| NY Phil Downsizes
From the New York Times:
New York Philharmonic announces major downsizing measure.
To adjust to current economic realities and adapt modern technology, The NY Phil has announced that beginning with it’s 2010 season, it will replace it’s current 100+ roster of some of the worlds greatest classical musicians with a more sleak, streamlined, and efficient modern 4 piece “Broadway pit” style band. “I’m sad to see them go.” announced current music director Alan Gilbert, “but you know, just like any other organization in the 21st century, we need to keep ourselves up to date and eliminate waste. Many of the musicians are great players and dear friends, but let’s face it, some of them were showing up to rehearsals with instruments that were over 200 years old. What did they think was going to happen?” “We are not being unethical”, says Paul Guenther, Chairman of The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, “All the musicians will be offered a generous severance package, and if they so choose, can be enrolled in a MIDI programming course which we will partially underwrite. Few have responded positively to the idea, but it would certainly be better than making a living giving kids private lessons on the extinct dinosaurs they call their instruments. It’s simply about keeping up with the times. I think most of them will come around eventually.” says Guenther.
The change won’t come easily to the new performers either, who are sailing into practically uncharted waters - “Performing symphonic works with only keyboards, bass, and drums isn’t as easy as it sounds,” says lead programmer Mike McKnight, of Madonna fame, who is set to replace current concertmaster Glenn Dicterow as the new principal instrumentalist. “Programming and editing demands are enormous. I think I spent no less than 60 hours getting Mahler’s sixth symphony just right, and I still have maybe 20+ hours to go designating and proofing the samples!” says McNight. “Still, this is something I’ve always dreamed of doing!” he says, “Now with MOTO, we finally have the technology to do it right!”.
Other orchestras around the country have mixed opinions about the move. Franz Welser-Möst, director of the Cleveland Orchestra, says he would resist such radical change. “The orchestra has a good endowment and a strong union. Doing something like this would be unthinkable, and simply not practical. The orchestra members are respected members of the community. The concertgoing audience would simply not accept it. Still, hiring extras for our large programs is a real expense, and do we really need eight basses? I think a few well trained keyboards could do a lot for our bottom line, musical traditions notwithstanding, and we could still keep up our rep. I definitely plan to bring this up at the next contract negotiations.” – says Möst.
The issue of replacing substitute and extra musicians with synthesizers is further discussed by outgoing Chicago Symphony conductor Bernard Haitink. “We’ve had some disasters really, in the last years. Some of the low woodwinds we hire, I really don’t know what planet they’re on. And that second harp we used for the Holst? She couldn’t play at all, but oh my God was she hot! Anyway,” he says, slightly flushed, “the point is that we could do this without putting anyone’s job at stake, and probably improve the music at the same time! I just hope people are willing to have an open mind.”
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