Bicentennial Verdi, An Enigmatic Hero

In music, we strive to find the personality of a composer through his or her music.  In classical music, we have the advantage of performing great works for years, even centuries, trying to decipher layers of meaning.  When we allow ourselves to search, we eventually realize that composers are no different from the rest of us.  Even coming from a different culture, century and country, we all come from the same basic place when it comes to life, struggles, and attempts to identify meaning within our world.  When it comes right down to it, the composer either is trying to tell us something or inviting us into his inner world.

This coming Saturday, I have the honor of conducting a collaborative concert with the Salt Lake Symphony and the Utah Voices that will explore the two sides of Italy’s most famous composer, Giuseppe Verdi.

The concert is a tale of two halves.  Utah Voices maestro, Michael Huff, will conduct the first half of the program, consisting of Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces (Quattro Pezzi Sacri).   These pieces were written separately, but are frequently performed as a set.  This is Verdi the Agnostic, utilizing religious texts and themes to explore and express inner meaning.  He makes no attempts to hide that there are secrets, even unanswered questions.  Small wonder he chose the so-called “enigmatic scale” for his setting of the Ave Maria.   

That he was trying to say something with these pieces is evident.  But was he trying to express something to the audience, or work out some inner conundrum? Like a philosophical Tootsie Pop, “The World May Never Know.”  But he invites us to go deeper with this powerful yet reflective music.  His desire to be buried with the score of the Te Deum certainly piques my interest even more!

The second half of the program is devoted to a wide selection operatic music, Verdi’s most public legacy.  We will open with the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore. This energetic piece contains gypsy music and yes, anvils!  (Well, what we are actually using is a stage secret until the performance!).   In La Forza del Destino, the overture and the famous aria, Pace, pace (sung by Melissa Heath), Verdi looks inward and then expresses strongly the search for the meaning of life (literally “the force of destiny”).  If that reminds us of Beethoven, there is good reason.  Beethoven is his role model in many ways, musically and inspirationally.  The gorgeous and moving Va, Pensiero from Nabucco is a piece that still is considered a national song of Italian pride and patriotism in Italy.  It is actually a paraphrase from Psalm 137, referring to the Jews in Babylonian exile.  The Italians deeply identified with this separation and longing when the piece was composed, which coincided with the Italian unification and establishment of Italy as one nation.  The music is so moving that even today, Italians rally to the cause with this music.  Here’s a great example from 2009, an amazing encore in Rome when the government had announced deep cuts to arts funding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSuOwGgVvQ

We close with the most extroverted chorus of all, the final scene from Act II of Aida.  It’s got it all: a song of praise, a march, a dance scene and a joyous chorus.  We will be praising the gods, kings, soldiers, etc.  Sorry, elephants don’t fit through the stage door.

As an popular opera composer, Verdi had the means of reaching a wide swath of the 19th-century public.  He used his talents to further the noble ideals of the time.  His music led to change, and today invites us to personally explore deeper meaning in his music.   If you are in the Salt Lake area this Saturday, consider this your invitation to be moved and go deeper.  It’s also great music to simply sit back and enjoy.  Here are the details:

Verdi: A Bicentennial Celebration
Salt Lake Symphony and Utah Voices

Saturday May 18, 2013 7:30 pm
Libby Gardner Hall

Tickets $10 adults, $5 students and seniors.
Available by calling 801-792-1313 or at the door with cash, check or credit card.

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Copyright, 2013. Robert Baldwin

Freshly Pressed x3!

Thanks to the editors of WordPress for tagging my latest post, 10,000 Hours or 22,000 Days? for the Freshly Pressed feature.  I am deeply appreciative to be chosen again for this honor.  Feel free to browse thorough the other posts and let me know what you think.  My Freshly Pressed features can be found by scrolling below, or you can click directly here to see them:

 10,000 Hours or 22,000 Days?

http://beforethedownbeat.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/10000-hours-or-22000-days/

 Curling Up With a Good Symphony

http://beforethedownbeat.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/curling-up-with-a-good-symphony/

 The Power to Persuade. The Resposibility to Question

http://beforethedownbeat.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/the-power-to-persuade-the-responsibility-to-question-6/

 

 

10,000 Hours or 22,000 Days?

This week, I have been observing our students in a myriad of performance situations:  playing recitals; performing year-end performance juries; taking final exams.  The practice rooms and libraries are filled.  The stress level is high.  Everyone is pressed for time, trying to squeeze in one more precious hour.

Recent research and a popular book have theorized that it takes 10,000 hours for a human to become proficient and considered an expert at something.  It seems so easy:  Put in the Time, Collect the Dime.  I think most adults can see some truth in this theory based on their own experiences.  Driving a car is a great example.  While we are learning, we are cognizant of every movement, every decision, every possibility.  After time, we become very natural at it.  It almost becomes a reflexive action.  (For example, when’s the last time you thought about—really concentrated on—operating the turn signal?)

What makes it interesting is that it could apply to anything, from knitting to playing the violin.  The implications for an art form are obvious and the research pointers are fairly sound.  However my question is: Is it enough to make good art?

There is certainly something to be said for putting in the time.  Repetition breeds confidence, and in the case of music, there are time honored traditions for putting in the right kind of practice.  This is why etude books and good teachers are invaluable. But to reduce music making to craft status is missing the boat.  A true artist looks beyond the technique (which can be learned) to a deeper core of understanding (which is more intuitive).  Certainly good technique must come first.  But deftness merely functions as the key to unlocking the real doors that lie ahead.

Art reaches beyond good craftsmanship.  Seasoned musicians transform it into artistry. A Bach Cello Suite can be played perfectly, without mentionable flaw and still not quite be ready.  This is why I still make suggestions to already excellent students—and why I reflect deeply when my colleagues make suggestions to me about my performances.  While I am secure with the craft element of my art (always subject to tweaks, of course), it is the deeper wisdom that continues to amaze me.

“Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession.”—Bias of Priene, 6^th century B.C.

The “Aha!” moments still come after practicing, studying, rehearsal and performance.  They will continually come if we remain open, alive and inquisitive.  And that goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of our profession.  Far beyond our 10,000 hours spent achieving.  It reaches to the very core of life itself—if we allow it.

Note: the 10,000 Hours Theory is a theme of Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, and is well supported by the research of Anders Ericsson.  22,000 Days is a title of a Moody Blues song from the 80s.  “It’s not a lot. It’s all you got. 22,000 Days.” That’s about 60 years worth of getting anything truly worthwhile accomplished—get to it!

Copyright, 2013, Robert Baldwin.

Orchestra Musician: It's Not a Cush Job

Reblogged from Brian Lauritzen:

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A couple of days ago, an article appeared in Bloomberg that was so misinformed, so short-sighted, so petty, so ignorant, and so utterly ridiculous that to let it go unchallenged would be irresponsible.

The article came from Manuela Hoelterhoff, the Pulitzer Prize-winning executive editor for Bloomberg Muse and author of Cinderella & Company: Backstage at the Opera With Cecilia Bartoli…

Read more… 1,095 more words

A great response to an article published early last week that was so unbelievably misinformed. Thanks, Brian, for putting this in perspective and setting the record straight!

The Finer Points: Worth a Look

I’m pleased and honored to be featured on The Finer Points, the College of Fine Arts blog at the University of Utah.  This is a great blog that covers a variety of arts disciplines from a many different angles.  Check them out here:

http://thefinerpointscfa.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/shattering-the-orthodoxy/

Perception and Assumption: Does Authentic Anything Really Exist?

Perception is a major aspect of a musician’s life.  We perceive sound, rhythm, and phrasing and relate it to all of the stimuli around us, from our fellow musicians on stage to the drone of an air handling unit.  Hopefully, our attention is focused and blended with those around us.  Often times it is not.  And we can get pretty fussy about the score and the notes that are within, claiming some sort of ultimate authority on the subject.  But doing so without regard to different options, interpretations, and traditions can create assumptions that may actually block creativity. As Joseph Campbell reminds us:

“Our human species…is distinguished by the fact that the action-releasing mechanisms of its central nervous system are for the most part…”open.” They are susceptible to the influence of imprintings from the society in which the individual grows up.”  –Joseph Campbell, the Importance of Rites, 1964

Our music teachers, conductors, and the times in which we live all provide a large measure of our awareness and perception.  These people influence how we conceive and execute our music.  I am eternally grateful to the many teachers who told me what to listen to, who to listen to and who the authority was for a particular composer or style.  I am also thankful for the many friends and colleagues who have expanded my horizons with suggestions and ideas.  This, of course was determined for them by someone else and subsequently passed on to them.  Of course, personal likes also have something to do with it.  If we like something (for whatever reason) we are likely to seek out others who have the same interests.  This is how a style becomes codified.  Which is good.  It is also how style can become stagnant, which is not so good.

This idea that there is only one way or that a different way is inherently wrong is the bane of musical expression.  It represents an orthodoxy that is stifling.  Luckily we live in an age that allows for the shattering of this orthodoxy.  Recordings abound, both historical and current, proving that different is possible, if not preferable.  Scholarship and discussion are at an all-time high for all types of music: classical, popular and ethnic traditions.  And we can often have the freedom to experiment and grow by learning new instruments or trying cross-over styles different from our training. 

My colleague Pedro De Alcantara is in the middle of a series of Blogs regarding perception and music.  Here’s a memorable quote:

“When Johann Sebastian Bach played the music of J. S. Bach way back when, “Bach was Bach.” When I play the music of J. S. Bach today, “Bach isn’t Bach.” He’s . . . a hybrid, a body-snatched 300-year-old Brazilian-Prussian undead mutant.” Pedro de Alcantara

Pop on over to his site here. It’s worth a visit.

http://www.pedrodealcantara.com/blog/2013/2/9/reality-illusion-part-4-bach-dead-and-reborn.html

The awareness that there is more out there is extremely important to musicians at every stage.  It helps us to become “unstuck.” Healthy musicians are continuously evolving, an important aspect for honest expression.  Styles would not have changed, composers would not have created, and fundamentals would not have been altered had this not occurred.  And it occurs to me that we need reminding of this.

 

“God [is] not the exclusive property of any one tradition. The divine light [cannot] be confined to a single lamp, belonging to the East or the West, but enlightens all human beings.”

― Karen Armstrong

Copyright, 2013 Robert Baldwin, Before the Downbeat

The Rite Stuff

 

“All of this like some ancient anointing. So be it. Evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.”—Cormac McCarthy, The Road

While our lives may no longer be closely tied to the same rituals that developed and defined world cultures, we remain drawn to a prescribed concept of order and meaning.  Often it is easy to identify: marriage, birth, death, or milestone career event.  But our lives are also filled with small rituals that we engage with on a daily basis. For myself, making morning coffee and taking daily dog walks number among those that are the important small rituals of my life.

As a musician, I also recognize many rituals of my craft, formal and otherwise.  Like every performer, there is a day for the first recital, new instrument, and winning an audition.  The little rituals also abound, and may include putting new strings on an instrument, rosining the bow, or mastering the next in a line of etudes.  These types of events can easily be taken for granted, yet provide meaning to the very fabric of a musician’s existence.

It is also worth remembering that every encounter with a piece of music is ritual.  The first experience with a major work can represent a journey, both in terms of the individual musician, and the collective participation of learning a new composition with colleagues.  Taking a piece from first reading to a concert can be analogous to the life journey.  It will contain celebratory moments, struggle, and triumph. 

“Only when we join together does this work have any meaning” – Ali Akbar Khan

As a conductor of a collegiate orchestra, perhaps I am more sensitive to this function of music.  Students certainly may behave and react differently than seasoned professionals when confronting the sublime or the unknown.  But there is something bigger and universal when we intersect the big pieces, the GIANTS of the repertoire.  The reason lies with the affect elicited from the listener and performer.  Those works represent BIG ritual.

It’s fairly easy to locate these pieces.  The composer names are often recognizable.  They are the great works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, and many others.  They are the Ninth Symphony, The Resurrection Symphony, Ein Heldenleben, and the Pathetique (either Tchaikovsky’s or Beethoven’s).  The musician approaches these works with respect, care and a sense of awe.  Whether approached as a developing musician or an established veteran, the aim is clear.  The mission of performing these masterpieces is focused and reverent. 

That’s quite a preface for my journey these past 4 weeks, introducing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) to my students as well as the audience.  Interestingly it is a piece about ritual itself, set in an imagined pagan Russia.  But it also represents a major rite of passage for all orchestral musicians.  It is a work that does not come around often.  It is filled with seemingly insurmountable issues of instrumentation, rhythmic complexity and technical demands.  Yet the music speaks far beyond these surface issues, cuts to the core of human existence.  It is emotionally wired to the something deep at the center of human experience.

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”—Joseph Campbell

Taking on overwhelming odds, facing an uncertain outcome, and challenging oneself to the very limit is how the Hero’s Journey is often described.  Undertaking these tasks as a musician defines what it means to live as an artist.  By taking on the adventure, accepting the risks and completing the task, we return with something to share.  A story for the tribe: a concert for an audience.  A ritual worthy of every musician. 

And now, the gory details:

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring Turns 100: A joint celebration with the University of Utah Philharmonia and the Utah State University Symphony.

Two performances:

Tuesday, 2/12 7:30 p.m. Kingsbury Hall on the U of U Campus, Sergio Bernal, conductor Also featuring Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto with Keenan Reesor, piano

Saturday, 2/23 7:30 p.m. Kent Concert Hall on the USU Campus Robert Baldwin, conductor. Also featuring the Bloch’s Concerto Grosso #1.

 

Copyright 2013, Robert Baldwin, Before the Downbeat