Dallas Symphony shows the perils and issues of the modern orchestra

My brother-in-law's mother passed away a little over a month ago. Her children decided to have her cremated, then have a memorial service ta a convenient time for all, in Dallas.

So, I got an invite, and headed on up from the exurban Waco area. While there, I thought, let's see what the DSO is playing. Answer? Mahler's Ninth! And, the Stokowski transcription of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue, a nice appetite whetter.

So, I go online to order. And problems begin.

On various browsers, on both the Mac at work and the PC at home, with various privacy and protections settings, the website WILL NOT bring up the Meyerson's seating arrangements for me after I click on wanting to buy for Saturday. I have to toggle to Sunday, where it does show that. Then, it keeps showing that when I toggle to Saturday. OK, we have a problem but I an work around it.

Then, I see that even the cheapest seats, in Choral Terrace, are up to $22. OK, not ideal, and a definite increase from when I last lived in Dallas, five and a half years ago. But I know that symphonies (Minneapolis, Atlanta) are struggling. So, I click to buy.

And, I see that that $22 does NOT include a $7 "handling charge." I'm upset at a bit of pricing dishonesty and think about not buying; I wait.

Finally, Saturday morning, I decide to do the deal. Well, by that time, all but two front row seats in Choral Terrace is sold out, and one of those is at the audience end of the one side.

It's OK; there's still one front row center section seat.

I'm told I need to log in. So, I try an old email address, with multiple passwords. None work. I check that account; no password email for the DSO is saved.

So, I call their customer service line.

Closed on Saturdays. I can understand being closed on Sundays, but Saturdays? That's poor customer service for a major arts venue.

So, back to the website.

"Login with Facebook."

I don't like doing that, but, I think, OK.

I'm told the link doesn't work. (And, I had unblocked Facebook Connect on Ghostery, so it wasn't that.)

I figure maybe it's something on my settings on the PC at home. So, a quick drive to the office.

Nope, doesn't work there.

So, DSO? Counting that handling charge, per my best recollection, on the cheap seats, your prices have increased more than 50 percent since the 2008-09 season. When I had season tickets to Choral Terrace, all three classical subseries, in 2004-05, it was $9 a pop; getting one set of six concerts was $10 an event, $9 for each of the second six and $8 for each of the third. Whatever handling charge existed was definitely less than $7 a concert.

And, with all those price increases, you have a website with functionality issues and no Saturday customer service?

So, DSO, I'll think even more carefully about future purchases next time I'm in the Metroplex.

Fort Worth has no choral terrace. Its cheapest seats are the front few rows of the orchestra. They're at $20 plus $3 for handling.  And, that's on the floor, facing the orchestra.

The second cheapest in Dallas is $49 vs. $32 in Fort Worth. Top price, comparing Saturday to Saturday, is $145 in Dallas vs. $68 in Fort Worth.

Yes, Dallas is a better orchestra, and has a larger orchestra to pay. But, it seems like the DSO is pushing its price points.

(And, I tried looking ahead to this weekend's concert, and guess what? The same website issue, on not immediately displaying seating issues, happened for this coming Saturday.

Metroplex memories renewed

METROPLEX MEMORIES RENEWED

Four full years.

That’s how long it’s been

Since I last visited the Metroplex

Of my own design and on my own.

In all the time of my exile

Elsewhere in Texas

I had never gone back

Until now.

And?

It’s still booming, no doubt of that.

The freeway construction in Fort Worth

Looked like Houston!

Still-unconnected ramps heading everywhere

To connections unsure in my mind,

Gone too long to completely visualize the plan.

And the Kimbell?

A jewel originally,

I hope the expansion leaves it

As still a jewel, albeit larger.

The Amon Carter?

Still featuring great Americana art.

Speaking of, why did the Botanical Garden

Have to be closed for an artist’s party?

Que sera, I guess.

And, hey, Ron Snider?

Was that you I saw at the Fort Worth Central Market?

It’s been nearly five years

Since I sat in the Choral Terrace seats at the Meyerson,

And you look a lot different without your timpani in front,

But it sure looked like you.

Why couldn’t I find other work in Dallas,

Or Fort Worth,

When my newspaper company closed?

Why did greedy banksters and greedy housing bubblers

Have to wreck our economy

And force me to act in fear

And become a vagabond?

Why can’t my personal connections

And acquaintances, and social networks

Get me back to the place I once belonged

To what was home?

June 22, 2013

Additional reasons I will not renew Dallas Symphony tickets for 2008-09

First, even among “warhorse” composers, the DSO had neglected a number of them for years if not decades.

When is the last time it played a Chopin piano concerto? A Schubert symphony besides the Unfinished? Much by von Weber or Franck? A Verdi overture or two?

Amongst modern Americans, but of the no-longer-living, there’s PLENTY of folks besides Barber. That includes Roger Sessions, William Schumann, Walter Piston and Alan Hovhaness off the top of my head.

As for 20th-century composers, besides my beloved Alfred Schnittke, the DSO is out of the loop on Nikolai Myaskovsky, Ernst Krenek, Paul Hindemith, and at least a snippet of Stockhausen, among others.

As for stuff to retire for at least five years?

Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations. If you must hear some variations on the Paganini Caprice, try Szymanowski’s.

Pictures at an Exhibition. If you most play it, use somebody’s orchestration besides Ravel’s. Try Stokowski’s for the lush Romantic sound. Or Sarasate for a more modern version than Ravel.

Brahms First Symphony. If you need Brahms, when was the last time his Second, not first, Piano Concerto was done here.

And, ticket prices continue to go up faster than at least the nominal rate of inflation. The Pick Four deal from this year didn’t get offered for 2008-09 or I might have sprung. Unfortunately, the Fort Worth Symphony doesn’t offer a smaller package than the full-season 10-concert deal.

They could stand to add two performances, as their rep continues to grow, and make it a 12-concert season with two split packages.

Oh, beyond that, though, and back to Dallas.

Audience behavior, such as coughing (by people who apparently think the cough drops in the lobby aren’t for them), shuffling of feet, etc., is getting worse, I think. How about adding this to the “turn off your cell phone” announcements?

Oh, and I love that you had Evelyn Glennie CDs for sale Sunday, but HOW can you have a cash-only setup? Talk about disorganized.