The Appeal of Youth

I was glad to see that my piece for my Examiner.com national site about the new recording of Gustav Mahler's first symphony performed by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) seems to have created a surge in readership in that site. Even if that was basically a "vanity" reaction, I have been, on the whole, impressed with SFSYO performances; and those under the current Music Director, Donato Cabrera, have been particularly memorable. The fact is that the next generation is always far more interesting than the present one, for whom performance is more business than music. Then, of course, there is the "legacy generation;" but most of them have been so swept away by the business side of things that the music side of their knowledge only seems to emerge when they give master classes. Better to stick with talent struggling to be discovered and working harder than anyone else at the process!