I had you promised going to check out a session with Benjamin Zander. Me as a non-expert, along with someone who finds classical music downright soporific. To see if Zander works, as he promises to work: "Everyone loves classical music, they just don't know it yet". The man is in the Netherlands and that doesn't happen very often. Not so long ago, the arrival of the 75-year-old chief conductor of the Boston Philharmonic news that newspapers and newsrooms would open with, but times have changed.
Finally. On to Scheveningen. In the new Zuiderstrand Theatre watching a session by a top conductor with an orchestra that is meeting for the first time that evening, and whose musicians have just heard what is in the repertoire that afternoon.
Zander thus. Emerging guru. Last straw for those wanting to resist the healthy popular sentiment That the art we have developed over centuries plots worthless has declared. As a result, orchestras all over the world are in distress, opera houses are on the verge of collapse, and more and more governments think that art that cannot live off tickets has no right to exist.
Such a world. And Zander flawlessly shows why the people of the fine and true arts also have themselves to blame to some extent. My partner bears witness to this. Her parents had raised her with classical music. It had backfired. Jewels by Mozart and Bach had since been inextricably linked to stuffy Sunday afternoons and idle silent listening over a cup of lukewarm coffee. Classical Muzak. And in the Concertgebouw it was no better, she had experienced: among stunted senior citizens, some dozing on the chair they had had in subscription since 57, or dead, it is bad listening to baroque, however well performed.
Although: listening is still possible. True enthusiasts close their eyes at a concert. To check whether the Concertgebouw sounds better than the superaudio set at home. So classical music is boring and only suitable for nerds and rollator mafia. Orchestra musicians sit tight in suits and with stiff faces playing their notes. Splashy. That is.
[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_53f9c011d72b9_selected-products” products=”9000000012326555,9200000009270835″ name="sacd" sub_id="" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_color="FFFFFF" border_color="D2D2D2″ width="250″ cols="1″ show_bol_logo="undefined" show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]How different was that picture on Saturday 23 August in Scheveningen. Zander dressed his orchestra in t-shirts. The unregulated mess of conservatory students and old hands visibly felt more at ease. There was laughter. There was talk. There was virtuoso music-making. Because even without Zander's inspired leadership, the orchestra played a beautiful Beethoven's Coriolanus overture. That Zander managed to conduct it into an unparalleled masterpiece moments later was a revelation to everyone in the room, but especially to all the musicians on stage.
The visible and palpable pleasure of the orchestra members also thrilled the audience. No more of those weird fourth wall between players and spectators, which in the 19e century was invented to separate high art from ordinary audiences. Here, everyone was allowed to participate. Down to the jointly sung final chorus, roared along by the whole hall after 1 rehearsal.
Alle Menschen werden Brüder. The song that the extremists and fundamentalists on the left and right no longer allow us to sing. The evening thus became another wonderfully joyous protest march.
Zander conducts the same orchestra on Monday, August 25. There will be a waiting list.
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