More up beats from Cleveland as players agree 3-year deal
mainBase pay stays around $120,000 but the mood music is very positive. Details here.
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So this is “positive” and “upbeat”, whereas your recent coverage of the Philadelphia Orchestra, whose base salary is HIGHER than this, has been such as to suggest that Philadelphia is doomed. Reminds me of the notorious Gramophone “best” rankings where Philadelphia was described as a “past glory” on par with the NBC Symphony and Ansermet’s Suisse Romande.
Philly has a slightly higher cost of living (as one metric, U.S. government locality pay is about 21.8% vs. 18.7% in Cleveland), so that could be one explanation for a higher base salary. Also, the Cleveland Orchestra, perhaps because of its Vienna and Florida residencies, is simply in better financial shape. I think we can all agree both orchestras are playing great.
Anyone hearing Philly recently can hardly call it doomed despite its lack of full Ormandy-sized string section brought on by the ’11 bankruptcy contract. Gramophone’s ratings – driven by European critics – came out when fiscal constraints caused Philly to cancel a grand European tour.
BTW, the Orchestra’s 2015 European tour drew raves from some of these same critics.
Heard the Paris concert in the last tour. Splendid orchestra. The conductor was not as good as the band. But it happens everywhere nowadays – Boston, NY, Cleveland, Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, Leipzig, etc.
I recently heard the Cleveland Orchestra perform at Severance Hall. The first-stand violists, Robert Vernon and Lynne Ramsey, gave a wonderful performance of a new double viola concerto by Richard Sortomme. Former music director Christoph von Dohnányi began the concert with the Overture to the Bartered Bride and concluded with Schubert’s 9th Symphony. Both works were immaculately paced and executed. The precision and unanimity of ensemble of the Cleveland Orchestra is usually reserved for recordings afforded multiple takes and edits. Each string section played as one, and the winds and brass were impeccably balanced, with several outstanding solos. The capacity Cleveland audience gave warm applause and standing ovations for the performances. They were in the presence of greatness and knew it.
I always find these personal testimonials entertaining, “it was better than Cats”… De gustibus non est disputandum