Editorial: Falling Off Their Podiums

The changing role of the conductor in the 21st century.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Photoshop by the author.

 When you think about it conductors are held in a ridiculously high esteem. Now granted it is important for orchestras to cue in together and stay in time, and know when to start and when to stop playing. However, the idea of the conductor as celebrity, as some sort of mystic grand master of musical performance is one that is endemic to the classical music and opera business.

Editorial: In Times Like These

Some thoughts on the James Levine scandal.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

James Levine (center right) at his return to the Met pit conducting Cosí fan tutte.
Photo by Naomi Vaughan © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

There are times when this profession, that of a full-time commentator on classical music and opera, can be the greatest in the world. I go to a lot of concerts. Occasionally I get to fly around the world. I bathe (daily in pools of aestheticism, picking over the work of great artists in an attempt to keep the fires of inspiration burning and feed the cycle of the news.

And then there are times when those fires goes out, doused by the cold waters of harsh reality.

On Recordings, Diversity and Bigger Hard Drives

Or maybe I'm just getting less picky.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

You try sorting this out....

When I was setting out to build a classical music library, it was a very exacting process. Every recording that I bought, with my limited grad school budget, had to be perfect. Of course none of them were. But I well remember an insane bike trip through the Back Bay fens and down Charlesgate to trade my copy of the Bernard Haitink Ring in for the Solti and obsessing over various Aidas before discovering that I liked Claudio Abbado's. Hey, I was 22.

A Quick Word About the Election

And back to music soon after...promise!

It is impossible for Superconductor to exist in a bubble, or to allow the events of last night's election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America to pass without comment. This blog is not a political forum and it is not normally a place for such things, but I cannot get my regular blog writing done without getting these words out of my system.

On Orlando, the Opera and Growing Up in Brooklyn

A reflection on fear, terror and the massacre at Pulse.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Frame-grab from The Simpsons episode "Bart the Genius"
© 1989 Gracie Films/20th Century Fox.

When I was a kid, you didn't talk about going to the opera.

Loud, Proud and Uncowed

Some Words on Gay Pride.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

OK, they're not really there but they look cool. Rainbow flags over Lincoln Center.
Photo alteration by the author.

For the last week, the blog has been fairly quiet (except for previews and roundups and suchlike) but that's what happens in late June--the season is basically over and we're all taking a deep breath before jumping into the summer festival season both here in New York and in its environs.

Today is also the 45th anniversary of Heritage of Pride, the parade that marches down Fifth Avenue, turns right at the Washington Square Arch and moves down Washington Street, Waverly and Christopher past the Stonewall Inn, site of the 1969 police raid and riot that essentially sparked the gay pride movement in these United States.

The Bat and the Bullets

A Superconductor Editorial Comment.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

What Batman thinks about guns.
Art and dialogue by Frank Miller © Detective Comics.

Hi folks,
I just needed to use this space today to talk about what happened in Aurora, Colorado last night, especially in light of a column (The Sons of the Batman) that ran in this space just two days ago. Other than that, this post doesn't have anything to do with opera.

The twelve murders perpetrated last night at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises were a real-life worst case scenario. This was something that everyone who sits in an audience on a regular basis should be worried about, especially in this American culture of concealed carry permits, lax gun control, and an enthusiastic Washington lobby of firearms enthusiasts who seem upset that nobody was packing heat and could shoot back.

That it took place at the screening of a film about a hero who refuses to use firearms because his parents were shot dead in front of him by a mugger is beyond ironic.

Bloomberg vs. Beethoven

An Open Letter to the Mayor of New York City.

New York's third-term mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

"He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man! Now he will trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; he will place himself above all others,--become a tyrant!"
--Ludwig van Beethoven.

The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor of the City Of New York
City Hall (260 Broadway)
New York, NY 10007

Dear Mr. Mayor:
Today, you declared Nov. 20, 2011 to be "Beethoven Day" in the City of New York. But by your recent actions, Mayor Bloomberg, you have shown yourself to be totally ignorant of the composer in question.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a fiercely independent artist who fought against tyranny. He broke the European system of patronage and "court" composers, eking out a difficult life as a freelance musician. A fierce republican, he famously reacted to Napoleon assuming the title of Emperor by striking the name "Bonaparte" from his symphony No. 3. The work is now known as the Eroica.

Under normal circumstances, "Beethoven Day" would be a great idea. WQXR's clever "Obey Beethoven" campaign has the composer's scowling mug all over the city. Recent performances by the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique have brought the composer's genius to the city's concert halls. And today WQXR has achieved something historic, an all-day marathon of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas, played live.

But right now, things in our city are a long way from normal.

Less than one week ago, Mr. Mayor, you ordered a small army of riot police to "clean out" Zuccotti Park, the two-month home base of Occupy Wall Street. Protestors in the park were warned that they had less than one hour to remove all of their property from the Park before the police went in. And we know you ordered it. You went on the air and claimed responsibility for the actions of the police.

The poster for WQXR's "Obey Beethoven" campaign.
© 2011 WQXR/National Public Radio.

When the NYPD went in, they swung nightsticks, slashed nylon tents with razor blades, and attacked protestors. The media was walled out, with fire trucks blocking cameras and reporters from all three papers either arrested, attacked, or kept from covering the actions of the police. City councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was injured and arrested, and incarcerated for almost 24 hours. He identified himself as a city official, and was not allowed to talk to a lawyer.

The worst crime perpetrated against the protest was the partial destruction of the People's Library, a 5000+ volume collection of novels, philosophy, textbooks and even a bound copy of the Torah. The cops dumped these neatly stored books into Department of Sanitation garbage trucks. The trash compactors were activated. Over 2000 volumes were crushed into garbage, destroyed beyond repair. Some have been recovered, but many are badly damaged.

Beethoven's lone opera, Fidelio is another triumph over tyranny. Written in 1804 and revised in 1815, Fidelio is a "rescue" opera: the story of a wrongfully imprisoned nobleman, locked in a deep dungeon by a corrupt prison governor. The prisoner's wife, Leonore, cross-dresses and goes undercover as "Fidelio", an assistant turnkey at the prison. Eventually, her husband is freed and evil is defeated.

Mayor Bloomberg, you have arrested and charged over 1,000 people in your city in connection to the Occupy movement. You have allowed police to use "kettling", pepper spray, night-sticks and L-Rad sound cannons on your citizens. You ordered the large-scale destruction of books and personal property. Despite owning a media company, your police have prohibited journalists from doing their jobs and exercising their Constitutional right to free speech. And you have even had your own politicians, like Mr. Rodriguez, injured and imprisoned, denying them their right to speak to an attorney as guaranteed by Miranda v. Arizona.

Beethoven once said: "What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven." As one of those princes, you are not worthy of him.

Sincerely,

Paul J. Pelkonen
Editor, Superconductor.
Brooklyn, NY