Posted by Rick Denney on April 10, 2003 at 22:54:46:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ft Worth Symphony Audition posted by B.G. on April 10, 2003 at 21:47:50:
No, the best venue in the Metroplex I ever played in was the Mesquite Arts Center. But I've heard lots of concerts in both the Bass and the Meyerson.
The Dallas Symphony has really undergone a major overhaul in the last 8 or 10 years, and I only got to see the first part of that. Andrew Litton has been a breath of fresh air there, both in his style and in his programming. I have one of the recordings of Dallas doing the Shostakovich 8 which is excellent--I also heard them do it live at the time.
Fort Worth used to be the adventurous symphony in the area, even though it was not as technically accomplished. Under Giordano, you could always count on hearing at least one thing you'd never heard live before. The performance of Alexander Nevsky in synch with the movie was in Fort Worth. I heard the Vaughan Williams 4th for the first time live in Fort Worth (and drove up from San Antonio to hear it). If I really thought about it, I could probably name a dozen works that I'd never heard even on recordings that I heard there first. In those days, Dallas was vitrified, it seems to me. But that seems to have changed.
I have also heard some wonderful performances in the Meyerson. There was the outstanding performance of the St. Matthew Passion by the Dallas Bach Society (what a group!), and the Dallas Symphony was getting better with each week, it seemed.
My little joke was mostly to do with Dallas's self-perception of being high culture, and Dallas's perception of Fort Worth as Cow Town. In fact, Fort Worth has much better general and philanthropic support of the arts. It has world-class art museums a vibrant theatre scene (by Texas standards). The Van Cliburn competition is hosted there. It used to be THE place for jazz and blues (at the Caravan of Dreams--much better than anything in Deep Ellum). And in the orchestra concert halls, the ratio of tuxedos to music lovers is still much too low in Dallas.
My comment had to do with the people, not the orchestras, especially compared to the perceptions they have projected.
For Texas having such a reputation as a cultural backwater, I sure do miss it. Sigh.
Rick "who sees a few good concerts in DC but who has to drive and drive to do so" Denney