673. What Is Money?

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Stephen Dubner follows composer David Lang as he turns Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations into a New York Philharmonic oratorio, exploring how economics, money, labor, and inequality can become music. The episode traces Lang’s creative process, his fascination with vocal writing, and the rehearsal/performance journey, while connecting the work to Handel, Bach, Douglass, Debs, and the democratic power of large-scale musical collaboration.

Main Topics: The commissioning and concept of Wealth of Nations (Priority: 5/5): Lang explains how the piece followed his successful Prisoner of the State project and how he pitched the Philharmonic on turning Smith’s dense economic treatise into an oratorio inspired by Messiah. Music as interpretation of economics and social connection (Priority: 5/5): Lang argues that money is a social construct, trade binds people together, and Smith’s text is most interesting when read through the lens of human connection rather than abstract markets. Lang’s compositional process and vocal turn (Priority: 4/5): The conversation dives into how Lang hears music internally, writes with older software and pencil-like methods, and discovered late in his career that vocal music unlocked a powerful emotional dimension. Democracy, crowds, and collective performance (Priority: 4/5): Lang links classical music to democracy through his experience at a soccer match and his large-scale community work Crowd Out, showing his interest in participation beyond elite audiences. Political and historical voices in the libretto (Priority: 4/5): The piece includes Frederick Douglass and Eugene V. Debs, broadening Smith’s themes toward inequality, justice, labor, and moral responsibility without endorsing a specific ideology. Rehearsals, live performance, and the uncertainty of premiere (Priority: 3/5): Dubner observes first rehearsals with the chorus and full ensemble, emphasizing how a score becomes real only through the cooperation of singers, orchestra, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Lang’s biography, humility, and artistic identity (Priority: 3/5): Lang reflects on his upbringing without money, family pressure to attend medical school, his lower-case title habit, and his resistance to labels like classical or contemporary classical music.

Key Arguments: Lang was drawn to The Wealth of Nations because, like Messiah, it is a serious text transformed into a popular musical form for general audiences. He became interested less in factories or division of labor than in trade, interdependence, and money as a token representing labor and connection. Lang believes the phrase classical music is limiting; he sees himself simply as a musician making music, not as someone confined by genre labels. Large-scale musical collaboration mirrors social cooperation: a composer cannot make the work alone, just as markets and communities rely on many participants. Vocal music became central to Lang because text gives him a direct emotional route into composition that instrumental writing often does not. The piece’s inclusion of Douglass and Debs reframes Smith through American debates on inequality, freedom, labor, and justice. Lang’s democratic impulse extends beyond concert halls to projects involving crowds and amateurs, reflecting his desire to widen participation in music.

Data Points: Age of Handel’s Messiah: almost 300 years old - Dubner references Messiah as the model for Lang’s oratorio approach. Publication year of The Wealth of Nations: 1776 - Adam Smith’s book is the source text for Lang’s new oratorio. Number of parts in Freakonomics series on Adam Smith: three-part series - Dubner notes prior reporting on Smith. New York Philharmonic Chorus size in first rehearsal: 49 singers - Dubner describes the initial vocal rehearsal setup. Length of Bang on a Can Festival: 12-hour - Dubner cites the festival’s original marathon format. Estimated crowd size at Arsenal match: 50,000–60,000 people - Lang recalls a football match that inspired thoughts about collective performance. Movement number highlighted with Douglass: Movement 16 - Lang discusses 'The True Statesman' using Frederick Douglass text. Movement number highlighted with Debs: Movement 17 - Lang discusses 'Statement to the Court' using Eugene V. Debs text. Number of singers in first rehearsal section described later: 49 singers - The narrator repeats the chorus size during rehearsal observation.

Pivotal Quotes: "There’s so much of literature that we love and it all ends up being people and money problems." — David Lang: Lang explains why The Wealth of Nations felt like meaningful source material. "Money itself doesn’t really have any value. But money exists as a kind of token that goes from person to person as we are connected through trade." — David Lang: Lang describes the conceptual core of the oratorio and his view of economics. "In this high noon of Christian civilization, money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood." — Eugene V. Debs (text set by Lang): Dubner asks about the Debs movement, which culminates in a critique of capital and inequality.

Implications: The episode shows how contemporary classical music can make economic ideas emotionally legible, turning Smith, Douglass, and Debs into a public conversation about labor, inequality, and mutual dependence. It also illustrates how premieres are built through collective effort and audience expansion.