Maazel Goes To North Korea, World Ends. Or Maybe Not.

The NY Philharmonic arrived in China to begin their Asia tour that will also touch North Korea (Associated Press video here, via the Los Angeles Times). The tour, sponsored by a Communist fifth column, Credit Suisse, has immediately become quite massively controversial in the press ("Arrogant vanity" is one of our favorite slams, especially because in the editorial the unassuming Marty Peretz calls Lorin Maazel egocentric) and on the Internets because, as we all know, when Glenn Gould (who was Canadian, ok ok) toured Russia back in 1957, the West immediately lost the Cold War, all because of a weird nerdy guy sitting down and playing the piano (Gould's tour was also an automatic endorsement of decades of Soviet human rights abuses; little known fact: as soon as he came back home, Gould painted his pet polar bears red).

Maazel tried to explain himself here. To no avail, because North Korea is not only Communist, but also rabidly nationalist (unlike China: see Tibet and Taiwan) and it is a shockingly medieval country (unlike Saudi Arabia). To play in North Korea is very bad. To borrow cash from China to pay for Saudi oil, is OK.

More things to keep in mind whenever we slam Maazel: North Korea is a no-no, but it is fine to go play all over the various music festivals like Dubai's and others, even if those countries not only boycott Israel but will not allow you to travel there if you're Jewish.

It's also cool to go to Starbucks even if they accepted to segregate their stores all over Saudi Arabia and agreed to change their logo to cover up the siren's barely-discernable chest because Saudi Arabia is a moneymaker for Starbucks, unlike Israel, where Starbucks closed down their stores in 2003 (laying off 120 people) because Israelis don't drink as much coffee as the Saudis. Starbucks has stores in Turkey, too -- just don't mention the Armenian genocide while you're sipping on that frapp.

All the above things are OK; Beethoven in North Korea (where the politically/financially connected and the generally powerful will get all the good tickets, unlike, say, what happens at opening night at la Scala or the Metropolitan, where floor tickets are easy to find and free).

So remember kids: boycott the NYPhil tour of North Korea because immortal works of classical music do not spread democracy.

Bombs do.

Comments

[CrewMantle]

When Mr Gould performed in the Soviet Union, it was a matter of first consequence indeed because it occurred in spite of the growth of fanatical McCarthyism during the 50's in America. Mr. Gould did lean to the left slightly, but like most Canadians did not view politics starkly in black or white. The current political philosophy of 'your with me and if not, then you MUST be against me, so pervasive in America has no home north of that border. Never did. Canada has a long history of appreciating that other societies may choose an order unlike their own; choice of governance is the domain of every soveriegn people.

Beyond his personal quirks (not the fables so enjoyed by certain media), Mr Gould could touch the human spirit through his work like few others which is why he is rightly revered and honoured to this day.

[Bec]

OC! You ROC!! Great piece!!!

[middleagedmezzo]

Bravo and Amen

[Andrew Powell]

You are being provocative here, no? Bombs over Beethoven? The venture may fall flat, but it will not achieve less than bombs. That Dubai rule bars Israelis, surely, not Jews from all countries. And Maazel could be criticized for his quietness when the idea first surfaced last fall, not so much for his benign posturing now.

[dorabella]

Hear hear OC!

But how will Erwin Schrott fare in Abu Dhabi?

[dorabella]

Oh! I posted the above before Andrew Powell's remarks appeared. Maybe that answers my question?

[colibri]

A clarification on Dubai and Abu Dhabi: The music festival is in Abu Dhabi not Dubai. Both of these emirates exist in the United Arab Emirates although they have slightly different laws.

UAE does not officially recognize the country of Israel so someone from Israel cannot enter the country. However, Jews can enter the country and some even live there. Violinist Nikolaj Znaider is Jewish and will be performing at the festival. Abu Dhabi is also opening a satellite of the Guggenheim Museum (named after a prominent Jewish family) and it is being designed by Jewish architect Frank Gehry.

[pee wee barnum]

'Nother reason not to go to starbucks.

[Operacheek]

I know some guys who would KILL for those cucumbers and they wouldn't be using them for tsatsiki, either.