Maybe you've heard the news: Renee Fleming has just released a pop/indie rock album, "Dark Hope." I hadn't heard anything about it until today, when I stumbled upon no fewer than three articles about it in the New York Times. On May 25, two reviews of this album were published: one by the classical reviewer, Anthony Tommasini ("Even Sopranos Get the Blues"), and the other by the pop reviewer, Jon Pareles ("Letting Desdemona Rock Out a Little"). Then today, the arts section featured an excerpt of a conversation between the two reviewers: "Opera Diva Tries a Rock Album. Cue Controversy." (Their full discussion is here.) Wow, where to begin... Here are a few observations on these articles, divided into the Good, the Not-so-good, and the Ugly.
The Good:
- I agree with the reviewers that the best crossover artists bring something essential of themselves into their new effort, whatever it may be. As Tommasini puts it, "To me the most admirable crossover ventures have involved great artists who have leapt right over the divide and found their own ways to perform music from another genre."
- Both writers make some interesting comments about the differences between classical and pop technique. Pareles believes, "Classical training strives to control or eliminate the rough spots. But pop makes the rough spots some of the most expressive moments." I'm not sure if I agree across the board, but it's an intriguing observation. Maybe we classical singers could learn to let some "rough spots" show through occasionally in order to express more?
The Not-so-good
- Both reviewers seem to wonder, Who is she making this album for? Who is the target audience? To which we respond, "Who cares?" Do we need to have the audience in mind at every moment while we create our art, or can we say what we want to say and hope that people (anyone, anywhere) will be touched by it? I think there may be a lot more "crossover" between pop and classical audiences in our generation than these reviewers think. Music is music.
The Ugly
- This section by Pareles really took me aback: "...The classical folks often seem to think that their virtuosity is the only kind of virtuosity, so of course it will work in every context. When opera singers deign to sing what, to them, are clearly trivial ditties, they often end up sounding silly and pretentious." What?! Let me speak from personal experience here. I am one of those classical singers who sound "silly" and maybe even "pretentious" singing popular music. But it is never, ever, because I think that this music is any more "trivial" than classical music. I think my early musical training, combined with natural vocal tendencies, has just given me vocal habits that feel very difficult to break. Pareles seems to think that we opera singers look down on all other kinds of music. I don't think this could be any further from the truth.
And, for the record, the album doesn't sound half bad to me. What do you think? What factors make crossover work for you, in either direction?
-Miriam
I have encountered this many times in my life: whether the sentiment behind it is admiration or a jealous inferiority complex, the average person (including those who are popular musicians) seem to believe that what we do as classical musicians is somehow harder, more impressive or more sublime.
ReplyDeleteI actually wonder why people come to this conclusion and why, in the uglier of cases, they project this thought onto us, convincing themselves that we think ourselves to be superior. It actually makes it very hard for us to live up to the expectation, and it allows for no sympathy when we prove to be less than perfect. Has it ever occurred to Mr. Pareles that we sing the way we sing because it is what we can do? That we too have limitations? Why are our flaws any less expressive than the popular artist's "rough spots"?
I agree with Pareles that classical singers should take a cue from popular song and not try to smooth over the rough spots so much that they loose emotinal impact. Take Calas for instance who occasionally sacrificed beauty for emotion. The challenge as I see it is in the way we connect the "rough" (emotional) spots to the beautiful stuff. To me that nuance is what makes classical music "classical".
ReplyDeleteI also agree that some classical singers see popular song as "trivial little ditties" and see it as beneath them. It's my feeling however that this minority will be slowly weeded out as this generation changes what people expect from classical singing. I'm not saying Rent will become the next Boheme, but I am saying that it's our task as the next generation of singers to blend the line between tradition and contemporary taste. A tough balancing act.