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There might have been a better way to introduce the Handel and Haydn Society's youth choir
By adamg on Mon, 07/27/2015 - 12:34am
Our own Ron Newman reported yesterday:
When WGBH's Laura Carlo introduced the Handel and Haydn Society's youth choir at this afternoon's Boston Summer Arts Weekend, did she really have to announce from the stage that "these young people would never set off bombs on the other side of Copley Square?"
That struck me as poor taste, poor judgment, and an unwanted reminder of a tragic event that most of us here in Boston are trying to move beyond.
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Comments
You can be that awkward and have a job in public radio?
Well, (expletive), am I hired?
It ain't what it used to be.
Public radio is running past its shelf life. The donor base is dying off and no new ones come. The expenses are huge, especially for all the NPR stuff.
And it kinda sucked even when it was fat and happy with sterile music gatekeepers and elitist snobbery.
WHRB has better classical and WMBR has better jazz and rock and this has been so for a few decades..
You're right about the music
WHRB and WMBR are the best "music" stations in Boston, bar-none. WGBH was always playing second fiddle and then decided to crush and burn that fiddle under the weight of a news operation designed for the sole purpose of killing WBUR.
But on the topic of news, NPR reporting has been and continues to be some of the best in broadcasting. There isn't comprehensive, detailed reporting anywhere else on the radio. Even if you include TV, NPR is still far better then the likes of Fox News, CNN, and the local mindless sensationalist trash.
I despise the leadership of WGBH as being fat and bloated and I hold a grudge for their killing of music programming. Their desire to pulverize WBUR is childish. WBUR has plenty of their own problems but they do have one of the better Boston news sites.
NPR has plenty of turkeys, for sure. But overall the level of reporting and their special features (Planet Money, Serial, etc) is still leaps and bounds better then almost everything else on TV and Radio in the US. NPR's news has continued to improve in the last 10 years although with notable slip-ups every so often.
thanks for the heads up on
thanks for the heads up on the better music choices. At work, listening to WHRB now - perfect!
Yes.
We don't live within the HRB broadcast area anymore, but we still listen to a few programs online. It's a really good station.
WMBR -
- enormous range of musical styles. A real gem of a radio station.
What do expect from an org
What do expect from an org with 16+ vice presidents on the payroll, Mike Barnicle, Jim Braude, Margery Eagan, and other failed 'jounalists' which couldn't hold a job anywhere else? Our once great public station has become a featherbed for otherwise unemployable failures.
A quick internet search
of Laura Carlo comes up with this comment from a 2010 article
Yup
She came into the WGBH organization from WCRB
the for-profit classical music station that WGBH bought in 2009. That's still where her program is.
Recording?
Is there a recording of her remarks anywhere? Were they broadcast on the radio?
None that I know of
This concert was for a live audience, not for live or recorded TV or radio broadcast. Given the weather conditions, it would have been far from ideal for that purpose. Several times, I saw sheets of music blowing off the stage.
I should clarify that the "quote" in the original post is a paraphrase from memory, not an exact rendition of what she said. I did not take notes; I was too stunned,
Because she can tell the future...
Will, practice this news story, "He seemed like a likeable, easygoing youth. Police are mystified by his motive and are seeking answers. The family said he seemed depressed and moody since his six month trip to Lebanon last year."
Right
How the hell does Carlo know what these kids are or are not capable of ? What kind of a mind even thinks this way? They're musicians. Great. Lets keep it at that.
The 1812 overture is much more modern
than Handel and Haydn, having been written in 1880. Earlier music didn't feature bombastic style or battle music. So, yeah, the comment was totally inappropriate.
Wrong
The 1812 Overture is brilliant compared to Beethoven's Wellington's Victory. "Battle music" is a genre that goes all the way back to the Renaissance era (at least). Heinrich Isaac wrote one around 1485.
I stand corrected
I was unfamiliar with the older pieces as I have not heard them performed, though heard of Beethoven's Wellington's Victory. Meanwhile the 1812 and marching band music gets relatively heavy rotation. Sorry, I just kind of snicker at the contrast between polite chamber music and cannons going off.
My introduction to antique battle music...
... was the Trapp Family (real not R&H) doing a totally cute renaissance musical battle piece on recorders. Not very scary, but catchy. I wore that track of the LP into tatters.
Very strange compliment
"You guys don't seem like murderers and terrorists at all!!"
"Uhh, thanks?"
Herp.
Derp.
it's all in the delivery, i
it's all in the delivery, i bet norm macdonald would've said this perfectly
Key words being....
that most of us here in Boston are trying to move beyond.
Except for those who make a nice living peddling Boston Strong crap.
Agreed
My wife and I were there and had the same exact reaction when we heard Carlo's snide remark.
Completely inappropriate.
(The concert itself was wonderful.)
I'd also love to hear an explanation why concert-goers of the Landmarks Orchestra at the Hatch Shell are treated as criminals and must undergo warrantless bag checks, but movie-goers at the Hatch Shell, and attendees of yesterday's Copley Square concert, could come and go as they please, carrying whatever they want. (Of course there is no rational explanation.)
Boston Common Events
Events like Shakespeare on the Common and the Outside the Box Festival are also free of intrusive security measures. It's sad about thd Landmarks Orchestra policy- what used to be a quintessential city summer experience lost to overzealous policies designed primarily to discourage large group attendance and eliminate the national security threat posed by middle-aged wine sippers. BTW if you really want to live dangerously next summer check out the Lowell Folk Festival-not only minimal security but they openly sell beer and wine at some of the outdoor venues. (Also, the music is incredible.)
Every other outdoor venue does fine without intrusive security
Not just Copley Square and Boston Common, but also Christopher Columbus Park, City Hall Plaza, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Franklin Park, Pinebank in Jamaica Plain, O'Day Park, Highland Park on Fort Hill in Roxbury, etc. etc.
costs
Too bad concert-goers aren't charged to attend the Hatch Shell concerts. You want to feel all cozy and safe? Well, freedom ain't free as they say, right?