ecarroll

TMers,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/ar...vGXc5B1zrqpZyQ

This mess, as the Times piece mentions, has been brewing for quite some time. I've followed is closely and quitely as Gerry was my teacher at Juiliard, Charley my roommate at Northwestern (and a high school buddy at Interlochen), Geoff a classmate at Juilliard, and John the ex-husband of a great friend who now teaches horn at CalArts. 6 degrees of seperation. . .

Discuss?

EC

Jimi Michiel

Seattle is a non-AFM orchestra, right? I remember hearing that their "guild" is one of the reasons they can do so much recording (no AFM red tape), but also has left the musicians with less say in the hiring/firing process. Someone in the article brought up Ormandy... Szell would probably be a better comparison.

It sounds like Schwartz wants to run his orchestra like they did "in the old days." He wants to decide who stays and who goes. In Seattle's case, it looks like this has led to some very serious problems. It's a fine line between fairness to the musicians and achieving a musical goal--the process in which someone is hired and/or let go buy an orchestra is more fair than it was before standardized audition procedures and orchestra committees, but it has also resulted in more cookie cutter playing. I like the fact that my Reiner/CSO recordings sound different than my Szell/Cleveland and Ormandy/Philly recordings, even if (especially in Cleveland) the musicians weren't treated as well as they are today. After several decades of "fair" auditions, orchestras are sounding more and more like one another. I don't know the Seattle Symphony well enough to form an opinion on whether Schwartz is going after a specific sound or if this is just a horrible case of politics and favoritism (probably some of both?). It's an unfortunate situation though. I can't imagine the circumstances that led to vandalism and sabotage. It certainly doesn't shine a positive light on anyone involved.

-Jimi

mahaberio

Whatever the whole truth is the situation is extremely unfortunate. How can one focus on making music in such an environment?

Puffy A

What a sad mess! Perhaps it would be best for all parties at this point if Mr. Schwarz did leave, regardless of the truth in the allegations. The relationship seemed very strained. A fresh start for all may be best.

Arlo

dbacon

Let's at least spell Mr. Schwarz name correctly. No "T".

mikeblutman

Here are slected letters to the editor of the NY Times regarding the recent Seattle Symphony/Schwarz article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/ar...ted=1&ref=arts

It includes Mr. Cerminaro's response (quoting the author's previous praise of his technical and musical ability) as well as letter from several of his colleagues from the Seattle Symphony.

John P

Wow, that's disturbing to say the least. It's hard to tell from the outside who the bad guy is here, but something's gotta give. Whether it's Shwarz's fault or the musicians are just being "high-strung," (as the New York Times said) it's not a good environment and some kind of change needs to happen.

Vulgano Brother

With a good contract, firing a musician for musical reasons is one of the most difficult things in the world to do, virtually impossible without the tacet approval of both the players and representatives.

Seattle does not appear to have a good contract. Too bad.

rowuk

I don't understand the problem.
We have a symphony orchestra and some of the players don't feel like they are getting fair treatment - nothing new.
We have a symphony orchestra that is making money - that is at least a bit unusual.
We have a symphony orchestra that has gone public with things that may or may not be more than "personal".

What is interesting is the "argumentation" that has come up. Nothing that indicates breech of contract. If the orchestra can afford 4 concertmasters, why should that amount of high quality players bother anybody. I would think that the "competition" would keep them all on their toes! Maybe that is too much heat for certain individuals!

In any other type of organization, there would be some employees looking for a new job.