danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

Let no one doubt the power of music as a universal language.  The New York Philharmonic is in Pyongyang, where earlier today they played before an auditorium full of North Korean dignitaries, and to the rest of the country via radio and television.  The NYPO is “the largest contingent of Americans to visit this isolated, totalitarian state since the Korean War ended in 1953.”  This is a big deal.

Lorin Maazel is perhaps not as exciting a conductor as Leonard Bernstein was when he conducted the same orchestra in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s.  But Maazel is an extremely dignified emissary, and a certifiable musical genius, and his choice of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” was apt.  It was a fine touch playing a traditional Korean folk melody and the North Korean national anthem.  It was especially decent of the North Korean audience to remain standing during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

During this age of outright contempt for the arts in the national media, it was refreshing to see coverage of the NYPO visit on all the major network newscasts and cable news programs.

Filed under: Current Events, Music on February 26th, 2008