PLAYERS VOICE THEIR DISLIKE FOR ATHERTON

While wages remain the most visible issue in the increasingly bitter dispute between musicians and the San Diego Symphony, players say privately that even if an agreement were reached they have lost their respect for Music Director David Atherton.

Widely viewed as having raised the playing of the orchestra to unprecedented levels of excellence, Atherton has contributed to the symphony’s financial woes, musicians say. “He’s been responsible for the orchestra’s problems, including the financial problems,” said one player who was selected to represent musicians in negotiations with management. He criticized the English conductor for going above budget on artistic expenses and for insisting on programming music too advanced for San Diego audiences.

In the labor talks that are now in their fifth month, musicians are balking at demands for changes that would give Atherton more say in auditioning and firing procedures.

Such criticisms are at odds with the reception the musicians gave Atherton the first time he directed them, as a guest conductor in January, 1980. The concert consisted of Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony (“The Inextinguishable”) and Beethoven’s First Symphony. “That night everyone was running into his room practically begging him on their knees to be our conductor,” said violinist Beth Folsom. “We made such good music together.”

The board of directors agreed with the musicians and Atherton was hired within a few months. Times critic Albert Goldberg said of Atherton’s first concert with the symphony as music director in 1981: “(Atherton) owns that most important asset of a conductor--a sensitive ear. The orchestra played in tune, it played accurately, with remarkable precision, with a homogeneous feeling for ensemble, with carefully calculated contrasts, with persuasive tonal quality, with canny projection. What one heard bore no resemblance to the San Diego Symphony one had encountered on earlier occasions.”

Despite the critical raves that have become almost routine in the past five years under Atherton, the orchestra never pulled out of the financial doldrums. Most of the blame has fallen on the board of directors, who have admitted that they consistently have overestimated their fund-raising ability. Part of the blame has fallen on management, which has never sold much more than half of the tickets for the winter season.

Pressure on musicians to come to terms has increased since the board of directors quit paying the players Sept. 15. Although musicians say their respect for Atherton began to wane three years ago, this year is the first time they have brought the matter up as a factor in labor relations.

The symphony board wants to increase the music director’s say in auditions to compare favorably with 20 of 29 other major U.S. orchestras, board President Herbert Solomon said. Proposed changes that the musicians have balked at include allowing the audition committee and the music director to invite “highly qualified” musicians to audition, bypassing the preliminary round of auditions. The symphony says that will encourage qualified musicians who don’t want to go through the “cattle call” of a preliminary round.

The symphony board wants the musicians to drop the current requirement for a screen in the final round of auditions, thus allowing the director to observe how the auditioners react to direction. Although only two of the other 29 major orchestras use a screen in the final round, the musicians are refusing to allow the change.

Another symphony board demand is that the music director be given enough votes to equal those of the musicians on the selection committee. According to Solomon, 20 of the 29 other major orchestras give the music director the final authority in hiring. Two orchestras give the music director a vote equal to that of the committee. The San Diego musicians are proposing that the music director’s vote be limited to 25% of the votes. Although the musicians allege that Atherton’s contract gives him final say in marketing matters and the image of the orchestra and in programming, a spokeswoman said that was not so. Atherton was unavailable for comment.

The symphony board wants to restructure the musicians’ committee that reviews players fired by the music director and to provide for observers at the committee vote. Musicians say they see no reason to change the current process, which they contend is never used anyway.

Musicians in San Diego say Atherton is an exacting taskmaster, but they are upset by more than that. They allege that Atherton’s unfeeling criticism of musicians has led to his dismissal elsewhere.

Atherton left the London Sinfonietta in 1972, which he co-founded in 1968. However, Atherton conducted the Sinfonietta as recently as October in London and Bonn. A spokeswoman for the Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra that specializes in 20th-Century music, denied that Atherton left because of problems with the musicians.

Atherton did leave the Liverpool Royal Philharmonic in October, 1985, after three years as principal conductor and three years as principal guest conductor. “It was a mutual decision,” said Brian Pidgeon, the orchestra’s administrative director. The demands of his San Diego job were one of the reasons, although Pidgeon admitted that Atherton “wasn’t loved by the players.”

“He does not suffer fools lightly. That’s the thing with so many conductors. He would never criticize if criticism wasn’t warranted. But people do tend to start taking things personally. I can tell you David is only wanting the best for the orchestra.”

Pidgeon called Atherton “a terrific administrator” as well as “a very talented conductor. If the orchestra in San Diego has money problems, I wouldn’t have thought they could find anyone better than David. To find a conductor of his character and someone who can do so much of the management . . . He’s a very rare breed. Most conductors want to conduct and go home. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who will work harder for the orchestra.”

Although initially almost idolized, Atherton soon lost favor with many of the musicians. “The honeymoon with David lasted about a year and a half,” said another orchestra member, who asked not to be identified. “Conductors are not the most loved people in orchestras, but this person has handled the orchestra very badly. If he doesn’t like the way someone played a phrase or a note in a concert, he will give the person a really bad look. He could give them a note later. He should not annihilate them for the rest of the evening.”

“His behavior is abusive,” said another musician. “He is cruel to people in front of their colleagues. He corrected violinists by singing in the awful way they played it. He’ll do that until they’re falling apart. If he finds a weakness, he keeps hammering it until they can’t play. He takes a totally negative and caustic approach in everything he does with the orchestra.”

Two of the rare Atherton supporters in the orchestra are Jerry and Beth Folsom. Jerry is principal horn and Beth, his wife, is a violinist. “To us he’s one of the greatest conductors in the world,” Beth said. “He may have taken out some of his personal problems on the orchestra. He is an extreme disciplinarian. For those who are insecure, they may not be able to handle it.

“He has got an interesting way of giving directing with one of those looks that will just about shrivel you to the ground. I’ve received my share of them.” But she says Atherton’s discipline is beneficial. “He does get abusive when he sees that weakness, but for those who can handle him, like (concertmaster) Andres (Cardenes)--he puts David in his place. It all depends on how you take it.

“But it’s so obvious, all he really cares about is the music. It’s nothing personal.”

Ironically, the Folsoms are planning to move. Even though they are receiving unemployment compensation and $100 a week from the musicians’ strike fund, they have put their new house up for sale and are scheduling auditions elsewhere. “We have a beautiful home here. We spent every bit of our money, and our mothers’ money on it. But we have four children. We’re at the poverty level.”

Jerry Folsom has decided to leave even though he disagrees with most of the players over Atherton. Folsom said Atherton had “made some mistakes. Because he’s a perfectionist, he comes down on people maybe harder than he should.

“It’s hard for people to remain objective when the world is being pulled out from under them as it is now.”