Everybody is looking for the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and its leading dynamo Dudamel (right), so following the sensation of all sensations at the Proms the other night, here is a collection of the write-ups from the national press:
The Independent
The Guardian
The Telegraph
The Evening Standard
You can hear the concert (Prom 48) on the Listen Again website for the rest of this week.
12 comments:
Wow!
All in all, these are rather cringe-inducing if not positively frightening reviews, which seem to borrow from back issues of the IWW daily (from the 1930's, to be precise).
The final paragraph of The Guardian article, especially, has me shaking my head in disbelief. I would think that paragraph to be satire if I did not know better.
I must assume that editors at British newspapers must all be on late-August holidays for this kind of unsettling nonsense to appear. Not even The New York Times, in its current greatly-reduced state, would allow this sort of unvarnished jingoism to appear in concert reviews.
I wonder if a youth orchestra from Italy--to choose an entirely non-threatening example--would have received the same reception had its members changed into jackets featuring the colors of Italy's flag.
I very much doubt it.
Methinks the previous commentator does not understand the link between the Proms and jingoism. It's strong!
Thanks for the links to all those reviews and the opportunity to listen to it (missed the first half on Sunday).
Half a mo...These critics are praising a bunch of talented youngsters from a country halfway round the world who have achieved something utterly admirable and given all their listeners a great musical experience too. What's 'jingoistic' about that? I'm mystified. If the orchestra in question were British, you could perhaps say this was jingoism, but they're not. In case our friends over the Pond aren't certain of the relative geography of London and Caracas, may I refer them to the useful Maps section of Google?
Other readers may rest assured that the only 'jingoistic' event at the Proms remains the singing of Land of Hope and Glory on the last night.
I am, of course, aware of the relative geography of London and Caracas.
No jingoism? The reviews were nothing BUT jingoism. Read them again. They belonged in the Sunday magazine supplement, not on the arts pages.
I think it a fair guess that Drew80 was not at the concert and otherwise knows little about Venezuela's music system. But I am expatriate in Canada, much exposed to US television and politics, so I have good reason to suppose Drew80, all family and church according to his profile, is part of the American right-wing, and much upset with Venezuelan President Chazez. I am not entirely happy with Chavez myself, though not nearly as unhappy as I am with President Bush, the most disastrous elected head of state since Hitler. Drew80's comments on the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra I am quite sure are purely political, right-wing piffle. Philip
Drew80, I don't think jingoism means what you think it does. From an online dictionary:
Jingoism is chauvinistic patriotism, usually associated with a War Hawk political stance. In practice, it refers to sections of the general public who advocate the use of threats or of actual force against other countries in order to safeguard a country's national interests
So what are the threats the SBYO are making? "We will crush you decadent Imperialist Europeans by playing Mahler better than you?" And how is mentioning --IN PASSING-- what actually took place at the concert by *British critics* amount to jingoism?
I wonder if a youth orchestra from Italy--to choose an entirely non-threatening example--would have received the same reception had its members changed into jackets featuring the colors of Italy's flag.
I very much doubt it
What the heck does all that mean? Seriously, what "threat" does the SBYO present? Unless you have some beef with Chavez' government, which would make a leap of "SBYO receives government funding = they're useful idiots for a bad regime" at least sensible, that makes no sense at all.
So what if they donned the colors of Venezuela and waved some stuff around? It's a great story, what Dudamel and the SBYO have pulled off and I'll gladly spend hours in line on Sunday to get tickets to their Disney Hall appearance in November.
How many blogs are you going to cut and paste your complaint on, by the way?
Mr. Holland, I said nothing about a threat, and I have cut and pasted nothing. I addressed this same matter on The Overgrown Path in response to Pliable's posting, but I did not repeat my language or statements from this blog.
Pamos1949, thank you for your sophisticated political views.
Thank you for the compliment, Drew80. I could expand upon the views already expressed, but this is not the place to do so.
Mr. Dudamel is for me overrated. I find his interpretations bombastic, superficial and brusque. He has talents, but a good conductor takes decades to develop. Bernstein, Karajan, Solti and Szell took decades to be world conductors. Solti himself once said that a conductor must start from the bottom, usually as opera assistant, to be good in his art. Dudamel is no exception. He is only a publicity scheme to sell. In a few years he'll be forgotten. I remember the "brouhaha" people had with Nigel Kennedy, the immature violinist. And where is he now?
I hate to disillusion you, Mr Bassoon, but Nigel Kennedy has recently been performing the Elgar Violin Concerto to great acclaim! The consensus seems to be that he has grown into an artist of real stature. He'll be playing at the Proms this year, so catch a broadcast and make up your own mind.
I will not discuss on Mr. Nigel Kennedy [and I bet he would dislike the title "mister"]. Anyway I am not much fond of Elgar's Violin Concerto. But I love his "Enigma Variation". Thanks.
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