New World Bartòk
Just came back from a few days with the New World Symphony. They’re getting ready to open their new hall in a few years. Designed by Frank Gehry, the hall will have his usual visual flash, and will be designed esepcailly for multimedia presentations of orchestral music. They’re preparing for this transition now. My one hour presentation of Bartòk’s Miraculous Mandarin included a full video backdrop, complete with historical footage and animated original images outlining the plot. I was asked to write the script, and instead of the usual historical background, I opted to put the music into a modern context. I compared it to other shock art — A Clockwork Orange, etc. I tied the work into current fears of the unknown, immigrants, etc. It worked well. The audience responded, laughed, and a few even got irate at the politics of the show.
I think our new audience members need to know what makes this music relevant to them now. What are the things that connect us to Bartòk? If we’re going to talk about music, what are we going to talk about? There are so many different thoughts about this now — and certainly no consensus.