European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Looking for a hit Bidav Odiehl staff writer Olin James Hay is having troubles right now. If Guys like Bruce Springsteen and Phil Collins would take a vacation or at least a break irom Selling records Hay might be a Little happier the former Lead Singer of the australian band Man at work is having a hard time Selling his debut Solo album looking for Jack. He says it s Lough when you re up against the likes of the Boss Selling every piece of Vinyl with his name on ii. Hay complains that lbs records released some three dozen albums at Christmas the Best time for record sates. He and lbs decided to wait until january to release looking for Jack. So Lar the strategy has t worked so Hay has been on the Media Trail. Sirica the album s release he s been through at least 100 interviews la s not much Lun a said during a noon interview recently in his London Holat. It gets to the stage where you want to do something else thar Art other thing Hay would rather do than is in the lobby of a hotel answering question after question irom reporter after reporter. I m not interested in the generalities at How to sell a record he said. I m interested in making Mulc Reeo Fernc the luxuries he had with men at work Are history. Al least Lour singles from the band s three albums camped out for months on the charts All Over the world. But that All changed when sax player Greg Ham did t want to play anymore and the band Al poll. The first thing i did was so monstrous thai i m Stilt reeling from it he said As if to qualify his As yet unsuccessful bid logo on his own. I m now trying to find an audience that likes he said. It s probably no going to be five or six million people More like a Lew Hundred Hay is realistic. About Halfway through the hour Long chat10 sprung to Hie. He perked up when he talked about writing music playing music and about whether he thought he d continue to make ii in the business. In the end i know i can always go in the local bar and make a couple Hundred dollars he said in a Humble but reassuring Lone. That May seem ridiculous but it s important. It s really what i Hay likes to say that what he does is make music. The Scolland born son of a piano Luner likes to write it and he likes to play it. He gives the impression now that the Milto is of records he sold and sell out concerts he did with men Al work were very Nice things to happen to a musician. But starting from Success Means that the Only Way to go in t necessarily up. Looking for Jack sports some soulful Lunes that Are a fresh and pleasant departure from men Al work s music. The title Irack combines a Raspy voiced Hay with piano Man Herbie Hancock and the former Frank Zappa drummer. Chad Wackerman. The single Hay is trying Legal Inlo the charts hold a holds further evidence of a break from the distinctive men at work sound. Hay 3 voice is the most recognizable sound from men at work and a few tracks have a familiar men Al work ring to them. If in had l been Lor the band s Success Hay would t have had the advantage of having a big gun like lbs records behind him. I know that the people at the lop level of lbs Are committed to he said. Bui the record so Lar has t been a Chart lopper. Will they Back him again i Don l know he said shrugging. Hay says to knows of other record companies thai will if lbs gives originally Coni Derod touring with a band to push the record. He had no Luck finding the musicians Lor the Road. Auditions were disappointing. There were a couple of Fine players he said. But they had absolutely no idea what it was to communicate. I was virtually interviewing for the Job. They d come in pay the guitar and go through All their moves. I thought thai s strange. That s a real modern Day perception of what it is to perform it s All kind of exterior. I did l want to see them jumping up and Down. It was disheartening for me but i Reluse to believe Colin Zamft Hay former Lead gang to of men to work met malting it on hit own that that was Al the people who were available. I must change my approach or find other ways to Hay said hell slay in his adopted Home in new York and he Hopes to Pul to Gelhar a band he said men Al work was formed through a natural he d like 1o meal More musicians the same Way. Prejudice against native Talent Sydona Shenahan new York times though the american symphony orchestra As an institution is nearly Iso years old it has produced remarkably Lew conductors of the first rank. A reminder of that deficiency came recently when two of those Tew Leonard Bernstein and James Levine. Happened to appear on successive evenings at the new York philharmonic and the metropolitan opera. The oddly is Hal the symphony orchestra the strongest most solidly financed and most widely dispersed phenomenon in America s musical culture to did Harc fat Vav a bit s3 in bring u Raul to in native Talent. For a Long Lime of course boards Oll Rusleen and audiences snobbish by demanded foreign conductors which shut out americans irom he major orchestras. A few smaller cities did install americans generally not top rankers As music directors the names of Thor Johnson Walter Hendl Milton Kalis. Thomas Schippers Howard Mitchell and Robert Whitney May be remembered As pioneers at least. Though still a Force prejudice against native Talent has decreased measurably in the three decades since Bernstein broke the Mold by becoming music director of the philharmonic we have seen Lorin Maazel running the Cleveland and Pittsburgh orchestras Andra Previn in Pittsburgh and los Angeles. Leonard Slatkin in St. Louis and Lavine in command at the metropolitan. Meanwhile a rung or two lower on the prestige ladder we find names such As Michael Tilson Thomas James Conlan Robert Shaw. Lawrence Foster Gunther Schullark Gerard Schwarz Dennis Russell Davios and Christopher Keene nol at of them with orchestras to cell their own Al the moment but All highly visible. And one must not Overlook the More promising new entries among them Hugh Wolff of the new Jersey symphony. Tho list is certainly Long enough to look impressive. However once Pas Bernstein and Levine agreement Aslo Talent and International stature Falls Olf drastically. What makes these two Complex artists especially interesting As Case studies in podium Success is Hal each took a radically different path to the top. Bernstein grew up inside the american orchestra in Boston and new York and despite occasional free Lancing Side trips into opera continues to be a creature of the symphonic tradition. A Tivin 1 As George Szell s assistant Al the Cleveland orchestra quickly established himself in an opera House thereby following the path of virtually Allol Middle Europe s renowned maestros. Bernstein s career might seem to prove that Given Large Allenl and great Good Fortune there is nothing inherently limiting in the american symphonic life. And yet it remains obvious that our fairly venerable orchestral tradition has produced few important conductors while the european Model founded on opera still seems endlessly fruitful. Outside new York Chicago and san Francisco there was Little opera to speak of until recent years. So Young conductors naturally gravitated toward orchestras where the work was. Thai situation May be changing but opera still is a sideline in that Lor most american musicians. In much of Europe however opera has dominated musical culture for centuries. For Young Talent the classic progression has been from reptile or or rehearsal coach to assistant conductor to principal conductor and perhaps to general director. Later with years of practical theater experience to bolster him the conductor typically moves on to become music direct of of a leading symphony orchestra. This is the Road travelled by most of the revered names of the past Vonbulow Mahler. Furtwangler. Toscanini a Momperer Weingartner Reiner Szell Bohm. Rodzinski Walter and Erich Kleiber. Among our own contemporaries the list of theater trained maestros barely begins with the mention of Levine Solli Giulini Karajan Jochum. Carlos Kleiber. Tennstedt Muti Abrado be Insdorf Rud Sinopoli Dohnanyi. Kubelik Comissiona and Herbig. The new. Primarily symphonic conductors stand out by contrast Barenboim Ozawa Boulez and Ashkenazy. One May reasonably speculate if it is us because go Many gifted american conductors both begin and end their careers with symphony orchestras that they lend to Peak Early and then reach a plateau where artistic development is blocked often for life the disappointing career of Schippers was a Case in Point. The reasons could lie in the very solidity and social acceptability of the orchestra in american culture. American orchestra Lite May ail race and keep conductors who from an Early age Pul greatest value on respectability the symphonic tradition itself opera on the Contney demands an awareness of and tolerance Lor the unstable and the unpredictable in both Art and life. The lowest rehearsal pianist must Deal daily with Compromise in rogue neurosis and infuriatingly inconstant human relations. The opera conductor learns to thrive or even revel in an atmosphere of danger and to cultivate a Knack Lor crisis management however As the opera trained conductor Ages he generally Linds himself looking wistfully at the comparative Tranquility of the symphony orchestra and the seriousness of its repertory. Moreover he becomes temperamentally and artistically ready for the More stable life. Monday May 4, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17
