Friday, November 25, 2011

Thoughts About The Philadelphia Orchestra

My introduction to symphony orchestras came when I was a little girl and I got to go with my dad to the BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra) when my mother didn’t go. My parents had had a subscription for years. We used to get a ride to the concert with Melvin Bryant, a second violinist with the orchestra and the husband of my piano teacher. They lived a few blocks from us in Belmont, Massachusetts (now famous as the home of Mitt Romney and the John Birch Society, but I digress). On the way to the concert, Mr. Bryant used to regale us with some “inside dope” about orchestra doings. For example, it seems that orchestra members did not care for it when Leonard Bernstein conducted from the piano. The conductor I remember best from that era was Serge Koussevitsky.

After I’d gotten married and moved to Philadelphia in 1954 my then husband, Lee, and I were invited by his uncle and aunt who lived in Ambler, PA to attend their Philadelphia Orchestra series with them. They’d arranged for their daughter Susan to baby-sit with our very young son West. As it turned out he howled the entire time we were gone. Poor Susan. But it was a nice chance for us to get away for a bit from household chores (me) and medical school studies (Lee) for a change. Lee and I continued to attend the orchestra for many years after that. Eugene Ormandy was conducting then.

More recently, twenty-five years ago or so, my present husband Bob and I again became orchestra subscribers, and experienced the move from the venerable Academy of Music to Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center. We had superb seats in the second tier at the Kimmel Center. We enjoyed the “new sound” even though the critics didn’t care for it so much. Evidently the adjustable doors on the sides of the hall never worked as they were designed to.

As time went on, though, certain things began to aggravate us. For one thing, we had begun traveling more, and it was difficult to exchange tickets for a more convenient night. For another, we’d been looking around at other US orchestras and found that our orchestra was beginning to seem stale – behind the times. The powers that be, behind the scenes, just didn’t seem to understand that times were changing. And then there were the programs. We found that, for our taste, there were too many abrasive, “modern” selections on the program. We understood that new composers need to be heard, but enough’s enough on any one program. So, reluctantly, we gave up our subscription. That was five years or more ago, when Christoph Eschenbach was the conductor in residence. To say that he had no charisma would be a gross understatement.

Evidently we were not the only people who’d become disenchanted with our orchestra. Where, in the past, someone would have to die before a subscription would become available, now there were empty seats. Just recently the orchestra went through bankruptcy proceedings. A very sad situation for such a venerable institution. For comparison, one looks to Los Angeles where Gustavo Dudamel is exciting the music public at Disney Hall. And to the New York Philharmonic where Alan Gilbert has brought enthusiasm and excitement to the audience.

So now to a more hopeful present for Philadelphia. In 2012 we’ll have a new conductor in residence, Yannick Nezet-Seguin from Canada. Bob and I had seen him conduct “Carmen” in a Met Opera HDTV production and were interested. Yannick is conducting a few concerts this year. (Charles Dutoit is still the current conductor in residence.) On a recent Friday afternoon I went downtown to see Yannick conduct Mozart’s Symphony #40 and Brahms’ German Requiem, with two soloists and the Westminster Choir. It was wonderful. I sat way up in the third tier, where the sound is terrific. I had my binoculars with me, and could see everything as well. It was spectacular. The hall was nearly full, and the audience was enthusiastic and excited.

So I think PhilOrch is back. And I think I’m back, too. It’s a good feeling.
Posted by Jane at 9:41 AM 0 comments
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