Linda Jenks

If for one nanosecond you think this movie and these performances are artificial and boring...then you have never, ever been an aspiring music student in one of the major training grounds in the US...Indiana Univerisity, Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman...The dominant egos there are un-checked, and their appetite for cruelty is beyond description. "You play like a pig! Why can't you play anything other than the cracks on this piano?" Watching that conducting student's crucifixion while his leg trembles violently and without control...oooohh...it brings back excruciating memories of Janos Starker's eviscerating chamber music classes. ("Vee don't do Milhaud in ziss class...Who is zee next performer?") I was so ebulliant when that student finally called a halt to the abuse and walked out. You Go Guy!l Cate Blancehtte perfectly captures the disconnected "maestro/maestra" personality who considers herself a god and is supported in that belief by all those around her. She can spew any kind of garbage for any length of time, and her sycophantic associates will encourage and adore her. Kind of like Donald Trump, only with intellect and talent. OK, let's be honest here. Some individuals can in fact take us to wonderful and unattainable spaces with their insights into music, and we should admire and support them in that. But, we should never endorse the kind of systematic cruelty that is historically endemic in the classical music world. Cate Blanchett's last posting--conducting music for a symposium of pseudo-trekkies--may seem demeaning, but is it? She still has to interpret music in a context for a group of listeners who need to be inspired. I hope--at the end of that insightful movie--that Tar will commit to her music and not to the trappings of "greatness" that diminish her role as musician. Linda Jenks Doctor of Musical Arts Grand Junction, Colorado