Not trying to be arrogant here, but who listens to this?

[ahofer]

One big advantage of public funding over private philanthropy is greater accountability. Ultimately, the money can come from either source, but I'd rather have my democratic say in how and where it's spent. Interesting to hear about the direction of travel in NYC though.

Accountability is not something our public funding is known for. In theory democracy takes care of this. In reality, no such mechanism exists.

 

[BenjaminB]

One big advantage of public funding over private philanthropy is greater accountability. Ultimately, the money can come from either source, but I'd rather have my democratic say in how and where it's spent. Interesting to hear about the direction of travel in NYC though.

Yep

 

[MRC01]

Accountability is not something our public funding is known for. In theory democracy takes care of this. In reality, no such mechanism exists.

Agreed. I think of the services I use, some provided by government whether federal or local, others from private companies, and seems obvious that services that come from government are less accountable, not more.

Another irony in this is that pop/rock musicians are millionaires if not billionaires. And the overall demographic supporting it is younger less affluent people. The demographic for classical music is older and wealthier, yet it struggles for funding.

Any art form deserves whatever support it gets from the people who enjoy it. No more, no less.

 

[BenjaminB]

private as in Egon Musk? Controllable? How do you really vote him away?

Issue is not local to NYC, it's general. Sorry if NYC democratic process doesn't work, although it should.

The difference between private and public is that with public you vote with your money, with public your vote is personal.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Any art form deserves whatever support it gets from the people who enjoy it. No more, no less.

Glad you could clear that up for us. Ta muchly.

 

[EJ3]

Agreed. I think of the services I use, some provided by government whether federal or local, others from private companies, and seems obvious that services that come from government are less accountable, not more.

I am in full agreement on this part.

 

[ahofer]

Sorry if NYC democratic process doesn't work, although it should.

The difference between private and public is that with public you vote with your money, with public your vote is personal.

Not just NYC, lots of voting simply doesn't matter. NYC and several states, most of the time, are wholly captured by one party. For instance, my vote in a presidential election means nothing - NY, and all its delegates, will support the Democratic candidate. Maine has proportional delegates, but very few other states do. NYC *has* elected some Republican mayors (Guiliani and Bloomberg) but it takes some serious deterioration in quality of life (Giuliani, Beame) or a highly atypical candidate (Bloomberg,Lindsay,LaGuardia) to do that.

Less specifically, the rationality and impact of voting at all is an open question:

Paradox of voting - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Haskil]

It is interesting to read your comments around the crisis in opera.

In the UK, opera is probably in its deepest ever crisis, following recent funding cuts. English National Opera is on the brink of a strike in protest.

We've also seen damaging funding cuts for long established (and highly successful) orchestras. The BBC tried to close the BBC Singers last year but have been forced into a temporary u-turn following a public outcry.

Everywhere it seems that the arts are under attack, seen as 'elitist' and unworthy of support.

It is a depressing situation.

It's the same thing in France, even if a solid tradition of public subsidies towards museums, heritage, theater, art music is still there which still protect the arts and in particular artists through a protective social system,
but the new generations of politicians don't have much to do with it, particularly the ecologists who reject the learned arts for amateur practice and local cultures and wreak havoc in the cities they govern.

 

[ahofer]

There have also been a handful of controversies about what, exactly, the government should fund...

Karen Finley Responds To Supreme Court Loss in Her Show

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 25 against the "NEA Four," saying the U.S. government was within its rights to revoke their NEA grants based on their intellecutal content -- i.e. for creating works considered by some to be indecent or obscene.

playbill.com

In 1990, the National Endowment for the Arts revoked Finley's fellowship because of her piece, We Keep Our Victims Ready, which decried, among other things, men's emotional and physical abuse of women. In Victims, Finley smeared chocolate sauce on her body, blanketed her self with bean sprouts and placed red hard candies on the tips of her breasts. The government questioned whether public money should be given to works bordering on indecency or obscenity.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Whether it's venture capital investments, government initiatives or art - 90% of everything is crap. You have to put up with the crap to get the gold though.

 

[Multicore]

Further, we don't allow discussion of religion or politics. These turn into ugly battles and at any rate, are outside of the charter of our forum.

Terms and rules

You must agree to these terms and rules before using the site.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Terms and rules

You must agree to these terms and rules before using the site.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Spoilsport.

 

[MRC01]

private as in Egon Musk? Controllable? How do you really vote him away?

You are free to choose whether to buy his products. If you choose not to, he cannot take your money.
The government gives you no choice - it can take your money whether or not you want the service being provided.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

You are free to choose whether to buy his products. If you choose not to, he cannot take your money.

Tell that to Amazon. It would be nice if it was this simple.

 

[ahofer]

Anyhoo, those Karen Finley concerts were really not worth the price of admission.

 

[Anthony101]

Who on Earth is tuning in to this snooze-fest of an album?

 

[Dismayed]

Whether it's venture capital investments, government initiatives or art - 90% of everything is crap. You have to put up with the crap to get the gold though.

And everyone has a different view of which 90% to consider crap.

 

[Albertine]

Look what I found...

View attachment 293039View attachment 293038

That souvenir cost me 60p and the thing is 98% advertising.

Wonderful! Hearing the premiere of Earth Dances (on Radio 3 not live unfortunately) made a big impression on me. I still have a dusty cassette of the broadcast, long since superceded by the BBCSO/Eötvös CD. I remember playing my tape recording through immediately afterwards to hear it again, and the piece has been a source of fascination ever since, as has his other music. I'm not certain but I think the concert was given as part of the Music of Eight Decades series.

I was going to post about Birtwistle and found your posts after a search. I've bookmarked those with links to podcasts etc to listen this week, so a very belated thank you.

I'd be interested to know what people's opinions are about whether Birtwistle's music will stand the test of time.

 

[Multicore]

I was going to post about Birtwistle and found your posts after a search. I've bookmarked those with links to podcasts etc to listen this week, so a very belated thank you.

We did this Gas Giants podcast about Birtwistle together with composer Ken Ueno. You might enjoy

Birtwistle - A Round of Drinks with Ken Ueno

Tom and Gav are joined by composer Ken Ueno to discuss the upcoming release by Porto's Casa da Música of a CD of Live recordings of works by Harrison Birtwistle.

gasgiants.substack.com

I'd be interested to know what people's opinions are about whether Birtwistle's music will stand the test of time.

I think some of it will. My friend Gav (with whom I do the podcasts) is in the Porto Symphony and they do Birtwistle quite frequently. Last year they did Earth Dances with their resident conductor and Gav said it was a great experience. The conductor took enough time for rehearsal, knew the score and music perfectly, knew all the recordings and how they could do better, and communicated his sense of calm, practical confidence to the orchestra, and it worked!

I think Birtwistle's music has unique values to offer that stand him in good stead for the future. Like, for example, Ligeti, he has a unique and personal voice that's modernist but there's plenty to listen to besides the modernism.

 

[Albertine]

I listened to the podcast last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. A wide ranging discussion and much to think about. Really interesting to hear the technical analysis of Birtwistle's approach to composition, and where he might be positioned in the contemporary music scene.

I smiled at the mention of Stockhausen, laboriously assembling his early electronic pieces. I have (another) dusty cassette of a presentation that he gave at the Barbican, London in 1985 where he describes the process: cutting and gluing bits of tape! Things have moved on a bit, as you point out! I quite like those early electronic pieces, they're successful in their own way, and I warmed to Stockhausen hearing him talk about it.