Three Way News

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Friday, April 08, 2005

400 Yahoos

If 400 Yahoos march around the desert southwest, it's national news. Put 300 musicians on stage for Britten's War Requiem and you generate substantial less coverage. Never mind the fact that it takes far more practice and training to be an alto with Kantorei than it does to be just another red-neck Gomer with a gun.

The major local news sources have provided their takes on the performance of Britten's War Requiem: Strib, PiPress, MPR. I'm sure there would be more coverage, except that Pope John Paul II is, apparently, still dead, which means that an interview with someone standing on line for 16 hours is now incredibly newsworthy. (I guess, to be fair, standing in line is always newsworthy: there's plenty of coverage every time an Ikea opens or the Vikings get a home playoff game. Still, the media's ability to obsess on one story to the exclusion of all others annoys me to no end.)

The two newspaper reviews are both positive, though I have two quibbles. Both lack any meaningful review of the mezzo sopranos. The PiPress article intends "emotionally draining" to be read as a positive, which is a contrived use of language, at best.

I'm sure most of those without tickets to tonight's event are either put off by the ticket price or the fear of competing with the Twins and Timberwolves for parking spots. There's no need to be cowed by either concern. The cheapest tickets are only $20, which is but $10 per orchestra or 7 cents per performer. Hard to get a better deal than that. Plus, the Hiawatha line will drop you off five blocks from Orchestra hall on a beautiful Spring night. You can enjoy a lovely stroll down Nicollet Mall instead of fighting traffic and paying $10 to park. In fact, you'd have to be just a little bit crazy to go any other way.