Some more info on what happened:

In celebration of Earth Day 2004, renowned scientist James Lovelock's Gaia Theory was to be put to a new sort of experiment - by being cast into a symphonic composition. At Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Currier's evening length piece was to have its premiere, performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, as reported last week in the New York Post.

When it became evident that neither of the two not-for-profit organizations who were committed to backing the premiere - Earth Day Network and the Brooklyn Philharmonic - could raise the money for the concert, Currier put in his savings. "I was willing," Currier says, "because I felt and still feel that no idea is more urgent today. The most famous climate scientist, James Hansen, has suggested that we will soon be consigned to 'a different planet.' If the arctic essentially disappears in a few years, should we try technological solutions to save it? Public opinion will be important, yet the public is utterly unprepared for this. The simplest way to understand our situation is through Gaia Theory, which sees our planet as one vast metabolism. I saw it as both poetic and important science, and spent five years on the work," stated Currier. Prominent composer John Corigliano described the parts he heard as, "Just beautiful. Very, very skilled work, and very inspired too."

Things went drastically awry, though, according to papers filed in Court, when the concert was stopped mid-stream during the premiere, orchestra officials claiming they were going into overtime. The New York Times then harshly criticized the composition, saying the composer 'seemed unable to end the work,' that the concert had been stopped 'as the piece neared the three hour mark,' and that the text itself was 'pseudoscientific.'

"Unlike Gaia Theory, the math is pretty simple here," said attorney Alex T. Roshuk, who is representing Currier in the case against the orchestra, "because, despite the New York Times' claims, the audio recording easily shows that the orchestra played for slightly under two hours, which for a three hour call is decidedly not 'going into overtime. Our position," continued Roshuk, "is that the breach stemmed from the orchestra management's misinterpretation of union rules regarding intermissions."



After the orchestra said they were heading into overtime, the suit further alleges, Currier acquiesced to making last-minute cuts. The orchestra did not perform them, however, and instead abruptly ended the concert at about 10:44 p.m. Currier was given a pro bono lawyer through Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts shortly after the performance, but when it was discovered that a client of the same law firm was on the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, he lost representation. The case was forwarded to another law firm, but, being pro bono work, languished there. Currier then approached Mr. Roshuk, formerly counsel to the Wikipedia Foundation, who also worked as a manager and administrator in various arts organizations.

"Not long before the premiere," Currier says, "under the aegis of the United Nations, more than 1,000 scientists from around the world signed a declaration stating 'The Earth System behaves as a single self-regulating system,' the central tenet of Gaia Theory. Now the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due in 2012, will for the first time use many of the gaian 'feedbacks' from life forms - material explained for the layperson in my Gaian Variations - in the climate models. But it might be too late."



Roshuk says his client does not want to harm the orchestra. "I think they're a fine orchestra," said Currier. "I am not doing this for publicity, and certainly not for financial gain. The botched performance destroyed the message of Gaian Variations, and it is a message I feel is urgent." Roshuk notes that his client would happily settle the suit if the work could be played again in its entirety.

fuck unions

If he was paying the Brooklyn Phil, then it wasn't a commission. If it were a commission the *composer* would be getting the money *from* the Phil.

Composers hire out orchestras all the time (well, composers with money do) for performances and recordings. It's more common to take this sort of thing overseas, though, to avoid union issues. And pay a heck of a lot less. Prague is a popular place for this. A good number of film scores are recorded there.

But the NYT says that he was commissioned by the Phil. So which is it? And why did he wait so many years to bring the suit? Was he denied tenure at his new gig, and now he's fishing for cash?

Plenty of times, I've seen union musicians pack up and leave rehearsals when they run over, and overtime wasn't agreed to in advance. I've never seen a situation where it wasn't warranted. It was always because some bozo from the administrative office for the company or hall, a guest conductor, or an egotistical soloist or neophyte composer (or vice-versa, or both/all) wasted valuable rehearsal time earlier on in the session.

I've never seen this happen in performance, but I've seen it *almost* happen a number of times (it almost happened on one of my conducting gigs years ago). The conductor was able to avoid it each time with snappy tempos and careful cuts.

There was probably a very good reason why this went down the way it did, and I doubt it had anything to do with the union musicians.

Disclaimer: I'm not a member of Local 802, although I work with a number of people who are.

But they're cash strapped now, it seems. Not back in 2004 when they performed it.

Besides, if a critic didn't like what they had heard, would they have changed their minds by the performance of the last bits? My guess is "no."

No one knew him before, and now that it's all over the news, I doubt this guy will gain any fans.

No one knew him before, and now that it's all over the news, I doubt this guy will gain any fans.

you can say that again!

Wait, he paid them to play his composition?

What you said.

But all in all, his demands don't seem to be unreasonable. I'd be kind of curious to hear it myself.

Yeah, the Post article and the old Times review contradict each other. If the Brooklyn Philharmonic is cash-strapped they wouldn't be commissioning expensive compositions. If they were commissioning a piece you would think they would work with the composer to make sure the piece fit in to whatever time constraints the orchestra had.

Well, it wasn't a BPO commission, that's for sure. The piece was apparently funded by third-party sources (including the "Earth Day Network"?) Here's the original web site for the project.

It's what you'd call a "rental" - rent the space, hire the orchestra, etc. (That BPO was playing at Lincoln Center is your clue that this is the case.) BPO obviously wasn't willing to eat the extra expenses, and there was clearly a lack of respect for Currier or the backers, so that's why they did what they did.

Nice detective work! So, the EDN commissioned the piece (and a rather ambitious one at that), but didn't allocate the proper funds for its performance - ? There are so many unanswered questions here.

I checked out the site, esp. the page announcing the performance. It turns out that 've worked with several of the people involved. I'm curious to find out what happened, but wonder if they'd even be willing or able to discuss. This looks like a very touchy subject .

" due to union rules "

need i say more ?

(Sigh)

Union Bashing to begin in 5...4...3...2...