LeTromboniste wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:08 pm
I think we each draw lines for ourselves, and that's okay.
Yup. Couldn't have said it better myself. Of course, there is a difference between patronizing/listening/paying for their products, and actually being there.
Something that stood out to me when I read through Abbie Conant's recounting of these events was that in one case, she was put on the spot and ordered to play assistant on a concert she was not scheduled to play (an attempt to elicit a bad performance, no doubt). Eric Terwilliger, solo horn and prior victim of a careless dentist, casually stood up for Mrs. Conant- simply saying "you shouldn't do it, none of us have to."
It's unfortunate that many of us will encounter situations similar to that which faced Mrs. Conant. We could find ourselves as the objects of unfair or harassing behavior, but it's more likely that we will observe it happening. In these cases it's our choice to stand up for our abused colleagues, or to remain silent. Mrs. Conant undoubtedly had the support of many of her colleagues in the Philharmonic through her years of abuse, and they share the joy of her ultimate victory over that injustice.
I still listen to James Levine recordings. I am partial to Celibidache's recordings of Bruckner. I enjoy Rostropovich's Cello Suites. I hope, though, that if I had been in a position to stand up to any of them, in any way, that I would have done it- even at the cost of fading into obscurity, just like the people who undoubtedly stood up to them and others like them, have.
