No Vivaldi in the Garage: A Requiem for Classical Music in North America
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.51 (533 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1555536417 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-12-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"Great memories" according to Marlene. In reading other people's reviews, I realized that many of us read this book for different reasons. I didn't know about this book until just a few months before Shelly passed away. I was a camper at Eastern Music Festival the summers of 1967-1969. Although not the first music camp I attended, it was the one I enjoyed the most for it provided great musical development opportunities along with a social life! I loved everything about that camp and we even had unofficial reunions in Cleveland, Ohio during the school year. But what I didn't know at that time, as typic. One man's perspective klavierspiel Sheldon Morgenstern, conductor and Director Emeritus of the venerable Eastern Music Festival, has written what purports in its preface to be a hard, comprehensive look at the deteriorating state of the arts in general and classical music in particular in North America. The book doesn't turn out quite that way--it is mostly a career memoir, interesting and colorful enough with many telling anecdotes about one musician's formative years and influences. "No Vivaldi in the Garage" works best on this level. As an indictment of the sad state of the performing arts toda. a page-turner! Elizabeth E. Wheaton I for one appreciate that Sheldon Morgenstern did not create No Vivaldi as an academic treatise. The arts world has maintained the image of an exclusive club for too long, a point that Morgenstern does as much to discredit as he does the now-rapid demise of American arts in general.No Vivaldi speaks to garage workers as well as to their symphony-going absentee landlords, and it does so with wit and grace and a justifiable amount of anger.Using his lifetime of experience as a frame on which to build his argument, Morgenstern has given us much more than the typical
"Whether or not you agree with his words, Sheldon Morgenstern offers an entertaining view of his professional experience in classical music. He is not afraid to offer his provocative, seldom-heard perspective on the music world today." -- Wynton Marsalis
Morgenstern scrutinizes the reasons behind the increasing mediocrity of classical music and the precarious financial state of professional symphony orchestras, many of which have already declared bankruptcy. Filled with vivid behind-the-scenes descriptions and highlighting such well-known figures as Leonard Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Wynton Marsalis, and others, No Vivaldi in the Garage offers a refreshingly candid insider's perspective on the classical music scene.. He sharply criticizes the NEA, the Canada Council, and other arts councils and political groups for the elimination of music education in nearly all public schools. He recounts his experiences playing French horn in the Atlanta Symphony, studying conducting at the New England Conservatory, his long tenure as artistic director at the Eastern Music Festival at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and performances as guest conductor with dozens of orchestras around the world. He is also highly critical of Yo-Yo Ma, Shlomo Mintz, Da