An anonymous commenter put a comment on this post last night in order to draw attention to Brian Rosen's article about a concert Bernard Zaslav attended in San Francisco. Rosen is responsible for the term ViolaGate (whatever that means), and I imagine that he posted his second-hand report of the concert in order to get some chuckles from people who enjoy telling viola jokes, and still consider violists buffoons. Bernie is a very close friend of mine, and I feel a need to add my voice to his defense.
The story, in a nutshell, is that a few friends of Bernie's were playing a concert in San Francisco. They got him tickets in the front row, knowing that the extreme vertigo he was experiencing as a result of a fall he had almost two weeks ago made it difficult for him to move around steadily. This was probably his first time out since his fall, and certainly his first concert. He came with a cane, which he stashed under his seat.
The first part of the concert was interesting for him (and probably for the rest of the audience as well), and the idea of electronics presented in the advertisement for the concert did not present any high decibel worries. There were no warnings that people seated in the front rows might want to wear earplugs. Bernie probably expected electronics in the manner of Babbitt, a composer he knew very well and respects a great deal.
When the piece for viola and electronics began, the decibel level was extremely high, and Bernie and his wife, who were sitting directly in front of the speakers (who knew?) were directly in the line of fire. (Kenneth Woods describes the difference between acoustic directional sound and electronic directional sound here.)
Bernie wanted to leave, but he was unable to find his cane in the totally darkened room. He was in extreme pain from what was coming out of the speakers. Do you think, with his vertigo, he should have tried to escape caneless and risk fall again? At 85, falling is never a good thing. I suppose people who target their music to a "rock" audience don't consider that their audience might happen to have people who have a completely different experience of "new music" in the house.
The person performing seemed to hear Bernie loud and clear (I guess it's because the speakers were not pointed at him). He had no reason to smash his viola (how much damage was done anyway?). Why, in this case, is an 85-year-old musical icon with mobility issues considered to be the person at fault, while a young "nomadic musician, recording artist, and music technologist" making his debut in San Francisco is gaining sympathy from the twitterings of the internet audience.
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I've exchanged email with Brian and found his blog posting via Ken Woods's blog posting. I doubt Brian posted in order to get chuckles from people, and don't see anything in his posting to suggest that.
The whole episode seems so unfortunatel, from the physical pain caused to Mr. Zaslav by the amplification to the violist damaging (destroying?) his instrument.
My mother just turned 90, and between seeing her mobility problems and knowing how uncomfortable amplification makes me, I'm tremendously sympathetic to Mr. Zaslav. The gallery sounds difficult to maneuver in general and especially if you have any mobility limitations.
Hey there Ellen. Certainly don't want to make this 'about me' as it were, but I just wanted to state emphatically that the anonymous poster leading you to my blog was NOT me. I'm not the anonymous type.
Also, while the #violagate hash is on the cheeky side, my intention was to report and perhaps gain insight into what happened here. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from my friends who were there and I thought the entire event was worth some attention, if only to learn more about what happened. It was not at all intended to make fun of violists and CERTAINLY not to create a forum to lambaste Mr Zaslav.
The problem is, first hand accounts just don't jibe with Mr Zaslav's story. I have a lot of empathy for Mr Zaslav (several friends have attested to his character) but it sure sounds like he said some things out loud that do not make sense with the scenario he's describing.
Hopefully some good will come from all this. Presenters may be sensitive to volume issues and some folks searching for viola joke fodder may discover some new music they wouldn't have known about.
Hi Brian
Thanks for your even handed coverage.
It is pretty clear from your reports that things were said other than "can you please turn down" which were probably hurtful and inappropriate.
I guess one of the main things I wanted to share in my blog post was just how hard it is to stay rational and in control when experiencing ear pain in a hotspot. As I said, in my rehearsal experience, I never had it for more than a few seconds, and could stop it at any time, yet it pushed me right to my breaking point almost right away.
It just seems like a lot of compassion is needed for all parties here- both artist and audience.
Surely the right thing to do in these situations is to pause, address any safety or comfort concerns, even have a brief dialogue, then resume the performance?
Likewise, its good for all to remember that something that just seems like a funny incident could be a tragic and hurtful experience for the people involved, and whether one is a blogger, twtterer or facebooker, in this day and age, we all ought to be compassionate and considerate of all sides, and to think about how our social media reactions affect the lives of real people.
Radiolab did an interesting program on "Musical Language" that investigated the premiere of "The Rite of Spring" in this light - the idea that certain kinds of sounds can actually induce a kind of temporary madness, comparable in some ways to schizophrenia. It is, admittedly, a popular science kind of approach with several bits of misinformation about "The Rite" and its premiere - and not nearly enough substantive investigation of the actual science.
Still, I couldn't help but think of it in connection to this story. Of course, there are always multiple factors at play when people have these kinds of reactions. As many have noted, "Stravinsky-gate" was certainly about the dancing and story as well as the music, but I'm interested in the idea that this kind of aural discomfort might cause listeners to act uncharacteristically - to lose their own "social governors," to use a term that one of the "Viola-gate" commenters used. It sounds as if Mr. Zaslav isn't proud of his own behavior.
Of course, in some ways, the most telling reality is that this kind of fiasco is likely to get many more people interested in JHNO (and Mr. Zaslav) than a low-profile concert in a tiny hall. After all, it's almost certain that "The Rite of Spring" would be much less iconic if not for the stories that surround its premiere. They are essentially part of the piece.
Elaine, although I know you don't care for my own viola jokes, I don't think there's anything at all objectionable about the "viola-gate" tag. First of all, it's just silly to suggest that people who enjoy viola jokes must believe that violists are "buffoons." Second, "viola-gate" is a good way of referring to a story which is all about a controversy surrounding two violists - and, yes, it's amusing that such a controversy happens to involve two violists, given that viola jokes are such a part of musical culture.
I believe it's possible to have genuine empathy for both JHNO and Mr. Zaslav and to find humor in the fact that they just happen both to be violists. And, if it's true that each of them will benefit in a self-promotional way from the story (each used Brian's page to promote their own work), then I might as well use this platform to link to my first feeble joke on the subject.
At the risk of losing sight of the real issue: hopefully this event will lead to 2 things:
1) Increased awareness of the variability of electronic sounds (I remember almost passing out from a swirling, frenzied piece performed at a concert when I was in grad school that had speaker set up all around the room and would essentially "travel" throughout the space...but when you're 22, you secretly like it, I guess, because I enjoyed it quite a bit).
2) A career boost for JHNO, who now has the best debut story I've heard in a long time, even if it came at a great cost. If there is any justice, his work and performances will have an increased opportunity to gain an audience, which is never a bad thing. I'm sure Stravinsky laughed all the way to the bank after the Rite premiere. I'm sure Satie laughed after the Parade premiere because he was just a weird guy.
The fear is that the gap between old and young concertgoers will only widen further after an incident such as this. We all look at each other with distrust and mild contempt anyway, but this is why, and I hope that no further gulfs form because of it. Good music is good music, whether by JS Bach or JHNO, and hopefully all good music is heard.
On any number of occasions, I have gotten up and left performances which simply became too loud. Amplication is not the only problem, which a R. Strauss orchestra urged on by three-foot high downbeats can attest. Most recently I left an amplified violin and electronics program, from the third row. Lest it seem this was rabble rousing, I was following another, and others followed us. The whole notion of amplification is stupid, when one considers that "content" in music should trump sheer volume. Alas the modern world is deaf to this view, pun intended.
One the other hand, at an Ascension Day mass the other week, I was delighted with a string ensemble and portative organ playing Corelli and Mozart.
There is civilization in the musical world still.
On any number of occasions, I have gotten up and left performances which simply became too loud. Amplication is not the only problem, which a R. Strauss orchestra urged on by three-foot high downbeats can attest. Most recently I left an amplified violin and electronics program, from the third row. Lest it seem this was rabble rousing, I was following another, and others followed us. The whole notion of amplification is stupid, when one considers that "content" in music should trump sheer volume. Alas the modern world is deaf to this view, pun intended.
One the other hand, at an Ascension Day mass the other week, I was delighted with a string ensemble and portative organ playing Corelli and Mozart.
There is civilization in the musical world still.
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