Go ahead, clap for that concerto

Scott Speck, the first of five candidates under consideration for resident conductor of the Florida Orchestra, also is the co-author of Classical Music for Dummies.

By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 24, 2002

To clap or not to clap between movements of a symphony or concerto, that is the question for many a first-time classical concertgoer. Scott Speck, conductor and co-author of Classical Music for Dummies, has the answer.

"We take a very irreverent attitude toward the trappings of classical music," Speck says. "For example, we come out strongly against the whole rule about not clapping between movements. It's not that you should always clap between movements, but there are some times when it's okay. Like the end of the first movement of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto is about as exciting as anything, and to not clap after that is almost unnatural."

Still, audience etiquette regarding applause is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, as Speck acknowledges.

"Between the movements of a Brahms symphony, I don't think there's a need to clap. But after the first movement of a virtuosic concerto that ends in a blaze of pyrotechnics, of course it's okay to clap. If people say it's not, they're engendering the kind of attitude that is turning people off to concerts and making it so hard to get audiences."

Speck, music director of the Mobile, Ala., Symphony, will have ample opportunity to put his theories into practice with the Florida Orchestra. He is the first of five prospective candidates scheduled to appear in front of the orchestra this season as the orchestra searches for a replacement for resident conductor Thomas Wilkins. The others are:

Crafton Beck, music director of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and the Lima, Ohio, Symphony.

Susan Haig, music director of the South Dakota Symphony.

Chelsea Tipton II, associate conductor of the Savannah, Ga., Symphony.

Richard Zielinski, artistic director of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.

Speck, 41, is the only best-selling author in the group. In collaboration with his former Yale University classmate David Pogue, he also has written Opera for Dummies and has another volume in the works on ballet for the popular series.

"I can't give you exact numbers," he says, "but it's fair to say that they are certainly among the best-selling music books in the world. Maybe 80,000 copies. Classical music has sold more than opera so far."

Explaining classical music has become the province of conductors, but it's a relatively recent phenomenon. Until Leonard Bernstein came to prominence in the 1950s, conductors rarely turned around to talk to the audience from the podium. Even Bernstein confined most of his talk to youth concerts. Now being able to speak more or less engagingly about music is almost part of the job description, though not every conductor can pull it off.

Speck is in his third season as music director of the Mobile Symphony, which is smaller than the Florida Orchestra. (Mobile has a $1-million budget compared with Florida's $8.5-million.) His resume also includes a four-year stint as conductor of the San Francisco Ballet, associate conductor of both the Alabama and Savannah, Ga., symphonies and principal guest conductor of the China Film Philharmonic in Beijing.

In Mobile, he routinely talks to the audience during concerts, especially when a new or unfamiliar work is on the agenda.

"I recognize that many people come to a concert because they enjoy not only the music and the virtuosity of the orchestra, but there is some element of their enjoying the personality of the master of ceremonies, who happens to be the conductor," he says. "I'm happy to take on that role in addition to the conducting role."

In some ways, a symphony orchestra conductor has to be a kind of salesman these days.

"Increasingly, there is the need to convince people of the necessity of this kind of music," Speck says. "It's not a foregone conclusion anymore that people are going to come to a concert just because it's great music. There is some convincing that has to go on, and I'm happy to do that convincing."

Wilkins, now resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, is proving to be a tough act to follow. Last season, the orchestra auditioned a half-dozen conductors to replace him, but none filled the bill of being both a strong musical presence and an effective communicator with the audience.

The orchestra is not likely to decide on its next resident conductor until the spring. In the meantime, Speck, who guest-conducted the orchestra in some concerts for schoolchildren in 1993, is taking it one performance at a time.

"I see this as a wonderful opportunity to make music in several different venues and in several kinds of performances with an orchestra that I admire very much. If something more were to come of that, great."

At a glance

Scott Speck conducts the Florida Orchestra in coffee concerts at 11 a.m. today at Mahaffey Theater and 10:30 a.m. Friday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Tickets: $17-28. Speck also conducts the free concert in Vinoy Park at 7 p.m. Saturday. (813) 286-2403 or toll-free 1-800-662-7286.

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