KVT – Giây phút mượt mà rạng rỡ

I am surprised at you KTV! I greatly respect your articles and frank commentary on the Hanoi arts scene. Your musical knowledge and wisdom on the local scene is also much admired. But you can’t tell a flute from a cello? You can’t tell a Cello suite from a Brandenburg?

This may be a minor point and it is not your job to give us this sort of information which should have been in the programme, but the music for your “glorious silken moment” was the Brandenburg Concerto Number 4, (which doesn’t have a cello solo in sight! Rather two flutes and a violin)

But the point of this comment is not to show off musical background knowledge but to express concern at some of your other “highly opinionated” remarks. If you make such basic factual errors, then maybe some of your other coments should be more critically examined too.

Something else surprised me about your article. You would rather watch ballet and contemporary dance to the accompaniment of recorded music blaring out of loudspeakers in the beautiful Hanoi Opera House, instead of the real thing!? Why wasn’t your comment “if only we could have had live music soaring out of the pit after the piano disappeared”. Or something to that effect.

Maybe the VNOB would have struggled with the Brandenburg – and yes, they were pretty ropey in the Tschaikovsky! And maybe the VNSO would have been able to do a better job. (They do get paid three times as much as the VNOB, though, so perhaps they should do a better job!)

Let’s give credit where credit is due and cut the VNOB orchestra some slack! Have they never done a good job accompanying ballet, and indeed full length opera. (Something the VNSO would feel is below their status!) The VNOB needs encouragement and support for the work they do in bringing some great mixed programmes to audiences (both ex-pat and Vietnamese), many of whom are just starting out on their classical musical journeys.
Does Hanoi really need a cycle of Mahler symphonies at this stage in its development?)

Yes the VNOB is not yet consistent in its quality, but with a bit of support and goodwill they can only get better. A bit more money wouldn’t be a bad idea either – to enable the musicians’ earnings to rise at least up the level of the road sweepers we see outside our houses every day.

But dear KTV – carry on the good work. The arts in Vietnam needs criticism like yours too.