From Angry Symphony Guy (aka Classical Beaver, Brian Horay, Huffington Post guest blogger) posting at the Portland Mercury arts listing pages:
STEPHEN HOUGH, OREGON SYMPHONY
(Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway) Chief cultural blogger for the Telegraph of London. Prodigious recorder of more than 50 albums. MacArthur genius. Theologian. Poet. Queer activist. Composer. The guy wears a lot of (size 60) hats, but first and foremost: Stephen Hough plays piano and will forever and ever reign at the high altar of my personal pianoforte pantheon. Our very own Oregon Symphony is thankfully hosting Mr. Hough on his latest visit to Portland—this time ’round for a pair of concerts featuring the sometimes romantic, sometimes explosive, always kick-ass Piano Concerto No. 2 composed by Franz Liszt. If Hough’s last appearance with the symphony was any indication, the pride of the Wirral Peninsula will be fueled by dark chocolate and British puddings, with his virtuosic wonders on full display as he gives all 88 keys the proverbial what-for. Look, I realize the social calendar of most Mercury readers has been full for weeks now, but c’mon… Fuck the cat show. Fuck the unicycle convention. Fuck the locally sourced paleo potluck. Globally adored virtuosos like Stephen Hough don’t come to town every week, you know. Did I mention a Beethoven symphony is also on the program? Bring a change of shorts (you’ll need ’em) and I’ll see you at the Schnitz, goddammit. ANGRY SYMPHONY GUY
I think that after reading this, you really want to buy tickets to this concert, so here’s a helpful link with which to do so.
18 replies on “angry symphony guy strikes again!”
I will be attending the concert but not as a result of angry symphony guy’s profanity sprinkled urgings. I realize that protesting the use of the “f” word in public discourse is about as likely to be effective as efforts to stop littering along our highways, but forgive me for hoping that the arts world could provide a bastion against the inexorable coarsening of society. In my humble opinion, the use of the “f “word is nothing more than a sign of intellectual sloth and should not be countenanced here or anywhere else.
Curtis, it is appropriate to the setting in which it was originally printed. My apologies if it offended you by it’s appearance here, but not for its content, which I whole-heartedly endorse.
Thanks for your response, Charles. I am all for encouraging attendance of symphony concerts. I guess I would say I was not so much offended but rather saddened by the language. .
I can understand where you are coming from, but Brian represents the passionate support of a different generation with their standards of language. I’d hate to pooh pooh that advocacy when we desperately need as many supporters as we can muster.
Absolutely agree that profanity is unnecessary in emphasising anything. As to its use somehow encouraging support for the Orchestra, spurious!
unfortunately, to get noticed by the “hipper than thou” pukes @ the merc, one must speak in a language they can easily understand. for example, they have no idea what spurious means.
actually, i’m not sure punchin’ up duh purple lingo is ultimately all that much different than tarting-up OSO populist programing by bringin’ storm & pink repeatedly aboard to pimp the tills.
but, hey, we all have different thresholds of marketing pain, pravda?
The assumption that young people can only relate to expletives is incredible! Are they replacing corporate sponsors, endowments, advertisers. The orch needs to look at outreach programmes, partnerships, repertoire, conductors with youth contacts etc and for fuck sake, keep it clean!
OSO and virtually every other art/culture non-profit has for decades been trying all those options and more – is that what saved PAM (Portland Art Museum) don’t think so – it was big buck$ from deep pocket$ – ticket sales to virtually all arts events cover a miniscule fraction of the production tab – but the topic here is use of colorful (offensive to some) verbiage to sell the arts – BP’s comment about trending toward pop offerings is pertinent – which is more offensive, down-marketing one of the world’s greatest virtuosi or up-marketing a bar-room torch singer?
The first recorded use of the “f-word” was in 1663 (according to the Oxford English Dictionary, online edition). Can we just get past it. Coarse language is neither going to save nor doom the symphony orchestra. Neither is programming all new music, all ‘old’ music (which was, once upon a time, ‘new’), or getting mystery ‘rich as f**k’ hitherto unknown donor to save our bacon.
What will ‘save’ us – if we in fact need ‘saving’ – is asserting a relevance that is no longer taken for granted by being, in fact, relevant. Visual art is an actual physical presence that music is not (outside of the concert hall). Music is ephemeral, and once produced, resides only in the memories of the listeners and performers.
Sure, we can have one hour concerts, serve snacks, and hell, let’s not even bother to sell the Ayn Randsian tickets that pull money out of the destitute pockets of the proletariat and put it into the hands of the bourgeois musicians. I challenge anyone – ANYONE – to come up with a sustainable model for a professional symphony orchestra that does not involve compromises, both artistic and financial.
Sure, we have Pink Martini and Storm Large appear with us. And WHY NOT?? Storm is actually a very sophisticated musician – if you bothered to attend one of her shows, you might know that. Pink Martini is full of great musicians. I’m sorry that they are palatable to the mass market, but hey, sometimes things that are popular are popular BECAUSE THEY DESERVE TO BE. Yes, I’m yelling, and that’s because I’m sick of being in the middle of the twaddle perpetrated by both the extreme right and left of the musical continuum. You’re both wrong. Get with it.
well, droogies, what we have here are very different OPINIONS on a few rather volatile topics. as far as anyone being WRONG here goes, proclaiming it thus doesn’t necessarily mean that it IS thus.
while i have no doubt that storm ‘n’ pink appreciate your strident advocacy here, charles, whether or not you’d be quite this ruffled were you not a card carrying, inner-circle member of THE TRIBE is ultimately something only you can answer.
in any event, it’s actually quite appropriate that blood pressure has risen a tad in a thread initiated by ANGRY SYMPHONY GUY. :)))
and, returning to purple prose for a minuet, NOBODY will argue the FACT that storm can easily outgun any of us pip-squeaks when it comes to high volume, foul-mouthed blather.
I would assume that one musicianship rather than ones employer, at least for one with scruples, might count for more. I stand by what I said. If you’re hung up on Storm’s name, boobs, and language, it’s your loss. I speak from the standpoint of having played with her mostly outside of ‘the tribe’, and hearing someone who knows how to turn a musical phrase, sing with impeccable intonation, and who is a professional and damn hard working musician. The same would go for Thomas (except for the boobs).
of course before there was the f-word, there was another and another and another before that – if I fell the need to stress out in a conversation, I’ll say “bloody hell” which is nothing to an American, but gut wrenching to a Brit – could also say, “kurva mach”, which my wife often explicates, but rarely in public, even though few understand it (that’s how polite she is) … you get the picture – one vents but doesn’t offend -OK, that’s civil
so when it comes to ‘saving’ any of this… one question: who’s in the trenches (i.e. no salary, no benefits, all assets at risk) and who’s in the quartermaster corps, i.e., full salary, full benefits, no assets at risk; and, how does that effect ones perspecitve?
whatever Oregon Beaver thinks is cool to do, so what, let the Beaver do what it do – who cares? – when it comes to the OSO, if I made enough to pay taxes, I guess I might – but since I don’t, let OSO do what it do…
BUT… might it not be interesting (just as an experiment, mind you) to see how a concert (just as an experiment, mind you) of say a dozen under-10-min. works by living regional composers (just as an experiment, mind you) might stand up (attendance-wise) to one more medley of PM/SL tunes in orch. arrangement (just as an experiment, mind you) ?
it’s good to know that we BOTH stand behind our OPINIONS. may it always be so . . .
Wouldn’t have it any other way! Goddess bless America!
BTW: what on earth is “…right and left of the musical continuum…” ?
You know, as well as I do, that there are conservatives and liberals in all arenas of life and art. That is what I referenced. Extremists are extreme, and they do and say things to advance their agenda. By their nature they are not practical – they exist to inflame and agitate (for good and for ill). But little good usually comes of their antics, especially as seen in religious and political circles. Even Boulez softened his stance he held in the 60’s and 70’s.
sensed it – just wanted to be sure I understood – problem for me is this: Left, Right or Center as the saying goes, I find far too many for whom musical language, aesthetic, affectation are embraced or rejected with a religious fervor that borders on self-righteousness – yes, even at the so-called ‘center’ – the milk-toast fanatic, perhaps the most annoying
Oy! Jack you were cut off! So sorry about that. I’m going to let you have the last word, since this has gone much further afield from what the original post was about. I’m going to shut down the comments on this post, but feel free to hit me with an email via the ‘contact me’ tab at the top of the page!