All’s fair at Van Cliburn, except for a broadcast blackout
NewsOur peeps at the Van Cliburn competition finals report that the audience received the Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian finalists last night with equal courtesy. The Ukrainian received slightly more applause than the other two, thanks to what is described as a ‘staggering’ account of the third Prokofiev concerto.
More troubling is a last-minute clash with the musicians union, representing the orchestra players. If unresolved by tomorrow, the disputewill block any broadcast of the finals by WRR-FM, the local classical radio station.
The Fort Worth Symphony is not currently on strike. Why do you use this photo?
It does call into question journalistic integrity, no?
When I think of journalistic integrity, I do not think of this website!
Amen.
Dmytro Choni, of Ukraine, is as wonderful a gentleman as he is a musician. I won’t divulge personal details, but I can say that his courage, grace and nobility are beautiful to behold. He became a fellow of the inaugural Gabriela Montero Piano Lab this year, so we have come to know him in as much as that is possible in a few short months. A really top guy – who is always smiling….
As Joan Rivers used to say “can we talk?” To all of you downvoting this post especially, please go to YouTube and see how gracious and endearing he is in the pre-concerto interview and then the commentators reifying it with the impression he’s made on everyone at the competition. “And always quick with a smile!”
Then watch the rapport he has with Alsop & the orchestra during the performance, and THEIR perception of him after its finished. And justly so. He is the only competitor to engage in dialogue with instrumental soloists as if they were actually listening to one another, and it’s clear Alsop thought the same.
Contrast that with the Rach 3 from two nights ago, where you’d conclude they sought blackout, not for monetary reasons, but to hide their ineptitude
What is really the issue is the video stream that Cliburn puts out. Wonder if that’s at risk too? No one listens to the radio…
Well, the musicians want to get paid for electronic reproduction of their performance. Surely this is in their contract, and this even has been broadcast/streamed for years, so how is it suddenly an issue now? But if not resolved, the Van Cliburn finals is an excellent time to exercise a little leverage, just like when an orchestra opens a new hall.
What I have never understood – pro-labor as I may be – is why musicians have any rights to exercise a veto over electronic media. As employees of an organization (the Fort Worth SO), the performance would seem to be the property of the FWSO, not of the individual musicians. Just like a Major League Baseball game is the property of Major League Baseball, not of the players on the team. They get their cut by demanding their share of the massive revenues generated by television.
Because classical music does not have “massive revenues generated by television.”
Start paying musicians as much as MLB players get paid – and I am sure that the former might then consider making concessions on issues related to their media payments.
Could this impact streaming on the Cliburn website, YouTube and other platforms?
The whole event is being videostreamed LIVE on the Cliburn YouTube channel! Over 3,000 people were watching on Wednesday night and I was one of them!
At 27:28 of Choni’s video, he had a notable memory lapse. And the orchestra was slightly out of sync. The conductor wanted it her way or no way.
Staggering 3rd Prokofiev concerto? As Jed Distler has rightfully pointed out, “Where was the supple melodic pointing, the contrasts of mood, the pockets of lyricism, the rhythmic élan, the smooth handling of the third movement’s tricky tempo changes, and the airborne phrasing? Not here, that’s for sure.”
Choni was clearly struggling to sync with the orchestra.
The crowd applauded him louder than the Russian and the Belarusian because they’re trying to make a political statement.
Impossible to play Prokofiev 3 accompanied by this orchestral soup. If US orchestras play like this, it’s no wonder they collapse. They are bereft of energy, pluck, zeal, even desire to play, it seems. Who would want to pay to hear them? I blame the union culture protecting them against any need to maintain a high standard of playing. It is shocking how poor they are in these concerti. This is Prokofiev 3! They are half dead! And the self-anointed critique of all things piano, Jed Distler (have you heard HIS attempts to play the instrument for which he professes expertise??) keeps bigging them up. He has “professional headphones”, he tells us in Gramophone. It is absurd that a critic fails to note that the soloist’s job is made impossible with this kind of pallid accompaniment. But then again, he has never played a piano concerto, so why would he know what it takes to play one?
Speaking from a completely apolitical viewpoint and without reference to critics, I’d say that Dmytro Choni has greater style, imagination and musical intelligence than any of the other finalists. As for memory lapses, they happen to the best of them when refusing to play safe, and the real test is how to deal with it in a live performance. Even in such a moment, Dmytro’s playing sounded more musical than most of what I’ve heard so far in the finals — if anything with added flair and excitement for the finish. The audience lapped it up, giving him an exultant ovation.
Our ears don’t lie. Whatever the outcome, he’s clearly the hot new thing of the Cliburn and already the talk of the town.
We’ll have to take your word for it, Annette. Distler has since deleted that entry and only that entry, #13, from his Gramophone blog. Hmmmm….
It wasn’t only the crowd, Annette. Was the orchestra also trying to make a political statement? Because the tapping of bows etc they gave Choni after the performance is unlike any I’ve seen them bestow any other performer. If I’m missing someone who received anything similar, please point us to it
We watched the audience, the orchestra and the conductor exploded after Yunchan’s Rach 3. It was the biggest ovation of the entire competition!
Even the commentator Buddy said Yunchan was miraculous and is in a different league.
Choni is excellent. But Yunchan is a once in a generation wonder!
From what I hear at my conservatory, the 18 yo Yunchan Lim is the new sensation.
Choni is indeed excellent, but not extraordinary.
Yunchan Lim just played one of the most spectacular Rach 3 I’ve ever heard.
I can’t imagine how anyone else in the competition can touch this.
@FtWorthSymphony SHAME ON YOUR PLAYERS for threatening blackout tomorrow. All these young contestants have lauded the universal goodwill experienced at the #cliburn and you older, working musicians seek to ruin it for a little bit of money?
Ironic since Khrushchev told Van’s jury to give him the win if HE was the best while this will read as you conveniently making a stink AFTER the last American has played to increase his chances.
(As for Choni, it was staggering memory slip of not. In fact, it was even more so after the incident.)
There is a national union agreement about recorded media wages, it’s not negotiated by the local representing the players. The Cliburn knew those rates, and backed out of doing radio broadcasts when the union wouldn’t lower the rates for them. The musicians didn’t have anything to do with this, it’s a Cliburn vs AFM issue. No one threatened anything.