oboeinsight

In a live concert directed by the American conductor Paul Henry Smith the “Vienna Symphony Orchestra” — in the shape of the well-known Vienna Symphonic Library VSL — will play symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven. The stage will feature not a single instrument or musician; all sounds will be generated by a PC, which will function as a sample player. The conductor will be controlling the dynamics, the tempo and the entries of the various groups of instruments in real time with the help of a gaming console, thereby conducting a “fauxharmonic orchestra.” For all that Mr. Smith is an accomplished conductor, having learnt his art from such stars as Leonard Bernstein and Sergiu Celibidache.

Okay … here we go again.

So would you go to hear this? (Not much to see, eh?) Oh … but while you read that “The stage will feature not a single instrument or musician”, they do say they need singers. Heh. I guess singers aren’t musicians? (Something we instrumentalists frequently joke about, but still ….)

It says Paul Henry Smith is an accomplished conductor. Well. Fine. But I’d prefer working with a robotic conductor, thank you very much.

RTWT.

“Orchestras are very busy,” Puts said. “It’s all business. And music isn’t going to sound as good if it’s too hard to put together fast.”

Hmm. So are composers supposed to write simple stuff so we play it well? How discouraging.

Read here.

I’m debating (with myself; I don’t debate others, because I’m the wimpiest of wimps when it comes to confrontation and argument). Should I continue with my Muso subscription?

I subscribed just this past year. It’s easy reading. It’s good pit material because there’s nothing heavy in it. There are only beautiful people pictured except when they do a segment on some more famous, older musician. It introduces me to a lot of musicians I’m unfamiliar with. Now they’ve sent out a re-subscribe notice and they’ve even offered me a FREE Muso card. (Hmmm. But will the card only be for the UK? Guess I should ask.) It’s really the first (and last?) sexy classical music magazine.

BUT.

Well, a person they recently had on the cover is supposed to be a great classical musician. Then I heard that musician play. Wow. How bad are you allowed to be and still be featured because you are Incredibly Beautiful Musician (IBM)? I wonder.**

Is Muso about fine classical musicians, or is it about the IBMs of the world, ignoring lack of talent?

Still … I keep thinking about that nice PitRead™. Short articles. Easy words. Pretty pictures.

Oh dear. Here I go again, sounding like a snob. What to do? What to do?

**I know, I know, one lacking-in-quality musician does not a bad magazine make. Most of the other featured musicians have been unheard by yours truly. What I would love would be for Muso to include a CD with snippets of the musicians they feature.