Word: orchestra
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When I slept through successive visits to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, I never once blamed the music or conductor to be “sordid,” “tedious,” “egotistic,” “uninspired,” or any of the myriad missives that the author uses against the festival. Instead, I admitted that I could not just appreciate the music. Such an admission is beneath the author, who proceeds with his snide remarks: incompetent journalists, “tough locals,” thieving Rastafarians...
...hopping. In a band room, 21 members of the jazz ensemble are rehearsing Soul Bossa Nova with plenty of heart and impressive intonation, in preparation for a concert downtown. In another room, woodblocks, timpani and bells are whipping up a rhythmic frenzy as the 75-member Fritsche Philharmonic Orchestra tackles Elliott Del Borgo's Aboriginal Rituals. In an art room, eighth-graders are shaping clay vessels to be baked in the school kiln. Down the hall, students are dabbing acrylic paints on canvas to create vivid still lifes la Vincent van Gogh. At 10:49, when...
Meanwhile, teens are growing up in a culture that sexualizes children and immerses them in adult images. In 1953 the song that held the top spot on Billboard's chart for 10 weeks was Percy Faith and his Orchestra's Song from Moulin Rouge: "Whenever we kiss/ I worry and wonder/ Your lips may be near/ But where is your heart?" One of this year's top singles, by 50 Cent, is Candy Shop, which sounds innocent enough until you actually listen to it: "I take you to the candy shop/ I'll let you lick the lollipop/ Go 'head...
...statement didn't mention Alsop specifically--it didn't have to--but a scathing letter, obtained by the Washington Post, from one of the orchestra's board members did. "The overriding justification for eliminating Alsop is that 90% of the BSO musicians oppose her appointment," the board member wrote. "They say that she either does not hear problems or--because her technical limitations prevent her from fixing them--that she ignores them." The board became deadlocked, musicians vs. management. "The musicians clearly did not have her as a preference," says Decatur H. Miller, a 35-year veteran...
...symphony orchestra is many things, but a democracy is not one of them. The nonmusician board members stuck to their guns, and Alsop's appointment was officially confirmed. The musicians put out a measured, tactful statement expressing both that they were disappointed and that they were willing to work with Alsop. "It's unfortunate that [the conflict] went public--nobody gained by that," says Jane Marvine, head of the BSO Players Committee and an English-horn player. "But as painful as this was for both her and us, I think we each may bring a little bit more...