Double bassist and ClassicalMusicNews.tv blogger John Grillo wrote a post recently about the New Jersey Symphony and their dubious decision to sell their recently acquired ‘Golden Age’ instrument collection of 30 renowned stringed instruments to investment bankers (and amateur violinists) Seth and Brook Taube. Although they no longer own the instruments themselves, the New Jersey Symphony retains the right to perform on 28 of these instruments for the next five years. John also notes:
They are also a partner in the future appreciation of the collection. This leaves the organization with a balanced budget for the first time in a decade. Being the deficit-driven machines that modern day orchestras are, the loan was another liability that was a drain on the finances. Just like when a mistake is made in a concert, one needs to move on quickly and look ahead. What’s done is done. The famous makers of this collection include violins, violas and cellos from Stradivarius, Guarneri and Amati.
Read the complete post from John here, and check out John’s Contrabass Conversations contributions (as guest, performer, and co-host) here.
Playbill Arts has more information on the ‘Golden Age’ collection. This collection of irreplaceable instruments has been on quite a valuation roller coaster lately:
The "Golden Age Collection," the largest concentration of rare antique strings in any orchestra in North America (and likely the world), was purchased by the NJSO in 2003 amid a blitz of publicity. Hopes ran high that the sound of these prize instruments — along with the arrival of the esteemed conductor Neeme Järvi as music director in 2005 — would boost both the artistic level and the public profile of an ensemble that is usually overshadowed by its rich and famous counterparts in New York and Philadelphia. (Increased donations and ticket sales were expected to follow.)
Unfortunately, within a year, the Golden Age Collection was attracting the wrong kind of attention. The previous owner, pet care mogul Herbert Axelrod, claimed that the instruments were worth about $50 million in total but proposed, as a charitable gesture, to sell the entire collection to the NJSO for $25 million, a figure he later knocked down to $17 million. The orchestra’s administration, excited by the offer and fearful that the opportunity would slip away, purchased the instruments as soon as it could raise and borrow the money.
Read the complete Playbill Arts article here.
It’s sad to see such a collection fall into private hands–owning these instruments is a real coup for an orchestra and certainly helps to distinguish them (and thereby help with ticket sales, contributions, grants, and the overall artistic profile of the organization), but if it’s a choice between paying musician salaries and retaining control of this collection, the decision is understandable. Although orchestra administrators cite the ‘taint’ of the financial devaluation of the collection as one of the primary factors in the sale, one can’t help but wonder what future dividends retaining these instruments might have offered for the organization.
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Seems to me that the New Jersey Symphony made lemonade out of a lemon of a deal. Read the PlayBill article; you’ll see that the orchestra didn’t get a great deal on $50 million worth of instruments, they got nearly ripped off by a shady private individual selling about $17 million worth of instruments, and then rescued by some other private individuals.
It’s probably not a good idea for a Symphony to own instruments, certainly not if the reason they’re buying them is (even partially) a marketing gimmick (“Increased donations and ticket sales were expected to follow.”)
Further, is the sound of a modern orchestra really best served by using these instruments? Bill Lee has made a convincing argument to me that the only innovations that matter in symphonic playing are volume (I’m crudely paraphrasing Bill’s argument): higher tension on the belly through increased bridge angle, steel strings . . . the sounds so prized in a “golden age” instrument would be of most value in a small chamber setting. (Imagine trying to determine what violin David Taylor is playing while Jay Friedman is unleashing Valhalla from the back of the stage . . .!)
And one more thing: didn’t your parents ever tell you, when you were begging and whining for them to buy you a fancy brand new Fender P-Bass, that you should go ahead and earn your chops on that Silvertone before they would indulge you? It is not the instrument that matters, it is the player!
Far from “dubious” and the grudging “understandable,” I heartily applaud the NJSO for the decision to balance their budget.
Good points, Jacque. Obviously, someone in the NJSO administration must have thought that this was a good investment, and many orchestras worldwide do own sets of stringed instruments, so this is not without precedent. I wonder if this sort of thing (owning valuable instruments) really does encourage audience interest/attendance/good PR? Hard to say.