Live from Lincoln Center-30 yr tribute

[Richard]

Did anyone see the "Live From Lincoln Center" 30 year tribute, on PBS, last night (May 25)?

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4389.html

Too many highlights to mention. The ones I was especially enjoyed:

* Yo-Yo Ma with the last portion of the Dvorak Cello Concerto

*A brief glimpse of Rudolph Serkin finishing off a Beethoven piano concerto

* Leonard Bernstein conducting Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", with Aaron Copeland in the audience.

* Beverly Sills in an exerpt from the Barber of Seville.

* Isaac Stern with Itzhak Perlman in a Bach sonata

At the end of the program, Martin Bookspan announced that this is his last narration for the "Live From Lincoln Center" series. It seems he has been doing it forever. He will be sorely missed, I'm quite sure.

[Ralph]

Missed it. Maybe they'll show it again.

We have a thread on Mr. Bookspan who will be very much missed.

[Richard]

Missed it. Maybe they'll show it again.

We have a thread on Mr. Bookspan who will be very much missed.

A thread on Martin Bookspan, Ralph? Is it way back in the archives?

[Lance]

I didn't see the telecast, but I've heard about it from everyone around me. I guess I missed something quite spectacular. The general consensus is that Beverly Sills as the star of stars!

As for Martin Bookspan, he has done a great service to music. He and I became very friendly when he was the director of the classical music boards for Prodigy. (Remember them?) We communicated often and had scheduled a dinner in NYC, which, alas, could not happen. His wife, Janet, is a well-known coach and teacher to vocalists. He certainly will be sorely missed.

[Richard]

Thanks for the info, Lance.

I now see your post, Ralph. Just didn't look down far enough.

[Dies Irae]

I didn't see the telecast, but I've heard about it from everyone around me. I guess I missed something quite spectacular. .

PBS treated most of the performing artists (and thus the viewing public) unfairly. They had a segment called "Pastiche of Pianists". Gilels, Cliburn, R. Serkin, Ax, Arrau, Watts, Ashkenazi, DeLaRoccha and others were on camera for 15 seconds each. Yes, I said SECONDS. As a result,----- no appreciation for the true talent of these artists. The sound quality for the entire broadcast left LOTS to be desired. Perlmans attempt at humor fell flat on its face.
I thought most of the ballet excerpts (except Makarova and Nagy in Swan Lake), the Wynton Marsalis segment and the speechifying by John Huston, Kevin Kline and George Balanchine were ridiculous. Is a speech a "performance"? Maybe in politics, but NOT in classical music.

The absolute highlight for me was Marilyn Horne singing that most well known mezzo aria from Samson and Delilah. Ravishingly beautiful, and elegantly presented and sung. No over-emoting---, just great singing.

At least we were spared the histrionics of Lang-Lang, but YoYo Ma ran Mr. L-L a close second in that department. But Mr Ma PLAYED beautifully anyway. Yet he really seemed to be suffering in agony while playing.

Why PBS doesn't release these concerts on DVDs for sale to the public is unexplainable to me? Millions of dollars could be earned by such release. Thus alleviating the necessity for those awful "fund-drive" weeks.

PS- And to me, Beverly Sills, sounded more like Belle Silverman from the Bronx, appearing on the Major Bowes "Amateur Hour". She was simply AWFUL!!

[jserraglio]

Missed it. Maybe they'll show it again.

here it is, set your TIVO or VCR.
----------------------------------------------

Live from Lincoln Center: A Lincoln Center Special: 30 Years of Live from Lincoln Center

Sunday, May 28, 2:00 PM
WNET - Channel 13
-----------------------------------------------

Once the final credits roll, local PBS stations can rerun the shows as often as they want for one week. And then such gems as Van Cliburn's 1976 recital of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor go back into the digital vault. The arrangement keeps the no-frills program from having to pay enormous rights fees.

A handful of the 181 programs were reissued in a now-out-of-print set of videotapes, and some broadcasts can be viewed at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and Los Angeles. But most were never broadcast again.

To celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, producers dug into the archives for their first nonlive program, which will be broadcast on May 25. The performers all gave permission for rebroadcast and received a modest honorarium.
<div align = "right"> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/arts/ ... 1jens.html

</div>

[Ricordanza]

PBS treated most of the performing artists (and thus the viewing public) unfairly. They had a segment called "Pastiche of Pianists". Gilels, Cliburn, R. Serkin, Ax, Arrau, Watts, Ashkenazi, DeLaRoccha and others were on camera for 15 seconds each. Yes, I said SECONDS. As a result,----- no appreciation for the true talent of these artists.

I was disappointed in this segment as well, but one of the highlights for me was the brief, but powerful excerpt from Andre Watts' performance of "Rhapsody in Blue" toward the end of the broadcast. Wow!

[Dies Irae]

OK, so the NY Times article has explained why the programs are not often re-broadcast.

But what about my question, which has nothing to do with re-broadcasts.

I repeat...Why aren't those concerts made available for general sale to the public via the medium of DVDs?

The fact that they haven't been available, leads me to believe that the accountants at PBS haven't got their heads screwed on straight.

[Febnyc]

I think it was one of the best TV programs I've seen - sure there were some very short segments, but so what? The level of the performances was heroic and many of the moments captured were one-timers, never to be repeated. A wonderful review of the 30 years of televised music.

The picture of Yo-Yo Ma, almost totally enraptured, during the finale of the Dvorak Cello Concerto, was one of the most riveting of the lot.

The Beverly Sills excerpt was unfortunate - agreed. She, at that time in her life, had a magnificent voice. Forget that silly Rossini scene - and her kewpie-doll-like costume. Listen, instead, to the CD called "Welcome to Vienna" (EMI) - and her performances of Marietta's Lied and In Chambre Separée. There's a voice for you!

[MahlerSnob]

I repeat...Why aren't those concerts made available for general sale to the public via the medium of DVDs?

PBS doesn't own the re-sale rights to these performances. They have broadcast rights only. I believe the copyright stays with either Lincoln Center or the performers involved. Since most of the artists who have appeared on LFLC are still alive (most, not all), the artist fees involved with a DVD release would be astronomical and the negotiation of those fees with the various artist's representatives and record companies would be a beauracratic nightmare. There's also the whole issue of the orchestra performances, as most orchestra contracts don't allow for DVD releases. (You'll notice that most of the DVDs of orchestral music are either very old performances or feature European orchestras, which have a different contract system.)
Selected performances will probably end up on DVD, but it would take quite a bit of work to negotiate them.