Seattle Symphony: Reimagining, Reduced

-

On Saturday last, the Seattle Symphonyā€™s long-awaited return to live music-making was streamed from Benaroya Hall. There were 35 spaced musicians on the stage and nobody in the audience. Music-lovers who didnā€™t avail themselves of the opportunity to watch and listen to the event in real time should take advantage of the Orchestraā€™s new streaming website to experience the show for themselves.

The run-up to September 19th began on August 6, with a press release headed

MUSIC CONTINUES FOR THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY
AS IT REIMAGINES THE 2020-2021 SEASON

In fact, most of the release was devoted to the painful financial and administrative decisions the Board and administrators have taken to maintain the organization and its employees during the six month shutdown: most significantly a 50% cut in the salaries of players.

Senior administrators and conductor Thomas Dausgaard did a little better, receiving 70% of their usual compensation; office workers did a lot worse, with those not eligible for the SharedWork program being placed on ā€œstandbyā€ā€”mostly idle and unpaidā€”through September 1.

The actual Reimagining wasnā€™t described on August 6th for the 2020-21 SSO season, but the word ā€œReimaginedā€ continued to appear repeatedly over the next month. A committee of local worthies planned and helped to fund the grand event. An outdoor drive-in-movie style was touted for Marymoor Park to provide a simulacrum of an (albeit automobile-confined) live audience.

Imagination is not the word I would use in describing the show, which put competence on view but nothing more. No surprise, no delight, no flair, no depth of feeling. Only a sense, after a long-seeming 107 minutes, of relief that the trudge had been, if not worth it, at least untouched by catastrophe.

The program began not with a fanfare but what seemed a small eternity of fulsome tributes to the dozens of people and institutions whoā€™ve helped keep the Symphony on life-support since March, presented by a tensely grinning black-tied compĆØre, a haunting reminder of PONCHO arts-charity auctions past.

The musical side of the program was even more retro: the Don Giovanni overture of Mozart to open, the Beethoven Seventh Symphony to close, performed by a severely reduced, masked, and widely spaced ensemble.

We know from a generation of ā€œhistorically informedā€ small-ensemble performances that small can be as and even more impressive than a band three times the size. What we heard was thin and thready. I hope this was due to poor miking and mixing. Future broadcasts in the curtailed re-opening live season will settle that.

In place of the virtuoso concerto which usually serves as the meat in the subscription-concert sandwich, there followed a suite of blues-inflected pop numbers by Seattle-based singer Whitney MongƩ and, the most engaging and heartfelt moments of the evening, the emo-minimalist instrumental Five Movements in Color by Mary D. Watkins.

The program would have been more excitingā€”and surely less blandā€”if principal conductor Thomas Dausgaard had been on the podium. Apart from the sheer symbolic weight of it, seeing and hearing a masterful musician with an indisputable international repute would have made things sizzle.

But Dausgaard stayed hygge at home, sending his fans here a warm note stating that he could feel our love all the way from Denmark. Associate (i.e. apprentice) Conductor Lee Mills, left to carry the weight of an Atlas, attacked his war-horse program with some energy, but Dobbin plodded indifferently onward despite his best efforts.

Regarded as an appetizer rather than a meal, the program may be said to have done its jobā€”leaving us hungry for dinner.

Roger Downey
Roger Downey
Born in Canada moved to Peru's altiplano at the age of six; came to the U.S. at 10 to discover that you don't use your feet to dribble the ball. Learned from the git-go that "America" is an idea, not a place.

1 COMMENT

  1. I agree about how disappointing the program was. It reminds me of the observation that as local arts groups go digital, they have to keep in mind that they are competing with national organizations who set a very high standard for video production, star-power, and compelling programming.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments Policy

Please be respectful. No personal attacks. Your comment should add something to the topic discussion or it will not be published. All comments are reviewed before being published. Comments are the opinions of their contributors and not those of Post alley or its editors.

Popular

Recent