Mark Likes Music

Detroit Symphony players rejected management's final offers over the weekend , but because of labor regulations requiring the filing of paperwork, can't strike until September 24. But it looks like they will. The musicians are arguing that the dramatic pay cuts--over 20% in base pay--will render the orchestra second class. "That top sliver of talent, the ones who can truly thrill the audience, will not come here," says cellist Haden McKay. It's a pretty crazy pay cut, and I wouldn't want to take it, but the argument that great musicians won't come doesn't really hold water. There's more than a "sliver" of great musicians out there right now. The problem for musicians is there a glut--too much supply, and not enough demand.

The Detroit Symphony musicians' contract is up on Sunday. Mark Stryker lays out both sides' positions, and the broader implications of a strike, on the Free Press website.

Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun found a fun piece of musical memorabilia while he was cleaning out his closet recently:   a replica of a late 19th-century (I say probably more like early 20th-century) card game  designed to get to know famous composers and their most popular works. Clearly, as these cards show, tastes have changed over time. There's no Brahms card, but Anton Rubinstein is represented. Haydn is there, but his card doesn't list any of his symphonies as exemplary pieces. Check out the post , and follow Tim's blog. He was tenacious in following the Cleveland's Rosenberg trial, offering his own commentary. But there's other stuff too.

Doug Adams won't be taking anyone out to fancy dinners to ask for $1 million anymore . The  Dallas Symphony Orchestra CEO quit yesterday . He cited personal reasons --he can't sell his house in Denver--but didn't seem to interested in sharing with Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News. Asked about how the board reacted, Adams responded, "I don't want to talk about it." His resignation comes on the heels of a D Magazine profile on Adams and the problems he's facing raising money in a competitive philanthropic Dallas market. Maybe he just got tired of the rat race down there.

We all went to the Metropolitan Museum on Friday to see the Picasso exhibit. Here's a video: The kids got a little punchy by the time we hit Matisse.

Contract talks have been going slowly between the Detroit Symphony and its musicians (or the union). And it looks as if the latter isn't seeing things speeding up any time soon: they announced that they're presenting two of their own concerts in September.  They've set up their own website to make their case ( dsomusicians.com ), which I found out on Twitter (@dsomusicians). In tough times, musicians have a skill for coming up with creative solutions to keep their art alive. Why, once a contract is signed, don't they demonstrate that same energy and creativity? Why aren't orchestras--which are, at base, the musicians--harnessing all that creative power--to organize, program, present, and communicate--when times are good to build their audience and make themselves relevant?

Naxos will start distributing Warner Classics CDs here in the US , starting September 1. There is no digital component to this deal, and it looks as if Warner's plan is to offload this expensive, shrinking revenue stream to the independent company so that it can focus on other things. As John Kelleher, head of Warner Classics and Jazz puts it: "(this deal) enables Warner Classics to re-focus our efforts on growing our digital business in the region, as well as bolstering our A&R activities." To anyone paying close attention, this isn't a surprise. In a conversation with Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun , Naxos founder Klaus Heymann let it slip that this deal was done. Naxos has been growing stronger as a distributor over the last five years or so, particularly here in the US. And classical divisions have been the ugly stepsisters in major label families for a couple of decades. Major labels have always looked down on the upstart Naxos, and it's hard to say w...

When I ask around, looking to bum $1 million, I get a very different response than Dallas Symphony CEO Douglas Adams gets . In fact, I don't think I've ever asked anyone for $1 million. In this D Magazine article, you'll get a discussion of giving fatigue in a city where business leaders feel they need to maintain (or develop) Dallas as a world-class city with arts institutions; and an interesting quotation from music director Jaap van Zweden on his role as a fundraiser.

In his article on the Philadelphia Orchestra's plans to re-invent itself in the face of a "structural deficit," Peter Dobrin quotes Executive Director Allison Vulgamore: "We're going to have to earn more money, going to need to attract donors back ... who have been waiting and wondering, and, frankly, we're going to have to measure the cost structure a little bit." So, I'm not quite sure what a "cost structure" is, but I do know that if the Philadelphia Orchestra is going to want people to give money, they'll need to be honest about not just how much they're spending, but what they're spending it on. That's what's so galling--and counterproductive--about the orchestra's unwillingness to discuss the value of Yannick Nezet-Seguin's contract . It could have been a great opportunity to educate the public on the value of a music directors to the overall quality of the institution that donors are giving money to. ...

To further celebrate his birthday, here's William Schuman appearing on What's My Line in 1962, only a few months after taking on the job as president of Lincoln Center, and just before the premiere of his Symphony No. 8 in Philharmonic (now Avery Fisher) Hall.

Last year, I marked William Schuman's birthday  on this blog , and today I'm doing it again (because birthdays come once a year). It's Schuman's 100th, and Bill McLaughlin is paying tribute all week on his radio show Exploring Music (which you can hear on WQXR here in New York City). On the Exploring Music blog, you can hear McLaughlin talk about Schuman's Symphony No. 3 . It's a great piece, but  Circus Overture brings back fond memories. Back when my son was two years old, I used to bounce him around on our bed while listening to this piece. Can't do that now.  

As Marcia Adair points out in her   Los Angeles Times  article toda y, the appointment of Yannick Nezet-Seguin as the next Philadelphia Orchestra music director may have been a bit of a surprise to some, not necessarily because of his youth--a lot of American orchestras are choosing young leaders--but more because he's only appeared a couple of times with the group. Adair looks back on Nezet-Seguin's career to point out that he has never been one to move gradually in his career, and the orchestra clearly sees his lack of experience with them as no kind of roadblock to success. Both sides are gushing over each other. Peter Dobrin of the Philadelphia Inquirer , quoted in the article, sees Nezet-Seguin's hiring, and the hiring of young conductors in general, as the result of a dearth of experienced, world-class, 50-somethings on the podium. Young conductors are no doubt cheaper, and the Philadelphia Orchestra can't afford to throw a lot of money around right now. We ...