Hello readers,
 
Thanks everyone for the interesting conversation, but I'm gonna have to put my money where my mouth is as far as, "Look, none of this is such a big deal" and stop replying to comments from "anonymous" contributers. So there was a concert. It was five days ago. I thought there was room for improvement. Some readers found what I wrote about the night vaguely amusing, some found it ludicrous and nasty. (And yes, some people have an under-developed sense of humor.) Okay! Live and let live. Onto the next concert!
 
I once informed my teacher Richard Woodhams (principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra) that the Boston Globe had made a favorable mention of me in a review of a Tanglewood concert. I thought he'd be delighted, but he rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't read reviews, because if you're gonna believe the good ones, you're gonna have to believe the bad ones," he informed me. Unlike him, I like reading and writing music reviews, but with the understanding that they are just some guy's opinions. You can take 'em or leave 'em.
 
However, if anyone wants to discuss further this particular guy's opinions, on a non-anonymous basis, I'm easily findable. I too know a number of the orchestra members, and Mario from the administration knows where to find me.

Usually it's wise to ignore bad reviews—life goes on, de gustibus non est disputandum, etc. etc. Then there is this case where a review is so strangely malignant that it doesn't just disagree with elements of the interpretation, but tries to impugn the entire competence of the performing forces. Under these circumstances one, out of decency, is forced to clean away some of the muck.

I guess the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra shouldn't feel too bad considering that Mr. Sawyier goes after Wagner in his first sentence. (Or was this just a “straw dog” argument so that Mr. Sawyier can show how enlightened he is by describing Wagner's music as beautiful after all.) Anyway, Mr. Sawyier uses weasel words to attribute these critiques to unnamed people whom one might “talk to.” I'm confident that Wagner's reputation will survive. I'm not so sure about Mr. Sawyier's reputation as a critic.

Mr. Sawyier's beefs (actually his only beefs in three paragraphs of ranting) are that the IPO had tuning problems and didn't seem to adhere to uniform bowing. What an in-depth review!

As the current IPO Board President, I was at that concert (and also have been going to CSO concerts since I was 16—I'm 55 now) and did not detect any tuning issues of any significance. Yes, no doubt there were some high string passages in the Brahms that the Vienna Philharmonic violins would have played better. But how can I dispute if someone claims such golden ears that he is hearing problems that no one else heard? It would be nice to send out the recording for an objective consideration for any who were interested. But the IPO union contract won't allow that. (Yes, the IPO is a unionized, fully professional orchestra.) Perhaps we might get the funds to broadcast it some day, like we did one of our 2008-2009 concerts on WFMT this past October. We got excellent feedback from that concert and would certainly be welcomed back on WFMT if we could get the funding for more broadcasts. Regarding the concert which was broadcast, John von Rhein attended the original performance and gave it a very good review mentioning “the fine orchestra.”

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/mar/16/entertainment/chi-0316-mc...

Speaking of golden ears, sitting next to me during the concert last weekend was my son who has an advanced degree in music and perfect pitch. When he was about 10, I remember playing those famous chords on the piano from the “Rite of Spring” with the E-flat major seventh over an E major triad. (Yes, I know what a [freaking] triad should sound like and I also know that the notation in “The Rite” is F-flat major not E). Anyway for this exercise, I would slip in various wrong notes among the dissonances to see if he could identify them. Of course he could—I guess that's why it's called perfect pitch. Anyway, he didn't find anything objectionable pitch-wise at the IPO concert. And believe me, he'd tell me if he did. So that's one little appeal to authority.

The second appeal is to the common experiences of some of the readers. They may not have been able to come down I-57 to hear the IPO, but they have probably heard the music for Joffrey Ballet. The IPO shares many players with that orchestra including principals. That's the high level at which the IPO plays. And, of course, it just so happens that this concert was conducted by the former music director of the Joffrey, Dr. Leslie Dunner. Speaking of “The Rite,” Dr. Dunner conducted that tiny little piece last year with the Joffrey. The New York Times came to review the dance and said this: “The music at the Joffrey is conducted with force and color by Leslie B. Dunner: the opening music to both halves of the score, when you are waiting for the curtain to rise, becomes unusually riveting.” Here's the review link for those who want the context (free registration may be required).
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/arts/dance/20joff.html?_r=1

The final appeal would be to common sense. Mistuning in an orchestra is like a foul odor at a restaurant. One doesn't have to be a gourmet to be repulsed. Similarly, I doubt that the audience would respond so positively, as they did to the wonderful IPO performance, in the context of poor tuning. One doesn't need a degree from Philadelphia to know when something actually sounds bad. (One only needs fraudulent bad faith to write about it when it's not occurring.) In my job as a physician, I understand that there can be some people who are off the charts in terms of quirky maladaptive sensory,systems--such as people who violently gag when you merely show them the tongue depressors without touching anything. Maybe something like this applies to Mr. Sawyier.

Anyway, I guess listing in the program the many orchestras that Dr. Dunner has conducted over two long paragraphs wasn't enough for Mr. Sawyier. He wants to know with whom he studied and where. I really am puzzled by this as I just don't know that this is universally mentioned in conductor bios. Think of ten conductors at any level. Who did each study with? Do you know? I think that that Marin Alsop studied or tutored with—I doubt he was in the degree dispensing business—Leonard Bernstein. She makes a big deal out of it. And I know that Leonard Bernstein studied with Fritz Reiner (and seemed pick up a few tricks from Koussevitsky and possibly Mitropoulos.) Anyway, FWIW to Mr. Sawyier, Dr. Dunner got his degree from the The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under Gerhard Samuel—who, BTW, has a fine recording of the Rott Symphony.

Getting back to the IPO players, principal horn, John Fairfield, gave a brilliant performance of Siegfried's off stage horn call—perfect. This should not be a surprise because John played with the CSO (Chicago, not Cincinnati—I mention that because Mr. Sawyier tends to get distracted by these little details) when they needed a horn sub for the recent Haitink-conducted CSO Bruckner 7th and 8th where the orchestra requires Wagner tubas and those were taken by four of the CSO's regular horn players. So mention of the IPO and “high school orchestra” in the same sentence is beyond silly.

Finally, I wonder if Mr. Sawyier let his eyes lead his ears. Any child can see when a section is not bowing together. (However, not every child--nor every reviewer--understands that parts can be divided--“divisi”--among players in a section such that they may not always have their downbows, etc. aligned.) But even for argument sake, say that there were some times when there were a few players with some disparate bowings in a section. How audible would that be? Are you kidding me? Uniform bowing is a means to try to coordinate attacks and phrasing. (It wasn't always the standard. See the original “Fantasia.”) Is this “visual” really a cause to consider a professional orchestra as reverting to below-high-school status? Rather than an instance of true golden ears, I think this is more a question having the eyes deceive the ears or making the eyes the substitute of the ears.

And then there is that closing joke in Mr. Sawyier's review:

"To end on a lighter note, the orchestra’s program notes reminded readers that “hundreds of people walked out of the first Boston Symphony performance [of Brahms 3] in 1884.” I chuckled. If you’re not being carried, it’s kinda hard to leave a concert by any other means."

Evidently, Mr. Sawyier thought he was putting down some provincials and their mindless notes. However, for that concert, we got our Brahms notes from the Chicago Symphony (as clearly acknowledged in the program book). Is the concept of “walking out” on something not understood in Philadelphia? If some one told Mr. Sawyier that his girlfriend had “walked out” on him, would he say, “of course she did. Did you expect her to swim?”