i stumbled across this show last year and liked it very much. the reality of it is another story - it's television. most of the cast members are dramatic but believable except for Ms. Peters who is sooooo over the top. If it was about opera I could buy it... And I'm a fan of hers.
How many shows are there about a classical orchestra? Maybe it will expand some cultural horizons in the viewing public.
I'm pleased it's back for a second season. But... vamos ver!
How many shows are there about a classical orchestra? Maybe it will expand some cultural horizons in the viewing public.
I'm pleased it's back for a second season. But... vamos ver!
3
This show started reasonably well the first season. The last few episodes of that season were badly written. The second season's first few episodes have been a mess. Silly cameos and in-jokes cannot make up for mediocre dialogue and unbelievable situations. The initial promise of the show was that the actual music would at least play some role. This has not been the case. The writers fall back on titillation which is just sit-com-style laziness.
There are way too many grouchy people, musicians and others, caviling on this site. Can't you just sit back and enjoy something without tearing it apart? How many comedies are there about classical music anyway? It's well done, entertaining, and fun, qualities which several of you don't seem to have in your lives.
5
This show is less about classical music than "Seifeld" was about Kramer'work history.
I have worked in a variety of settings with the woman who wrote the original book. Classic misrepresentation of her accomplishments, and a hugely innacurate portrayal of the way that musicians in NY behave. My experience over 36 years in NY , is that there is a tremendous amount of grace ,courtesy and pride in this field. But, that is in the area of people who have truly succeeded, people with actual symphonic jobs, actual studio musicians. In my case I have been a member of NYCB for 36 yrs, played in over 1000 recording sessions, solo recordings etc. It has been grand.
In her case she was mildly successful, got mad that she was not more so, made up an unreal story and capitolized on her story. The silver lining I see, is that people are finding classical music and its purported exploits interesting and entertaining. Now if we can just agree to get some of these folks that enjoy the series to come and hear Mozart, Beethoven,Mahler, then she will inadvertantly have done something wonderful !
In her case she was mildly successful, got mad that she was not more so, made up an unreal story and capitolized on her story. The silver lining I see, is that people are finding classical music and its purported exploits interesting and entertaining. Now if we can just agree to get some of these folks that enjoy the series to come and hear Mozart, Beethoven,Mahler, then she will inadvertantly have done something wonderful !
4
For those of us who are lovers of classical music - as listeners, amateur musicians, concert-goers, record collectors - the show is a delight. Sure, it's got a healthy dose of fantasy as an ingredient, but it also conveys some of the grit and tussle within the mainstream high-end world of classical music-making. Great that it won the awards, and let's hope it gets to a third season, at least. When a series' second season is even better than the first, you know it's got legs.
6
I play Hindustani Classical Music, having studied with the great sarod player Ali Akbar Khan for many years. When I saw the Indian party scene in Mira Nair's movie of Vanity Fair, a voice screamed in my head "Sarods didn't have metal fingerboards in the 19th century!!" A second later, another quieter voice said "No one but you is going to know that. Relax and enjoy the movie." Fortunately, I probably don't know enough about European classical music to be bothered by those details in "Mozart in the Jungle." I'll check it out.
www.bollywoodgharana.com
www.bollywoodgharana.com
2
It's good because of the characters, the storylines and the writing. "Rounded lips" don't make better television.
3
Classical music gets its version of the hip-hop/rap music popularity treatment.
1
I've been "trumpeting" this show since I first saw it last year. Fantastic writing and acting and like the music a lot of "piano forte" in the drama / comedy balance. In so many episodes there are brilliant moments, like season 2 episode 3 where Rodrigo hears Gloria singing for the first time and talks about the meaning of "amateur" and "love." Malcolm is brilliant and Saffron is a lot of fun. Same episode - season 2, episode 3 - B Sharpe's interview of the oboe's elder statesman - brilliant moments.
3
It is very authentic emotionally. That was our life. Excited as I didn't know it was based on blair's amazing bridge-burner! Quite historically valuable.
1
I worked with someone who lived this and this was her life. She knew a lot of folks in the Blair Tindall tell-all. Blair didn't do herself a lot of personal favors in naming names but what a great read! As historical literature it's quite valuable!
The cellist who sleeps with MacDowell and her friendship with the oboist. Very emotionally true. Only have seen one episode and adore the oboe playing(I played from grades 7-10)! Can totally see a conductor loving it. Also a slice of New York from that time. The Oboist is so natural. That was our life!
The cellist who sleeps with MacDowell and her friendship with the oboist. Very emotionally true. Only have seen one episode and adore the oboe playing(I played from grades 7-10)! Can totally see a conductor loving it. Also a slice of New York from that time. The Oboist is so natural. That was our life!
1
I wasn't sure after one episode nut by two I was hooked. Gael Garcia Bernal is wonderful!!!! All the acting is very good. The music is beautiful. Can't wait for more!
2
I love the show and wish there were more episodes, right now. But seriously, I played the clarinet in high school 45 years ago, and even I can see Ms. Kirke is just sort of wiggling her fingers over the oboe. It's hard to believe they hired someone to teach her how to fake it. (I was very impressed by Dermott Mulroney's "faking it" with the cello until I read that he is in fact a classically-trained cellist.)
3
It seems like Mexicans are taking over Hollywood. I wonder what Trump has to say about this. Gael García Bernal in Mozart in the Jungle, and Alejandro González Iñárritu with The Revenant. Kudos to them both. And hopefully, the media will stop shortening their names: please don't call them G. Bernal and G. Iñárritu, or else their fathers will be really upset.
4
I have no doubt that it depicts the world of classical music every bit as realistically as "The Flintstones" depicted life in prehistoric times. I live in this world, and freelanced in New York back in the 80s. I watched a few episodes, and pretty much every key incident upon which the story line turned was utterly preposterous.
6
Love the comparison! Still laughing!
1
I was so much in need of a show like like this. I love it. Guilty admission - I know little about classical music but to paraphrase - "I know what I like when I hear it".
In spite of my shortcomings I am enthralled by the music, in large part because of the emotion conveyed in the eyes and the face and the body language of Gael Garcia Bernal as he hears and plays and conducts it, and if that is "just" acting, I am in his debt as an audience member. It is rare to actually go along on the ride the actor takes within.
The ensemble is one of those amazing on-purpose accidents where the skill of casting, the professionalism of the actors and that je ne sais quoi dash of magic combine to make the end result greater than the sum of its parts.
Encore, mes amis!
In spite of my shortcomings I am enthralled by the music, in large part because of the emotion conveyed in the eyes and the face and the body language of Gael Garcia Bernal as he hears and plays and conducts it, and if that is "just" acting, I am in his debt as an audience member. It is rare to actually go along on the ride the actor takes within.
The ensemble is one of those amazing on-purpose accidents where the skill of casting, the professionalism of the actors and that je ne sais quoi dash of magic combine to make the end result greater than the sum of its parts.
Encore, mes amis!
3
Technicalities aside, as a songwriter, I appreciate the verve and feigned artistry only because it reflects the creativity and genius of music making. In the process of viewing, I was attracted to new music which led me off to a tangent of exploration.
1
From my perspective of 45 years of professional playing, I find my fellow classical musicians both often brilliantly engaging and otherwise wonderfully boring. The superstars I've crossed paths with are either warm, magnificent human beings or silly, demanding bores, with not much in between. The show is rather callow and cute but I suppose it's supposed to titillate, rather than enlighten.
How ever it would have been much funnier if the protagonist had been a viola player...
How ever it would have been much funnier if the protagonist had been a viola player...
5
We've only seen the first two episodes, but we are hooked. Excellent show.
2
Any show that employs musicians and features Bernadette Peters deserves a win. There are about 3 shows on any cable, network or streaming service worth watching (Downton Abbey is not one of them - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz). Sorry Mr. Fellowes - we loved you in Monarch of the Glen, but even Maggie Smith and Highclere Castle can't make us care about the Crowleys.
You had me at "Bernadette Peters"--I'm in.
3
If you think the escapades of orchestra players are colorful, they should do a show about the opera. For sheer drama, ego, competition, and sex that would surely put instrumentalists to shame. And, without exaggeration, it would all be true!
10
It's such a fun show! As a musician I did find it lazy that the actors didn't even get the least bit of training on how to hold their instruments (I can't stand watching Cynthia on the cello!) but you overlook those details thanks to the richness of the characters In some ways I feel the writers could have taken the show to lots of fun and interesting places, but again were a bit lazy with deciding what to write about (or at least when giving meaning to them. What was the point of Hailey's oboe lesson with the Guggenheim impostor, for example?). All in all it's a wonderfully fun show to watch, and Gael Garcia Bernal is BRILLIANT in it, and as the only show on classical music/musicians out there, I am very grateful!
6
If any fan of this show actually went out and bought a ticket to a symphony concert or an opera (or better, season tickets), I'd be shocked.
2
Watched the first season ages ago and devoured the second season days after it came out. It's a gem! Gael Garcia Bernal is so genuine. I need to read the book!
2
Your reporting on Ms. Tindall's "colorful" life outside the symphony hall is dead on. Like many professionals in the classical music field, I've known that she's always had an uneasy relationship to her tell-all reporting. I remember a radio interview she did in 2005 in which she attempted to tone down or outright deny the more salacious aspects of her book when asked about them. Thankfully, the show's producers seem to have understand what they were dealing with and have taken the series in some different directions.
6
We were so surprised at how much we adored this show. What a fresh subject, great fun cast of beautiful people. Watch with a happy heart.
14
As a professional musicians, my wife and I were looking forward to watching the very first episode of Mozart in the Jungle. We started watching the first episode and saw actors who either were not taught or could not grasp the most basic gestures of conducting (it's really hard to watch), followed by a clichéed, unfunny, and insulting survey of the way musicians have sex as determined by the instruments they play. (I have too many friends who play brass instruments to have have them portrayed as farm animals.) As practitioners of an art enjoyed by a shrinking audience, I wonder if perhaps classical musicians are a bit too anxious to be in the limelight. We lasted 15 minutes.
18
Just finished binge watching the entire two seasons, having heard about the awards. Not a professional musician, so enjoyed it immensely. I suppose it's like all the medical dramas on TV - a doctor or nurse would watch them and be irked, because they are so unlike the reality of medical care. But non-medical people enjoy these shows for the drama. Well, there are a lot fewer professional classical musicians than medical personnel out there, so I bet a lot of people are just going to enjoy this show for the drama, comedy, and the music. Bravo!
24
As lovers of classical music we adored watching "Mozart in the Jungle" for its comedy, its performances, its music and plot sequences. We await the second season with great interest and congratulate the performers, producers and creators of this terrific series.
15
I started watching when Season 1 was first available and have enjoyed it ever since.
Glad it got props at the Golden Globes...
Glad it got props at the Golden Globes...
4
"tsoris" and "kerfuffle" 2 'graphs apart?
Maureen Dowd finally has a worthy word-smith competitor at NYT.
Well done Ms. Holson
Maureen Dowd finally has a worthy word-smith competitor at NYT.
Well done Ms. Holson
13
I loved the first season of "Mozart in the Jungle"! I plan to watch the second season soon. I'm a music lover, but I know far about music than I do about the actual orchestras producing it. I do not assume that the show is overwhelmingly realistic, but, hey, I teach about the CIA, and shows about it tend to be really, really unrealistic (but sometimes fun).
13
Mozart in the Jungle has brought classical music back into my life. I'm sitting at the piano playing Mozart and Bach 101.
so happy to be surrounded by this music!
Love the show!
so happy to be surrounded by this music!
Love the show!
12
found it terribly disappointing and unoriginal.
The usual plot elements except with an orchestra.
The usual plot elements except with an orchestra.
8
Agreed. Just caught the first episode and was bored with the spin the bottle mentality. Not to mention the late arriving auditioner. Really? Shades of Mahogany.
4
That show is fabulous, incandescent, magical! I was a fan before the Golden Globes (but not much before). Can't wait for the next season!
15
You said it all. One of the best series I've EVER seen!
5
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first season of "Mozart in the Jungle." As a semi-professional tuba player, I inhabit a niche between the grace of music and the strength of weight-lifting, which gives me a "back of the band" perspective on my fellow orchestra members. How lovely the oboe is in the hands of a skilled performer! How hideous in the hands of a hack! As far as the drugs and the sex, maybe there's more of that at performance levels above mine, but, in my experience at least, oboe players tend to be rather staid. It is the trombone players one looks to for rebellion and dash.
30
Naw - trombone players just talk about football and beer when the horn isn't on their faces. The rebels are in the string bass section.
1
No surprise that an oboist is at the bottom of this tempest in a teapot, I suppose. Aren't they conventionally considered to be the "crazies" in the orchestra pit? Something about the way the instrument's reed vibrates the frontal lobe, if I recall the legend correctly <:-P> !
12
A real-life orchestral drama with an oboist at the center: http://slippedisc.com/2015/05/flat-oboist-sues-philharmonic-for-unfair-d...
It's FUN! A peek into a world unknown to most of the planet, no blood (so far), no guns, moments of great aural beauty. And a peak into the part big money plays in our culture. 3 episodes at a a sitting is just right for me. While some professional musicians may be turned off, who cares, the show wasn't intended for that very limited audience. I couldn't watch Mad Men, I went to Wharton with those creeps.
31
The show is great entertainment and deserves its awards.
20
People who haven't watched Mozart in the Jungle are missing out on something wonderful. Whether it's Gael Garcia Bernal's amazing and multifaceted performance as a conductor taking over an orchestra, Malcolm McDowell's conflicted (and only somewhat ego maniacal!) conductor emeritus, or Bernadette Peter's turn as the fiercely protective, but realistic head of the symphony's board of directors ("Classical music has been losing money for people for 500 years. It's not a business.") , this show is a joy, especially for people who love music. (Lola Kirke and Saffron Burrows are also wonderful.)
If you want to watch a funny and touching show about talented people trying to bring beautiful music to the public (while also trying to make enough money to pay their bills), you'll love Mozart in the Jungle.
If you want to watch a funny and touching show about talented people trying to bring beautiful music to the public (while also trying to make enough money to pay their bills), you'll love Mozart in the Jungle.
54
I am so glad the Golden Globes brought this to my attention. I am hooked!
26
Me, too. I started watching the day after the GG and I've just completed the first season. Truly enjoyable. Love hearing the music. If the plot is a bit soap-operish who cares. It's all in good fun.
2
I don't take the Golden Globes seriously, but I love "Mozart in the Jungle." After the first season, I read the book and agree that it only serves as a touchstone. The cast has great chemistry, and Gael Garcia Bernal is adorable. I'm certain that the resemblance to a real orchestra is no more than Newsroom's was to an actual newsroom or ER was to a hospital. That's why we call it "entertainment." If you want reality, watch a documentary.
21
It's easy to dismiss the effect of "fudging" certain details for a wider audience. But as a musician I find that this kind of sloppiness takes me right out of the story. It's not an intellectual response, it's actually visceral. And it ruins the experience for me. (Likewise I lose it watching a medical drama with blatant errors.) I know that it's fiction/entertainment, but the details are crucial in selling the story. One would expect a novelist to do the requisite research -- likewise a TV producer should.
6
As someone who is not a classical musician, but appreciates some classical music, I just enjoy the show for what it is -- entertainment. The show gets the musical mechanics accurate enough each episode to propel the story. I imagine that Mozart in the Jungle, especially with the Golden Globe wins, will ignite interest in classical music among occassional listeners and those who may have previously avoided classical music. For classical musicians and fans who don't care for the show, that's a good thing.
4
If as many people in our society attended classical concerts as read newspapers and go to the hospital the liberties taken with reality wouldn't matter so much because the audience could be counted on to have some idea of where reality leaves off and "entertainment" takes over. Unfortunately this is a world that most people are thoroughly ignorant of and, therefore, those who care can be forgiven for being a bit more sensitive about the impression it might create with the general public.
2
Binged watched both seasons and a show about musicians in a world class philharmonic, with a conductor who sips on yerba mate, is refreshing. The cast is excellent; it's wildly entertaining, funny and a joy to watch.
38
Sure, I noticed a certain lack of polish in the playing, but suspend reality for a while and enjoy the storytelling! Musical section loyalty and community are common at all levels of musical performance. I envied my high school friends who went to cast parties, while I missed the musical season and practiced on the tennis team. I am with Invictus (L.A.) in following the entertainment.
1
Love the show. BOY, did it bring back some hysterical (and frightening!) memories.