Art by the numbers

Many people underestimate the contribution disease makes to the economy. In Britain, more than a million people are employed to diagnose and treat disease and care for the ill. Thousands of people build hospitals and surgeries, and many small and medium-size enterprises manufacture hospital supplies. Illness contributes about 10 per cent of the UK’s economy: the government does not do enough to promote disease.

Such reasoning is identical to that of studies sitting on my desk that purport to measure the economic contribution of sport, tourism and the arts.

—John Kay, economist

A post I came across yesterday reinforces a basic contention of mine related to arts and the future. Economist John Kay reveals the logical fallacy of defending the arts, as well as sports and tourism, from a purely financial standpoint. Click here for the full post. However clearly the case may be made for the value of art by compiling financial data, it is not especially compelling. How many great works of art can you name that are celebrated because of what they do for the economy, much less any which were conceived and created for that reason? The most winsome argument for support of the arts is art itself. So it follows that articulating art’s value, particularly by way of numbers, is limiting. But I wouldn’t dare to fault anyone for trying. Particularly from the standpoint of public policy, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman’s statement, “Art jobs are real jobs that are part of the real economy,” is worth consideration.

August 18, 2010 | Filed Under Culture | Leave a Comment

Warland conducts Pärt, Duruflé

This week NPR.org posted a broadcast (embedded below) of conductor Dale Warland leading the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Chorale in a performance of two of my all-time favorite works, Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum and Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem. (By the way, and not that it actually matters, I prefer Durufle’s Requiem over Faure’s—no hard feelings, I’ve yet to hear anything written by Faure that I didn’t like.) I was first introduced to Part’s Te Deum in college (thanks, Dr. Kastner!). My first encounter with Durufle’s Requiem took place several years before that, though the piece didn’t claim a spot on my favorites list until more recently. Anyway, neither of these widely celebrated works needs me to put in a good word on their behalf. However, I will take this opportunity to spotlight SDG’s connection with Arvo Pärt as we’re co-sponsoring the most extensive celebration in Great Britain of the composer’s 75th birthday this year. Read all about it here.

August 13, 2010 | Filed Under Recommendations | Leave a Comment

Sandström Messiah on CD

One of the great artists SDG will have the privilege of working with in the coming season is Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, who is creating for us a choral setting of Psalm 67. Meeting and interviewing Mr. Sandström was a highlight for me last summer during a brief visit to the Oregon Bach Festival, where the composer’s new Messiah oratorio premiered. Of course, attending the premiere itself was also a delight, and I want to take the opportunity here to again credit conductor Helmuth Rilling and his colleagues at OBF and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart for their vision in commissioning the piece.

I discovered today that Sandström’s Messiah is now available on CD, conducted by Maestro Rilling—who, incidentally, is the newest member of SDG’s Advisory Board of Directors. You can purchase the recording on CD at Amazon.com for $54.49, or, if you don’t mind doing without the artwork and liner notes (the entire oratorio is in English, by the way, a fresh setting of exactly the same biblical texts Handel addressed in his most famous work), you can download it for $17.98. Sample tracks are available here.

The historical precedent now is for Messiah oratorios to be freshly written every 250 years (give or take), so whether you’re into new music or not, I’d suggest Sandström’s Messiah is definitely worth getting to know. Now, if someone would just record Sandström’s ecstatic Magnificat, I’d be doubly glad!

July 23, 2010 | Filed Under Sandström: Messiah, Recommendations | Leave a Comment

Accelerando!

This week’s activity included sending a 2,000-word memorandum to the SDG board, updating directors on the organization’s program activity . . . yes, 2,000 words. We’ve got a lot on our plate these days. We stay pretty busy around here in general, but 2010/11 will be the busiest season SDG has had in its 17-year history. In the next eleven months, we anticipate more premieres of pieces we’ve commissioned or sponsored than we’ve had in the last six years combined.

Among this season’s highlights, new Psalm settings will issue from composer Sven-David Sandström and from SDG’s own Composer-in-Association, Peter Bannister. Composer James MacMillan will contribute to our choral output as well with a new work based on a passage from the Book of Revelations. But before any of that comes to pass (no pun intended), Peter Bannister’s vocal/orchestral song cycle Hermosura de Dios (“The Beauty of God”) will premiere in Hungary this summer at the Crescendo Summer Institute, followed by Arvo Pärt’s new work/arrangement In Spe (“In Hope”) at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales—part of the festival’s celebration of Pärt’s 75th birthday. In early November, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir will premiere Neal Harnly’s 35-minute, multi-movement work, The Lost Son, based on Christ’s parable of the Prodigal Son, and a few weeks later Daniel Kellogg will be the first composer to have two different SDG-commissioned works premiere on the same day in two different locations—one in Wheaton, Illinois, and another in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Before and between all these activities, a long list of other projects and events is sprinkled on our calendar, including several house concerts, the completion and launch of our new website, two regional concerts showcasing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, our fall board meeting and participation in ACDA’s National Convention in Chicago next March. Hopefully we’ll somehow manage to stay on top of the regular joys of project management (2011/12 and beyond), communication and finances.

I know what you’re thinking: “He left out all the details!” Well, those will all be published in due course, and friends on our email list and those following us on Facebook will be among the first to know and hear the music. (Hint, hint, maybe you should sign up!)

As anyone would probably guess, it takes quite a team of people to dream up and pursue this much organizational activity—and I’m grateful for everyone involved. But I’m taking opportunity here to express my thanks to one person in particular who has long been a driving force for SDG. Richard Gieser’s leadership as Chairman continues to be marked by tireless, creative energy and spiritual devotion to our cause. Dick, we all owe you thanks, not only for the progress made on many of these projects, but for the very ideas that sparked their existence. Three cheers for all you’re doing on behalf of SDG!

July 22, 2010 | Filed Under SDG general | Leave a Comment

Saturday’s recording session

I’m writing here from the airport between flights back home. I had opportunity yesterday to snap some photos and video at the recording session that followed Friday evening’s performance and live broadcast of the Haydn work. I’ll post some video soon, including some footage of the soloists. What a great cast we had for this production! “World-class” is no exaggeration. Meanwhile, I’ve posted a few photos below. I’ve posted more on SDG’s Facebook page. The broadcast itself is now available in its entirety, for free through August 24, at www.medici.tv

. . .

June 27, 2010 | Filed Under Haydn: The Creation | Leave a Comment

The setup

There’s something exciting about being on the ground with a video production team like we have this week in Naarden. Wires, lights, cameras and crew - it’s everywhere in Grote Kerk as Haydn’s masterwork is brought to life, but it’s all carefully kept out of site on the video feed itself.

The most striking piece of equipment is a camera mounted on a huge crane (30 feet in length, perhaps?) operated by three crew members. This is the camera providing sweeping shots from the left and center of the church, above the audience and through the chandeliers.

The last filming session with the performers takes place today. Actually, the entire piece will be performed and recorded again, providing additional footage to draw from in assembling the final cut. I plan to take in at least part of today’s session from inside the production trailer parked outside the church. The trailer is a world of its own that really fascinates me. There are video monitors galore, the sound is fantastic, better than the live mix, and the film director, Rhodri Huw, will be sitting with a score of the Haydn work and calling shots from the camera crew inside the church.