Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned. (George Bernard Shaw)
I’ve just done a project last month. It was initiated around September last year. A music patron in the capital contacted me and asked if I wanted to organise a recital by a young Polish pianist with extraordinary story who is on his way to fame in Scotland. This patron, coming from a musical background (his mother was a concert pianist), told me that this pianist played amazingly.
Normally with new artists with whom I’m about to collaborate, I did a background checking, lots of googgling and asked for a sound sample. I did everything, but after waiting for some months, this pianist, or to be precise, his manager couldn’t give me any recorded sample. At that time I started to feel funny and annoyed at the same time, especially since all the time I only got in touch with the manager. But then this patron kept singing his praise about the pianist so I finally shrugged off the idea and started working on the project.
To make long story short, I got him 4 concerts in 4 different cities. 3 of them were partly supported by the French cultural centre, whose directors have very good rapport with me. They were all enthusiastic, since the recital would open the year while celebrating the 200 anniversary of birth of Chopin. From then on everything went well. Venues were all available, booked, bla-bla-bla, alles klar. On a certain day in January, I met the pianist and his manager for the first time in Jakarta. I didn’t communicate a lot with the artist because of his bad English and the fact that he smoked a lot and went in and out of practice, so I chatted instead with his manager. We’ve spent several hours together and I still haven’t heard him play.
The next day, we were supposed to organise a private recital and THERE I heard him for the first time. I was abysmally shocked. This pianist, who reportedly played amazingly, was really just an amateur. First of all, he did many strange rhythms which he should never have done as someone who went to conservatory to study music. His technique was virtuostic, that I must admit, but in spite of that, he couldn’t manage to perform any piece without flaws. There were so many mistakes, and what was very annoying was that he didn’t try to even press one single key clearly. There were always some unnecessary strike in nearby keys and that made the whole performance messy. He played a particular waltz which I was teaching to one of my students, and I can proudly say that she played with much more clarity and common sense.
After that private recital I totally lost interest in the whole project and really regretted myself for not doing my homework. It’s true what people said. The things you regret the most are usually the things you didn’t do. I should have insisted on having that sound sample. I should have asked for second opinion.
The most infuriating thing is that I felt guilty and awful for bringing such a stupid musician and making people pay for the crap he made. Of course, I shouldn’t feel this way especially since a lot of people did seriously enjoy his playing (and to talk about beginner’s luck, he sold out 2 recitals and got a packed hall in 1 recital) and even praised him with absurd acclaims. But people who understood good music, and many of them were among my audience in Bandung and Jakarta, were really disappointed and also quite mistified about why I would have presented such unprofessional musician in the first place. All this time I suppose I have somehow grown trust in my audience, in the people I work with, that what I present to public will be the best and nothing but the best. One of CCF Directors, knew that this project wasn’t initiated by my company, warned me kindly that in the future he will only cooperate with my choice of artists. Fair enough. I think I learned a lot by compromising and I knew better next time.
My mentor kept telling me that I shouldn’t feel bad about what’s going on because my role was only as mediator and that in the end, all ethical and moral responsibility should be in the hand of the artists. But to make me remember the lesson, I kept on telling myself that when I first build Classicorp, I had a moral obligation to myself to give nothing but the best, and when you don’t act according to your own principle, it ain’t gonna feel good.
I’ve just done a project last month. It was initiated around September last year. A music patron in the capital contacted me and asked if I wanted to organise a recital by a young Polish pianist with extraordinary story who is on his way to fame in Scotland. This patron, coming from a musical background (his mother was a concert pianist), told me that this pianist played amazingly.
Normally with new artists with whom I’m about to collaborate, I did a background checking, lots of googgling and asked for a sound sample. I did everything, but after waiting for some months, this pianist, or to be precise, his manager couldn’t give me any recorded sample. At that time I started to feel funny and annoyed at the same time, especially since all the time I only got in touch with the manager. But then this patron kept singing his praise about the pianist so I finally shrugged off the idea and started working on the project.
To make long story short, I got him 4 concerts in 4 different cities. 3 of them were partly supported by the French cultural centre, whose directors have very good rapport with me. They were all enthusiastic, since the recital would open the year while celebrating the 200 anniversary of birth of Chopin. From then on everything went well. Venues were all available, booked, bla-bla-bla, alles klar. On a certain day in January, I met the pianist and his manager for the first time in Jakarta. I didn’t communicate a lot with the artist because of his bad English and the fact that he smoked a lot and went in and out of practice, so I chatted instead with his manager. We’ve spent several hours together and I still haven’t heard him play.
The next day, we were supposed to organise a private recital and THERE I heard him for the first time. I was abysmally shocked. This pianist, who reportedly played amazingly, was really just an amateur. First of all, he did many strange rhythms which he should never have done as someone who went to conservatory to study music. His technique was virtuostic, that I must admit, but in spite of that, he couldn’t manage to perform any piece without flaws. There were so many mistakes, and what was very annoying was that he didn’t try to even press one single key clearly. There were always some unnecessary strike in nearby keys and that made the whole performance messy. He played a particular waltz which I was teaching to one of my students, and I can proudly say that she played with much more clarity and common sense.
After that private recital I totally lost interest in the whole project and really regretted myself for not doing my homework. It’s true what people said. The things you regret the most are usually the things you didn’t do. I should have insisted on having that sound sample. I should have asked for second opinion.
The most infuriating thing is that I felt guilty and awful for bringing such a stupid musician and making people pay for the crap he made. Of course, I shouldn’t feel this way especially since a lot of people did seriously enjoy his playing (and to talk about beginner’s luck, he sold out 2 recitals and got a packed hall in 1 recital) and even praised him with absurd acclaims. But people who understood good music, and many of them were among my audience in Bandung and Jakarta, were really disappointed and also quite mistified about why I would have presented such unprofessional musician in the first place. All this time I suppose I have somehow grown trust in my audience, in the people I work with, that what I present to public will be the best and nothing but the best. One of CCF Directors, knew that this project wasn’t initiated by my company, warned me kindly that in the future he will only cooperate with my choice of artists. Fair enough. I think I learned a lot by compromising and I knew better next time.
My mentor kept telling me that I shouldn’t feel bad about what’s going on because my role was only as mediator and that in the end, all ethical and moral responsibility should be in the hand of the artists. But to make me remember the lesson, I kept on telling myself that when I first build Classicorp, I had a moral obligation to myself to give nothing but the best, and when you don’t act according to your own principle, it ain’t gonna feel good.
