Politics and Music: Examples in Counterpoint

On 26th April 2009, Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman, among the most respected of performing piano virtuosos globally, interrupted his recital at Disney Hall, Los Angeles, to announce that it would be his last performance in the United States - in protest against America's military policy overseas. "Get your hands off my country," Zimerman said. And when some in the audience decided to walk out on hearing his outburst, he commented wryly “Yes, some people, when they hear the word military, start marching."

While American foreign policy is keenly debated in all places and at all times (and its not surprising when Poland is the topic, given that there is speculation that the CIA held suspected terrorists in secret prisons in Poland and the U.S. Government have missile-defence projects in the pipeline on Polish soil); what shocked the audience and the world was the pointed remonstration coming from a classical pianist.

But before you get into the question of should music be political or should musicians venture into political debates, it is sobering to consider that Zimerman was doing what came naturally to many great classical musicians.

In the 1970s, legendary Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich publicly stood by his friend the author Alexander Solzhenitsyn after the famed writer was banned and eventually exiled by the Soviet regime. In fact, for years Rostropovich sheltered the harassed writer in his own home. Rostropovich himself was eventually stripped of Soviet citizenship. Years later, in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, one of those indelible images that flashed across the world was that of this master cellist's impromptu playing of a Bach cello suite at Checkpoint Charlie (the famed crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War, once divided by the Berlin Wall).

Rostropovich was, in more ways than one, the true successor of that other great cellist, Pablo Casals. Casals too, faced much hardship for his political views. In fact, such was the strength of his convictions that after the Spanish Civil War in 1939, he vowed not to return to his home country Spain until democracy was restored.

After the Second World War, Jewish violinist Yehudi Menuhin incurred the wrath of his fellow Jews and Americans by openly supporting and in fact performing and recording with the great conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (who was at that time under a cloud for having chosen to stay in Nazi Germany during the war as a high-profile conductor; although he never did join the Nazi Party, nor did he support their views. In fact he used his influence to help Jewish musicians escape Nazi forces). Years later in 1991, when Menuhin was awarded the Wolf Prize by the Israeli Government, he used his acceptance speech to actually condemn Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank.

In 1999, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Workshop and Orchestra, which did what generations have failed to do - bring young Palestinians and Israelis together; through the bond of music-making.

To listeners who come to music only for music’s sake, the extra-musical baggage of such political stances seem more a case of the musician exceeding his brief.

To listeners who see music as an expression, not only of timeless values, but also rooted in the cut and thrust of everyday living, political views from musicians enrich debate and help throw the spotlight on issues and concerns that affect us all. And in the end, their forays into political debate show musicians as being not merely perfectionist virtuosos, but also as full-blooded human beings with beliefs that need a voice beyond the notes.

The Case For “Crossover Classical”

My previous post – The Case Against "Crossover Classical" presented one side to the argument.

Here below is the other:

“Enter through their door so that you may leave through yours”: St. Ignatius of Loyola knew what he was talking about when he propounded that maxim which remains valid for almost any marketing activity today. For a time-poor generation, what could be better than to condense the format of the typical classical music piece into something that is more easily digestible; both in duration and in content.

After all, Twenty20 cricket, while not being the summit of cricket that the longer version (Test Cricket) is, does have a large and enthusiastic following and a clear case for its own existence. Some might argue it is more a business case than a case built on a specific sporting need. But many people derive as much pleasure from the frenetic and powerful slogging that Twenty20 is famed for, as others would do from the patience, artistry and control of the crease that is required for building a mighty test century. The fact is that people have less time for leisure, more competing options for entertainment and shorter attention-spans than ever before. So, if a melody from a crossover album can engage and enthrall a listener, then why not!

It just might be that that particular listener may never set aside the time to hear the full 40-60 minute symphony from which that melody was extracted. And then again, it just might be that our listener may be so enthralled that he or she digs deeper and finds and buys the album of the full piece, spends the extra time, gives that extra attention and so begins to appreciate that piece in all its original glory. Admittedly, crossover artists, who claim that they are on a mission to bring classical music to the masses, may not always be looking beyond what it takes to become a best-seller. But it surely does not hurt that millions of football fans now know and hum the melody to Nessun Dorma.

Crossover is not a new phenomenon: Much of the suspicion and contempt for crossover music appears to stem from some mistaken belief that it is some new and virulent virus that has appeared from nowhere and without precedent. Critics of crossover music tend to forget that there has always been a crossover category (although without the name). In the 1950s, tenor Mario Lanza personified the spirit of “crossover” and reached the top of the Billboard pop charts in America. In the 1960s, German arranger James Last was churning out ebullient renditions of classical melodies under the series of releases titled ‘Classics Up To Date’. In the 1970s, American instrumental rock band ‘The Ventures’ were playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Bach’s ‘Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring’ and Ravel's Pavane. All this, long before the Three Tenors became a global megabrand! So, it appears that such music has always met an unmet need and thrived as a result. The fact that pure classical music recordings are displaced to make way for crossover today says more about the priorities of music companies and the music retail industry today than being grounds for questioning the validity of crossover music itself.

If pure classical music does not suffer at the expense of crossover, then we might as well say “live and let live”.

The Case Against "Crossover Classical"

My previous post - The Great Debate: How valid is ‘Crossover’ classical music? - tried to set the stage for what is an ongoing debate in the music world: Is the growth of Crossover Classical music a cause for concern or a phenomenon worth celebrating?

In this post, we look at some of the key arguments that question its validity:

The trailer is not the movie! An abridged version of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ or Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ does no good to the reader, the poor author or, for that matter, the work itself. The same holds good for Classical music. Crossover music tracks tend to stay within that safe zone of the typical pop song duration. “So what if the original piece or movement is 15 minutes long; we will just have to shave off the development, recapitulation and coda and stick with the main melody, repeat it twice and be done with it!” After all, the assumption behind this approach is that listeners are not particularly patient and are unable to concentrate for longer than it takes to hear a song.

If it is not broken, don’t fix it! Most fare served up by crossover artists tends to veer on the syrupy and in some cases downright cheesy renditions or extracts (or complete revamps!) of original classical music pieces. The point that recording companies seem to miss completely is that masterpieces are what they simply because they endure without the need for any overhaul to suit changing tastes. Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ does not need a techno makeover to remain as enchanting today as it ever was! While some might scoff and call this snobbery, there is a very good reason why classical music has been handed down from generation to generation through the use of specific notation stipulating rhythm, harmony, expression and interpretation. This does not mean that to adhere to the score means to be tied down to it. On the contrary, great artists have always put their very own stamp to great music, without having to disrespect the composer or make the work unrecognizable.

Crossover tends to cross the line! When the ever-smiling visage of Andre Rieu takes up three rows of a 4-row shelf devoted to Classical music in a music store, it does not take long for me to figure out that some hard core classical music has had to be shoved off. It is bad enough that most of the albums we see today are re-issues of great recordings of the past (with only a few fortunate conductors, soloists and orchestras of today given the opportunity to record). It is bad enough that contemporary composers and their music remain on the periphery. It is bad enough that quite a bit of the catalogue today is made up of "compilation" albums which are created with the sole aim of skimming the cream off large works and serving out only the juicy melody, the vocal pyrotechnics of a bravura aria, the snatch from an orchestral climax – all meant to make you ‘swoon’, ‘chill out’, ‘relax’ or get ‘in the mood’ amongst other such absurd promises. Along with such challenges, pure classical music now has to contend with the risk that “classical lite” will take centre stage and push full-length original works into an even smaller niche than they already occupy today. No wonder then that ‘Gramophone’ (www.gramophone.co.uk) has commenced publishing a new classical music chart, based on sales of “core classical recordings”. The Official Specialist Classical Chart, compiled by the Official Charts Company in association with the peak UK record industry body, the BPI (www.bpi.co.uk), requires albums tracked to feature 100 percent classical music. What this does is give core classical and crossover different playing fields, so that core classical is no longer overshadowed by the chart-busters from crossover artists.

The Great Debate: How valid is ‘Crossover’ Classical Music?

A clearly discomforting feeling overcomes me when I scan the shelves in the classical music sections at music stores.

Where at one time, you could gorge yourself on several legendary recordings of the standard repertoire as well as new recordings of some contemporary compositions, we are increasingly faced with a fairly stripped down catalogue of core classical music. This is not simply on account of shrinking shelf space for classical music at major music retail chains.

What is alarming is that an increasingly large proportion of this limited shelf space is being hijacked by recordings of artists such as Andre Rieu, Andrea Bocelli, Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, Josh Groban, Russell Watson, Charlotte Church, Il Divo, Amici Forever, Sarah Brightman and others in that ever-growing stable of what we now call the “crossover” category.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing to stop these “crossover” stars from making a few million dollars for themselves on the strength of surging sales of their obviously well packaged and well marketed albums. After all, nobody is pointing a gun to your head when you decide to pick up a crossover album. It comes down to free will. And fortunately for this category, a large number of listeners are exercising that will and shelling out the money to make this category the fastest-growing category in classical music recordings by a mile.

While I have personally enjoyed some crossover music of the past and present and am thrilled to see some listeners who would typically not have anything to do with Bach, Beethoven or Mozart, becoming fans of classical hits, there are some reasons why this trend (or should we say phenomenon) needs to be analyzed in greater detail.

My next two posts will take a “For” and “Against” stance to crossover classical music. So please join the debate!

Great flops and rubbishing hits!

Its awards season in the film industry and for those of you who keep track of the nominees, awards night either confirms some of your own choices or throws up some surprises. How often have you shaken your head in mock disbelief as a poorly-made film went on to win the highest film industry accolades? Or how often have you wondered why a brilliantly-crafted film never made it past the nominations short list? For myself, I say “Quite often”.

But when you look at the history of all art, this seems to be one of the recurring themes: Great flops and rubbishing hits!

In classical music, examples of both types are many.

Weber, on listening to Beethoven’s masterful Seventh Symphony, proclaimed that the composer was now “ripe for the madhouse”.

On the flip side, Beethoven’s ‘Battle Symphony’, perhaps the weakest of all his orchestral works, was ironically his most successful work during his lifetime.

Do you have your very own examples of great flops and rubbishing hits?

Why bother with Classical Music?

Does classical music mean anything at all? Does it matter?

Of course, you may say, it matters. It matters that Beethoven wrote his last string quartets, it matters that Mozart wrote his ‘Requiem’, it matters that Bach wrote his ‘Art of Fugue’.

But let me rephrase – Does classical music matter in the larger scheme of things?

“What scheme?” you ask.

So let me elaborate.

Does it matter to a parent who loses his child to drugs that Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’ is a ‘complete’ masterpiece in itself? Does it matter to a community grieving over a senseless act of terrorism, that Shostakovich penned his brilliant ‘Festive Overture’ in a matter of minutes while chatting to a friend and smoking? Does it matter to a war-ravaged village that Handel composed his ‘Messiah’ when he was blind and broke? Does it matter to a terminally-ill patient that Mahler left unnumbered his actual ninth symphony because no composer since Beethoven had successfully completed more than nine symphonies before dying? Does it matter to a country plundered by its ruthless dictator that Stravinsky’s ballet music ‘The Rite of Spring’ provoked a riot at its first performance because it was so far ahead of its time? Does it matter to investors, who see their life savings wiped out in a stock market crash, that that the fourteen-year-old Mozart first heard the ‘Miserere’ by Allegri on a visit to Rome, and wrote it down entirely from memory soon after hearing it (which the church at that time forbade anybody to transcribe)?

The larger scheme of things! The big picture! In that context, is music a ‘must-have’ or a ‘good-to-have’? When the most basic needs are in peril or unmet, what good is music?