The opera Simón Bolívar by Thea Musgrave was a joint commission by the Los Angeles Music Centre and Scottish Opera . Born in Scotland in 1928 Musgrave studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, knew Benjamin Britten , and has lived in the United States since 1974. For more on Thea Musgrave, and other women composers, follow this path . Thea Musgrave's two act opera tells the story of the Venezuelan folk hero Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), who liberated six South American countries from Spanish colonial rule. Bolívar was a passionate idealist, and brilliantly successful freedom fighter (he is seen in the painting above finalising his campaign). But he failed to unite the liberated countries under one flag, and today they are the independent states of Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , Panama , and Bolivia . In the 21st century Simón Bolívar is still revered for defeating the Spanish and liberating the region from colonial domination. There is no commercial recording of the opera Si...
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There are an awful lot of works that would fall apart if not for a traffic cop on the podium (excluding operatic works. They really need a benevolent dictator to keep things going!)
Most, however, were composed after 1890 and require humungous resources. That alone makes these performances costly. So, maybe, the clue to financial stability is for orchestras to pair-down, perform older (and newer!) works that don’t require so many musicians, and occasionally get someone to conduct the bigger works. The late 19th /early 20th century orchestra is truly a product of the end of the Industrial Age and the central focus of the Consumer Age. We are, I believe, in the post-ages for both. And small is good again.
Cheers
David Cavlovic
Whether or not they're overpaid is a different matter entirely (one could say the same thing about software program managers compared to the developers who actually build the darn things), but if a conductor "doesn't make a difference" to the music, then classical music, recording-wise, might as well be like rock music (or film scores), where only the first recording of a work is necessary or "valid".
Obviously it is not. The Guardian article speaks from a position of sheer ignorance and self-righteousness.