Tár and the triumph of amoral artists

[mjzee]

There have been a number of discussions here over the years about abusive artists who make great music, and the ambiguous morality of enjoying the music these artists create.  A new movie has just been released, "Tár," which, in a fictionalized way, addresses these very real issues.  The movie, and the morality of critical reactions to the movie, are all discussed here: https://unherd.com/2023/01/tar-and-the-triumph-of-amoral-artists/

[JSngry]

"Artists" hardly have a monopoly on amoral triumphs!!!!!!

[T.D.]

45 minutes ago, mjzee said:

There have been a number of discussions here over the years about abusive artists who make great music, and the ambiguous morality of enjoying the music these artists create.  A new movie has just been released, "Tár," which, in a fictionalized way, addresses these very real issues.  The movie, and the morality of critical reactions to the movie, are all discussed here: https://unherd.com/2023/01/tar-and-the-triumph-of-amoral-artists/

Not that new a movie...it was at a semi-local theater the first week of December. Unfortunately, I missed it - limited showings and a 1.5 hour drive. Hope it returns to the area, otherwise will try to go the video route.

Film is about classical music, btw...the issue is pretty familiar to classical listeners. Wagner, need I say more? 😄

Plenty of recent cases, for instance the disgraced James Levine. With the recent cases, institutional and audience complicity is a serious issue. A lot of the Levine stuff was well-known for decades. During the early '90s, it was pretty well-known to the cognoscenti that Levine had gotten pinched in Austria for shenanigans with a "choirboy" (major strings had to be pulled to get him back to the USA), and that it was inadvisable for young males to associate with him. I still attended plenty of Levine-conducted operas in those days.

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by T.D.

[jlhoots]

FWIW, Cate Blanchett was excellent.

[Ken Dryden]

The bigamous lives of Charles Lindbergh and Charles Kyralt come to mind as well. Let’s not get started on politicians…