Voice 2—Why
does it make me so crazy? He’s 32, he’s an adult, and if he wants to cross over
from classical to pop—why is that such a sin? Why not let him?
Voice
1—Hmmm, jealousy maybe? Do you secretly wanna do rock?
Voice
2—Come on, I don’t even listen to it. But look, the guy, David Garrett,
spent years at Juilliard
and the Royal
College of Music. He’s got an amazing technique on the violin. He was given
a Stradivarius when he
was eleven. The jerk is 33 and has gotten more awards and done more first than
anybody around. Look what he can do!
Voice
1—That is pretty amazing.
Voice
2—Yeah, and look what he does with it!
Voice 1—Ummm, yeah… Pretty bad….
Voice
2—Pretty bad? Pretty bad? That’s an atrocity, that’s a slaughter. Look, I don’t
mind playing Bach with exaggerated vibrato or a hokey style. But why add stupid
drums? Why make it sound like Muzak? But there he is,
with that huge screen behind. At least he appeared in a concert hall—other
videos have him in football stadia…
Voice
1—See? We don’t believe in stadiums….
Voice 2—Nor
auditoriums…
Voice
1—Look, what’s the problem?
Voice 2—Joyce DiDonato said it
best: why are we so insecure about what we do,—and what we’ve spent years
learning to do—that we have to dumb it down? Why not own it?— This is what we are, this is what
we do. No, I’m not going to jazz up Bach to play down to your level. That’s an
insult. To both of us. And you know what? It doesn’t fool anybody—nobody is
going to hear this rhinestone gaudy arrangement of Bach and then decide, ‘hey,
let me just sit down and listen to the Well-Tempered Clavier!’
Voice 1—OK,
so what’s the big deal? If he wants to use his talent and his Stradivarius to
making money—oh, and also making people happy—is that a crime? Elitism, Marc?
Voice 2—Guilty as charged. Look, maybe we
should just come out and say it. There is nothing wrong with going into new
areas of music, of forging new types of music. If Garrett had wanted to do
something like Laurie
Anderson—hey, no problem!
Voice 1—So?
Voice
2—Look, will we ever do rock better than rock stars? Who are we kidding? And
you know what? Beyond the flash, how much of a musician is there here? Because
I heard him doing Bach and I heard him doing Schubert, and guess what? It was
the same rich, throaty tone. And it might have worked in the Schubert, but the
Bach?
Voice 1—OK,
so what is it?
Voice 2—you
know, there are a lot of good violinists out there. Hey, I came to Garrett
through Philippe Quint,
who was playing the hell out of John Corigliano.
There’s Hilary Hahn, and
Sarah Chang and a LOT of
good musicians out there. And guess what? They’re not out there doing
crossovers. They’re out there presenting and furthering a long and
distinguished tradition. Isn’t this selling out? Isn’t this a child prodigy
who’s hit a wall? There’s a limit to fast technique, you know. I mean, an hour
and a half of fast, flashy music is unsustainable. There’s also such a thing as
musicianship….
Voice
1—Wow, harsh words, Marc. And by the way, isn’t Yo-Yo Ma also a crossover?
Voice
2—Dunno, maybe…. But there’s something different. Ma’s Silk Road Project
takes music from many cultures and fuses, producing something new and
traditional at the same time. Quite different from putting snare drums to Bach,
or playing a rock song on a violin.
Voice 1—Not
letting go, are we, Marc! Bite ‘em, boy! Bite ‘em!
Voice 2—OK,
maybe it’s purely irrational. Maybe it just rankles to see a 32-year old kid,
pretty enough to have modeled his way through Juilliard, getting all this fame
and attention when other musicians are laboring away, one concert after
another.
Voice 1—Ya,
Marc—give it up…
Voice
2—Grrr….
