Monday Commentary: Classical music sounds inaccessible ““ but it isn’t

You’ve heard it before: The buzz says fans of classical
music are snobs, posers or geriatric.

The stereotypes are everywhere ““ and self-perpetuating.
During the station’s pledge drive for donations last week, a
DJ for KUSC, local classical station 91.5 FM, made a remark about
how the rabble is tense because it listens to high-strung noise
across the dial, but that KUSC listeners are characteristically
calm during their daily commutes. Spread your secret, she advised:
Take home a license plate frame (for a $75 contribution).

Elitist? No kidding.

The intimidation factor is legitimate. At a performance in Royce
Hall last month by pianist Murray Perahia, the median age of the
audience must have been 68. Geriatric isn’t a joke. And still
others, it seemed, just weren’t into it. Did their wives drag
them so they could add “Perahia” to their list of
conversation topics at their next cocktail party?

Classical music is a difficult world to break into, fan-wise.
How does one know when to clap at performances? Or what Op. or K.
stand for, anyway? And who knew that pronouncing Richard
Wagner’s name phonetically is just, wrong?

So I guess no one should have been surprised that
Thursday’s performance recognizing UCLA Philharmonia
Conductor Jon Robertson saw only half of Schoenberg Theatre’s
seats filled. After all, at 8 p.m., it was competing with the
Undergraduate Students Association Council election results at
Kerckhoff Hall and a 26-hour marathon reading by Rolfe Hall.

But still.

For just $7 (for students), the nearly two-hour program featured
a who’s who of UCLA’s music faculty. Robertson, who
stepped down winter quarter as the chair of the department to focus
on conducting, played Mozart and Mendelssohn. Antonio Lysy, an
internationally known cellist and one of UCLA’s newer
professors, played two pieces as well. Lou Anne Neill, professor
and long-time harpist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, chimed in
too ““ so to speak ““ and there were others.

But at 14 minutes before the performance was set to start, there
were exactly 22 people in the audience. Five minutes later,
political science Professor Thomas Schwartz showed up, along with
another couple dozen attendees. A handful of men are wearing coats
and ties; a few of the women, pearls and pantsuits.

Students? A few. The conflict with USAC and
“Middlemarch” didn’t likely keep dozens away. And
sure, ticket prices were higher than for student performances, but
at $7, a collection of musicians like these might have gotten away
with playing for more.

Classical music is perceived as inaccessible, or just boring.
Sometimes it really is. And a music critic I am not ““ for all
I know, Thursday’s performance might have been sloppy or the
interpretation of Mozart might have been all wrong, or whatever
else the critics say.

But sometimes, even during those painfully overplayed favorites
““ like Beethoven’s Ninth ““ it stirs up this
old-fashioned affection for organic music that can only come from
wood and strings.

That happened Thursday.

I stepped out during intermission to visit the elections chaos
outside Kerckhoff, but returned for the Mendelssohn. At some point
during that final piece, between 9:30 and 10 p.m., dozens of
undergraduates found out that the student government race for
president would be heading for a runoff.

And proving that there really is life beyond USAC, the few dozen
people inside Schoenberg were completely oblivious.

There’s another performance Tuesday. The UCLA
Philharmonia, conducted by Robertson, is playing three pieces,
including the premiere of a composition by Professor Mark Carlson.
It’s $3 for students. Forget about the pretension, the fear
of not knowing when to clap, and the rest of it ““ pantsuits
not required.

E-mail Jenkins at [email protected].