The Mighty Name of Schwarz
Those who fail to recognize the mighty name of Schwarz must not pay attention to the fiercely competitive, high stakes rivalry among important symphony orchestras. For 18 years, Gerard Schwarz has conducted the Seattle Symphony and built this once unassuming band into a world-class contender. If it weren’t for his loyalty to our Emerald City — where he’s proud to make his home, and his children attend public schools – Maestro Schwarz might find himself lured away by the same kind of absurdly inflated contract that stole our local shortstop, A-Rod, from the Seattle Mariners.
Please understand, this is no joke: the orchestral counterpart of the Yankees, the New York Philharmonic, just signed an aging free agent named Lorin Maazel (he’s 70 years old, for goodness sake) for a $3.5 million yearly contract. Considering that this requires only 14 weeks of conducting (as opposed to some 30 weeks of major league baseball), the money’s good enough that even an American League All Star would pay attention. The formidable Boston Symphony, is still searching for its own new conductor, and the Phabulous Phillies (otherwise known as the Philadelphia Orchestra) only recently reached agreement with a journeyman from Houston, Christoph Eschenbach.
At this time of flux and opportunity in American classical music, our beloved Gerard Schwarz might have left us to our lattes and our drizzle while pursuing immortality at a more prestigious cultural center. But it’s easy to see why he stays in Seattle. The other night I heard him lead his orchestra in an impassioned, rip-roaring, knock-your-socks-off performance of Mahler’s prodigiously difficult Sixth Symphony.
In our gleaming new concert hall, with its glass lobby overlooking the moonlit waters of Elliott Bay, the music roared and crackled with immediacy and intimacy all but impossible to replicate. The acoustical miracle of Benaroya Hall involves its illogical combination of crisp, sparkling detail and embracing, resonant warmth. In this environment, with our dedicated band responding to the music director it knows and loves, you can hear performances that might be matched — but seldom topped – in New York, Berlin, London or Vienna.
Diversity and Decentralization
The happy situation of the Seattle Symphony reflects one of the often neglected strengths of American high culture — its robust regional vitality. In France, nothing important happens outside Paris; in Britain, London is the only show worth catching; and in Russia, Leningrad alone can compete (and only feebly) with Moscow.
In the United States, on the other hand, we boast three different world capitals — Washington, D.C., for government, Los Angeles for pop culture, and New York for money and the arts. We also enjoy a series of thriving regional capital cities that have developed their own cultural resources of often startling quality. Boston, of course, is the hub of New England and Chicago is the broad-shouldered, cultured colossus of the Great Lakes. Atlanta serves as queen city of the South, Minneapolis lights the Northern Plains, San Francisco dazzles the denizens of Northern California and Silicon Valley, while Seattle is the heartbeat of the booming North West.
When I moved here nearly five years ago from glitzy L.A., my friends worried about my survival so far from “the center of the action.” As a matter of fact, our family’s been amazed and invigorated by cultural offerings in every area — from galleries to theatre companies to ballet and grand opera. I expect that residents of other “second tier” creative centers throughout the United State could cite similar experiences.
It’s more than prosperity that draws so many of the world’s best musicians and painters and performers of all kinds to the United States – it’s our diversity and decentralization. From 1700 to 1900, Germany produced an astonishing array of creative giants, especially in music, in part, historians suggest, because of its numerous and lively regional centers. Before German unification in 1870 concentrated everything in Berlin, more than a hundred independent duchies and principalities thrived in Central Europe — many with their own ambitious royal courts, fostering the arts. This decentralized system helped nourish Bach and Telemann, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and many others.
Regional Pride
In the same sense, Seattle won’t be seizing the mantle of World Capital from New York any time soon, but our orchestra and conductor can hold their own with the other big leaguers. It’s a point of local pride, nourishing a sense of community — especially when Maestro Schwarz puts on a Mariner uniform and takes his accomplished musicians to play at the recent dedication of our new baseball stadium.
New Yorkers may feel blasé about the Philharmonic and Broadway and their great museums, but those of us in the provinces sustain a special connection with our burgeoning artistic resources, and the sense of boosterism can prove infectious. Even neighbors with no ear for classical music can claim bragging rights over the quality of our symphonic players — which almost makes up for the absence of a power-hitting shortstop.
(e3mil columnist Michael Medved hosts a nationally syndicated daily radio talk show that focuses on the intersection of pop culture and politics. You can visit his website at www.michaelmedved.com.)
His continued commitment to this cozy corner of the country, in spite of the prospect of big bucks and bright lights somewhere else, helps to prevent New York and LA from dominating every aspect of our national life, thereby insuring the unique and diversified vibrancy of American high culture.
