WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING A SMOKIN' HOT, CLASSICAL, CONSERVATIVE BABE?:

The Curse of Beauty for Serious Musicians: Classical music still seems to have trouble dealing with strong women. If you're attractive, it seems, you must also be cheesy and commercial. (ANNE MIDGETTE, 5/27/04, NY Times)

When the violinist Lara St. John gave a recital in Toronto in February, she gave a lot of thought to what she was going to wear.

Ms. St. John, 32, is well aware of the power of image. For one thing she is a striking six-foot blonde. And while this week saw the release of "Re: Bach," her first album for Sony Classical, the CD she will probably always be best known for is "Bach Works for Violin Solo" from 1996. That is the one on which she appeared naked on the cover, holding her violin across her breasts.

The picture was more artistic than shocking. Showing Ms. St. John from the waist up with the violin completely hiding her chest, it revealed nothing inappropriate for a family paper. But from the reaction, you would have thought she had posed for Penthouse. There were accusations of sexploitation and child pornography. (Ms. St. John was 24 and looked younger.) There were also phenomenal album sales: more than 30,000 copies, big stuff for a classical music recording.

The cover has remained a mixed blessing. Because of it many in the field have pigeonholed Ms. St. John in the booming genre of classical crossover, lumping her with other musicians of far less artistic substance, like Linda Brava (a Finnish violinist who has indeed posed for Playboy) or Vanessa-Mae (a violinist remembered for her wet T-shirt poses and electric violin arrangements).

But this is patently foolish. Ms. St. John is a substantial musician, and she has never strayed from the classical repertory. "Re: Bach" is her first crossover album. In person she is also less a bimbo than a bird of paradise, striking and unconventional. And while she clearly enjoys vamping for photos, she's very serious about the music.

"I'm actually pretty conservative when it comes to performance," she said.

The Ahn Trio played at Dartmouth recently and one assumes more young men than usual probably turned out to see them...and hear them. In the outstanding new Teacout Reader, the critic Terry Teachout has an essay about this phenomenon (sadly not on-line), titled Classical Barbie--it's very funny, though it does brutalize the Eroica Trio.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2004 8:40 AM