The orchestra began the concert by standing and playing the American national anthem. What person in his or her right mind could possibly think that now is a good time for the public performance of a nationalist, military march? Apparently, I'm in the minority because the audience went all gooey. By the way, they also played it badly, sort of like the prom queen singing it at the start of a football game. They followed this piece with a performance of the Israeli national anthem, which at least, was played with some emotion.I left at the interval.
1 comments:
Hmm, The Star-Spangled Banner is in waltz-time isn't it?
The JSO isn't the only Israeli orchestra to do this when on tour, I've seen the Israel Philharmonic this year do the same: playing the local anthem followed by their own.
Think of it this way: it's a very old-fashioned gesture to begin an orchestral concert with any anthem, but it should probably be interpreted as an expression of respect for you as the host country. And since it's Israel's 60th anniversary it's hardly surprising that they would play their own anthem (and what a marvellous tune it is).
Sure you can interpret it as jingoism, but that's probably not what was intended.
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