I'm going to admit something here. Ready? When it comes to classical music, I can be unsophisticated. Okay, that wasn't so hard. Now I can unclench my stomache. So why, you ask, would the author or a cultural blog admit to simple taste? Because sometimes simple can be good.
Take Thursday night's Philadelphia Orchestra performance, for example. Called "American Postcards," the bill featured only pieces by composers from the grand old U. S. of A. Now I know several of you officianados are probably choking on your palate cleansers right now. "What?" you cry, "No Russians?!" But hear me out. Sometimes - or most times - pieces have mass appeal for a reason: because they're moving and accesible. Thursday night's performance at the Kimmel Center highlighted this fact, often overlooked in salon circles.
The program opened with Berstein's Overture to Candide. We all know it. We all love it. But does that mean hearing a well-executed rendition of it is trite? Quite the opposite. It's deliciously satisfying. The same goes for Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Honestly I could listen to it from this moment until my last breath and never grow tired. So I may be a little biased. (My friend and I actually got into a fight during the concert over which one of us Gershwin would be more likely to date were he alive today. Totally me.) But let's be honest - he's a crowd-pleaser, and with good reason.
For their final piece, the orchestra performed Sousa's "Star and Stripes Forever." Hold your cringes, you purests. This is a damn good piece of music, and Thursday night's was honestly the best performance of it I've ever heard. The Kimmel Center's occasionally stuffy audiences were actually clapping to the beat enthusiastically and gave a standing ovation. And can I just say a word for Sousa? So marching bands have become uncool (unless your Nick Cannon, who was cool even while appearing in Drumline, but lost it when he married Mariah Carrey). But this stuff is America. My Grandpop still talks about how moved he was going to watch Sousa perform live at Willow Grove Park. Sousa is American music history, and guess what? He's also pretty cool to listen to. members of the classical inner circle. I'm not even too proud to clap along. Take that, members of the classical inner circle.
But before you unsubscribe to my blog, don't worry. Tomorrow I'll be reviewing Yo-Yo Ma.
