Sale season (part II)

The Znojmo Music Festival (see previous article) will have a small encore: Haydn's La terra della luna" will be performed once again in Prague coming October. In fact, just after the closing concert, musicians were pushed a contract for this event in their hands to sign. Fortunately, due to the after concert rush, o few open issues had to be addressed, so further communication followed.

The point for instance was, that a majority of musicians comes from abroad: the contract stipulated only to play a rehearsal and a concert, for a price of 100 Euros. In case you would live around the corner, travelling 30 minutes by subway or tram, it might be acceptable for a fanatic music lover. But in reality, we deal with a following situation: You have to travel from Bratislava to Prague, which is a long trip and you should take the train if you want to avoid the frequent collision related traffic jams. There is indeed a good intercity train connection, which goes only a few times a day. I order to make it to the rehearsal on time, yoru train will leave at 5:35am from the main station. Your day will thus start at around 4:00am!

So the early riser will arrive at the rehearsal and physically play the whole lot including needing the concentration. After the session, there are empty hours before the actual performance. What can you do? Shopping? You have no facility provided to take a siesta, to rest, to practice, ... you are in fact kicked into the streets. After the performance (again full commitment, physical effort and concentration, you can head home, which means you arrive - if you are lucky - at around 3am.

For almost a 24-hours shift, plus artistic output you will get 100 Euros. In case you would take a hotel on your own (which would be ideal, so you will be well rested), out of these 100 Euro's you will left perhaps 20 Euros. When addressing this issue, the organisation simply replies with the statement that there's so more money. Basta.

The fact, that you have a limited budget is quite possible, but then: where do you have the impertincence, to insist professional musicians to work under such conditions?! I would like to ask the organiser Mr Roman Válek one question: Have you ever tried to go to a supermarket, take a product to the counter and tell the cashier lady that you can only pay 10% of the price? Can you imagine what would happen? You will be kicked out. Musicians have also their value.

MS

Wrong expectations...

Slovakia's music scene is relatively small. It's in fact just a small village. Only the lack of a good high-way system makes the country seem vast, where you travel almost a whole day to reach the other end (instead of just a couple of hours). One of the reasons, where one's focus on music is therefore determined to be confined to the capital itself - and thus even a smaller village.

Referring to my earlier articles, where I have encountered a detached type of provincialism in cultural life, something came along my path recently. Although I have marginally noticed this ensemble during one of my surf-sessions, it was only now, where I came across the "Baroque Quartett" from Žilina. My relatively intensive dealing with early music in Slovakia, caused my heart to skip a beat, as I realised why how come I haven't hear anything about this ensemble before. A recent concert in Trenčín would be able to give clarification.

Right at the onset, a serious concert-goer would maybe hear alarm horns sound: what in fact would a "baroque quartett" mean? Calling a group a quartett, would mostly imply perhaps a string quartett, yet the string quartetts became fashionable since the classical period... any other four-some group one would refer to as ensemble so-and-so. Nevertheless, this group is fixed and indeed officially called "Baroque Quartett Žilina". Well, baroque music can indeed be played in an almost unlimited variety of constellations, so let's see. First of all, it appears none of the instruments are period instruments - all modern. OK, I know of instances, where Jan Willem de Vriend also manages to create a fairly convincing baroque sound out of modern instruments. But this was a bit different: when seeing the programme, after Händel (pretty baroquish of course) there were works by Mozart (a bit classicism according to my books, but still ...) then 2 contemporaries and César Franck......... To be honest, a bit strange.

I shall not delve on the technical imperfections, the poor technique and not being able to understand any of the phrasing by the musicians (all professionals as I must believe). The only thing to say this big disappointing concert is this: If a professional musician, is not capable to do his job right - don't be a professional musician. Never mind that one doesn't want to agree with a bit more informed performance of pre-classical music. In that event, don't call your band a baroque quartett. It creates certain expectations. That's pretension to the fullest, and you make your audience look like a bunch of ignorant crowd. This is a 1970s Mantovani style kitsch. This was a level, one would not even send one's kids to as an educational concert. It is appalling and embarrassing. No wonder I never really encountered much of this ensemble, and perhaps better I never will.

MS

Sale season / All reduced prices....

Attended a festival. A baroque music festival. We have a dozens of them around the world. Let's be specific; I attended one in the Czech Republic. In Znojmo to be exact, a beautiful medieval town in Southern Moravia. Nice to be back in my native country. The programme booklets, which were royally distributed around in most restaurants and cafés were impressive. A long list of sponsors (prominent ones included!) and a top star virtuoso violinist was the focus of the whole happening. Nothing wrong here one would say. I was truly looking forward.

Like all major events, there's much to be organised and behind-the-scenes-stress is a daily occurrence. The preparations, contracts with the players, securing venues, and all the thousand other details... you name it. In the past, I was frequently involved in such and it's indeed tough. Glad I am out of there. Yet there is one big tendency, which was almost like a slap in the face, when I found out some of the practices of present day's festivals.

We are all aware, that culture is at the receiving end, and that the receivables are not always very generous. Organisers are faced with such a problem, when putting together their budgets, resulting in inevitable choices; where to apply cutting. Festivals are - or at least should be - prestigious events, adding up to cultural life of a certain town, reviving music practices, attracting extra tourist - which to a certain extent also increase overall revenues for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs (as well as the tax office).

What I witnessed, was on the outside a try-hard glamour; while at the inside, musicians not only enduring some unusual long rehearsal hours (sometimes under almost unacceptable climatic conditions) - but rehearsing is part of their job one would say - it is mostly the accommodations around it, which were shocking. Next to the just mentioned bad conditions (too hot, too humid, poorly ventilated rehearsal places) the housing accommodation was - to use an understatement - appalling.

Taking into mind, that this is not a high-school summer camp, where teenagers may feel OK with improvised or crammed housing conditions; these are professional players, specialists in early music, who are stashed away into a dormitory (where time since socialism seemed to have stood still), three floors, with only one toilet and shower facility for all - somehow the keys are lost, so even a basic given of your privacy to lock yourself while using the toilet is nowhere to be found. One communal kitchen, with a tiny fridge, barely enough for all attendants to put in their basic food supplies. Not that this is a weekend-off event; it lasts for three weeks. The chaotic (and nerve-breaking) organisational chaos in-between the rehearsals, I will not even touch.

When complaining, little is done - or can be done, as resources are limited of course. Yet the star of the event, the Czech violinist-star Pavel Šporcl proudly shines in the lime-lights, maestro Roman Válek (who de facto organises this festival) is complacently strutting around. Sure, Šporcl is an audience attraction - but in all decency; is this the way to pave your path of glory on the backs of exploited colleagues, who work under those appalling conditions for a fee, that is too ridiculous to mention? Since no Czech orchestra was willing to play for you any longer, you called on to Slovakia's musicians (with individual exceptions here and there), and it doesn't take much to figure out that there is much inequality how much people were paid. One should be rather ashamed.

And true, musicians for whatever reason have accepted this gig - they should stand more firm and demand at least unilaterally at least a minimum fee. Yet, only a minority knows how to be more business minded. And this is exploited.

Besides, an interesting observation might be, that the festival is under "ensemblebaroque.cz" - yet, Pavel Šporcl doesn't perform in the HIP style at all, and the attempts of violoncellist Jiří Barta to play authentic is overrated - to say the least. The text of their website would suggest differently.

Znojmo is a picturesque town, but the fact how this festival is run, spoiled my enthusiasm. Perhaps it is because it is the sale season; get the last pieces for a reduced price! That's how music is treated. Just imagine, you study many years on your instrument, researching on specialisations of early music, and this is where one ends up. Among music colleagues, one would expect more collegiality and a sense for respect and human decency. Instead: cheap labour. Cheap business. ... Sad!

MS

Accepting authentic music

Since the emergence of historically informed music practises, in the early 1950s, the camps between the traditionalist and the new ‘rebelious’ or ‘alternative’ performers were somewhat polarised. For some odd reasons, a large group did not want to give in, and the other few would sometimes have the feeling they were the lonely voice calling in the desert. It was as if neither were to meet.

Throughout the years, many new ensembles sprung up all over the world, following the example of Concentus Musicus Wien, the English Consort, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the like, with astonishing results. A whole range of genres were lifted out from the neo-romantic gravy and newly re-performed, with a fresh new sound, giving credit to the authentic vocabulary of the composers. Followed after the early baroque, even renaissance, then classicism, came even up to the romantic period, to be musically scrutinised and reatailored to the ears of the modern audiences, as if you restore an old forgotten painting.

And although, as said, the realm of ‘authentic performers’ seemed a long time to be exclusively for a fanatical few, there is a slow trend, that even the grand masters of the mainstream, are beginning to accept the fact, that perhaps these authentic performances do have justification. Recently, the famous conductor Kent Nagano has begun performing with the Canadian ensemble Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. And another highlight; the grand Maestro Bernhard Haitink, year-long chief director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, known for his Mahler performances.

As he has celebrated his 80th birthday a few days ago, he belongs to the era of the great Maestros of the romantic repertoir. Yet, the perfomance of the Mozart’s Haffner Symphony in Amsterdam was without any neo-romantic elements, as even the (smaller) timpany were from the classical period. A wonderful experience as it is a proof, that autheticity has slowly found its way to the regular concert stream performers and audience. Well, why not? If you want to see the Mona Lisa, you also do not expect a Picasso. Both are equally valuable, yet diverse. And both should be appreciated in their respective “Zeitgeist”. The same with music; the molestation of early music composers’ works with unrealistic style-elements should be banned finally. Professional musicians are grown up people to be able to accept these facts and audiences should demand this quality. Anyway, they pay for their tickets.

MS

Long live the internet... or...

A few days ago, I came across an article in one of the newspapers, which aired a critical outlook on Wikipedia. In short it was criticising the fact, that - although the basic idea is excellent - because of unlimited access to data (and therefore being fully editable by anyone who wishes to do so), the quality of information is at risk. True. While an incomplete article can be completed by someone, who happens to know additional details, the danger is there that an ignorant person could equally alter the contents in such a way, that the article will be incorrect, to say the least, or even manipulate facts on purpose (for whatever purpose, willingly or unwillingly). I must add, that this was referring to a certain language-branch of the Wikipedia, where such abuse was spotted.

The quality check, is therefore up to the reader in general, to cross check (never a bad thing anyway), but in the event you have not a specific know-how of the subject, you might take it too easily for the truth and simply assume you are well-informed.

This morning, I gooogled a bit and stumbled upon a clip, which was published by a recording company on YouTube. It was promoting a young soloist playing some Vivaldi's concerto's (I shall not reveal the name of the soloist, for it is not relevant). The presentation is juicy and illustrates the recording, an interview with the instrumentalist, and of course the usual excerpts of the said recording.

Needless to say: Vivaldi belongs to a certain period, and for about 40 years we already know how badly we have performed these compositions and we are attempting to put them back into their (more realistic) sound context, by means of research and new practices. What shocks me here, is that despite an arch-lute and a cembalo, nobody in the orchestra plays a period instrument, and neither does the soloist, and - of course - the full vibrato romantic sound....

If it was just like that, I wouldn't have bothered perhaps, only then during the interview, the soloist is making such statements as if this recording is finally the summit of totally understanding Vivaldi's music and his time. This is pure pretension and disinformation: none of it what and how it is played has anything to do with Vivaldi, and the soloist looks like almost like a silly text-reader, revealing little knowledge of her profession. When browsing through the comments, it is saddening to see shouts like "music as it should be" (really???), "better than any other recordings" (that's maybe subjective, but definitively not historically correct, and thus questionable).

Such promotional materials are maldeforming the image of music to the audience. And here is the risk again; the information, simply because someone bothered to put it online, is taken for valid, without being questioned. Our sense of being critical to information provided has shallowed over time. I admit, that the internet is a great tool for finding data, and perhaps I couldn't live without it anylonger. But such trends make me extremely wary. When reading, I sometimes cannot help but concluding that we have become very superficial and lazy. If we want to be entertained by Greek-mythology characters on TV in a Sci-Fi kind of setting and listening to a pseudo-Vivaldi like this.... it is too sad for words. It is presumably the Age of Information, but we have become almost void of knowledge. And yes, there are also very high quality performances, but take the effort to look for them.

MS

Good governance (II) - Ministry of Cultural Destruction

After a short introduction on good governance, I would like to make an appeal to the Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic:

You hold office because of a political consequence, where the public have elected you (albeit your party) into a position to form a coalition-government, which in numbers has a majority in Parliament, BUT it still implies there is political responsibility for the whole society.

You hold office at a Department, which is supervising among others a varied and interesting area in your nation's life: Culture, as we could all agree, is a substantial, unique and inseparable part of people's lifes. Although it happens today and now, some of the cultural strings go far back into history. Next to a specific national character it has also international connections, as culture has always gone over national borders, forming a symbiosis of colourful flavours to re-emerge as a innovated artistic expression elsewhere.

Our societies have changed over the years; while in the old days, governing was a purely "imperious" matter, our internet age has brought information closer to the public. Government decisions are hardly kept locked behind dusty cabinet-walls, but are sooner published and known to people than in the past. Not just because of unwanted information leaks, also because the governments' press departments publish decisions, which were officially not even made yet.

Concurrently, for the past few years we see an alarming mismanagement in public organisations like the National Opera, Radio Symphony Orchestra, even the Slovak Philharmonic. Nevertheless, non of the involved competent parties (as would be your Ministry for instance, as the highest organ) ever visibly implemented a change in order to come to a solution. Still the responsible people are held accountable. Rumours are spreading, discussions occur on different web-forums, and none of them are being seriously addressed (at least to clarify and take away the unrest).

You hold office, because you are entrusted with good governance. Indeed, it could be argued that governments should not interfere in cultural matters. This is true, up to the point, when cultural institutions are undergoing severe abuse from its managers. It is your responsibility to interfere in such a situation. Although Slovakia is a member of the EU, even within the Schengen-Area, yet one gets almost the feeling of living in an African country, where politicians do as they please. This is not the mandate of your society and it is not a behaviour which fits in the EU-setting.

As I set forth in my previous article, good governance needs a set of minimal requirements. Only then, the credibility of management and leadership can be restored. The media and verified sources unfortunately tell another reality. Good leadership requires adequate decisions. Or else, your Department might start considering a new name; Ministry of Cultural Destruction. I think, none of us would appreciate that.

MS

Good governance (I) - Introduction

Go-ver-nance: decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists either of a separate process or of a specific part of management or leadership processes.

In societies, and foremost in developed ones, a public post holds the responsibility for the area for which it is appointed to. A responsibility implies that such a governing body and its decision-makers are accountable for all the decisions and that those decisions should be for the benefit of general interest. Never to the interest of a few individual key-role players. In the "developed countries", where there is a long tradition of democratic political mechanisms, the term "good governance" is further defines the required (and acceptable!) aspects of the roles and responsibilities of such a public decision making organ.

Good governance, next to its implied management and leadership roles, adds a few specifics. In short one could put forward that the basis of good governance consists of participation, regulation, transparency, responsiveness, consensus, inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency. One could justly argue, that "leadership" itself implies these qualities, yet applying certain tools and therefore executing (even bad) leading functions at the exploit of others could also be regarded as leadership. This aside, however.

As we face a financial crisis (at least, at the time when I am typing this article), many public decisions are requiring some change and many organisations and governments are - sometimes somewhat startled and panic-struck - have halted some decision-making activities altogether. From a human point of view, understandably, up to a certain extent.

Yet, for the past few years, I have unfortunately observed a few trends (so even way before the crisis started) which cast deep doubts, whether the involved parties would have faintest notion of what good governance indeed is. Instead, there is visibly a high occurrence in indifference, favouritism, bureaucratic incompetence, even corruption. Whereas the public office is expected to act in the general interest, party politics and personal ties supercede any logical, visionary or strategic conduct. This is therefore completely detached from any crisis, global or regional. In the end, all benevolence of the public and credibility of yourself turns into a sour atmosphere of suspicion. In case of true interest to (in case the suspicion is not founded) reveal openess to assure the public of the right objectives. Yet, none of this happens, and the suspicion therefore is ... indeed: affirmed - at least to the appearance.

Such a state, is harming all involved, especially those whom the public organ is to serve.

MS