation.
Sorry about your jobs. That's strange in music, b/c in other humanities and social science fields (at least at my university), they do try to hire junior faculty.
Mr. Holland is completely unacceptable. Glad you agree!
He seems to be a "favorite" of everyone. I usually stay away from his stuff, just because so many people already seem to have pastimes of Holland-bashing. If it's just bad writing, I'll ignore it (you guys can handle that), but stuff like this just infuriates me. If he wants--oh wait. I already posted that comment. See my earlier comment.
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