Franchise owners of a late-night fast-food joint in Argyll Street, Glasgow, have started pumping in classical music to quell its customers drunken revelries. Apparently, police have been called to this branch of McDonalds, the busiest in Scotland, more than 200 times in 14 months.

The classical remedy aims to sooth savage stomachs while waiting for the patties to fry.

Seldom has good music been so degraded.

mcdonalds music

 

Farewell to Ronnie Gilbert, heart of the folk revival (alongside Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman).

weavers

Few violin concertos have received an uglier reception than Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s in February 1947, in St Louis. The composer, rolling in Hollywood gold, hated the modern era and did his best to turn the clock back in a beautiful score that was slammed by critics (‘more corn that gold’) and buried for decades.

Jascha Heifetz gave the premiere and loved the work. Without his recording, the concerto might have been forgotten forever. But what no-one seems to know is which of two Cremona instruments, Strad or Guarnerius, the great violinist took out of his double-case on the night of the premiere. Might the other one have made a difference to its reception?

This may be strictly for violin geeks, but read more about the controversy on Tarisio, here.

Heifetz undated

More Wagner troubles.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Katharina Wagner is trying to terminate her half-sister Eva’s involvement before the summer’s up. They are communicating through lawyers, as Wagners do.

Meantime Kirill Petrenko, music director of Bavarian State Opera, is furious that the outspoken Canadian tenor Lance Ryan has been dropped as Siegfried. He says: ‘Only my responsibility and respect for my colleagues has stopped me walking out before the start of rehearsals…. Nur die Verantwortung und der Respekt meinen Kollegen in Bayreuth gegenüber, die ich nicht so knapp vor Beginn der Proben im Stich lassen kann, hält mich davon ab, meine Mitwirkung aufzukündigen.’

KirillxPetrenko_35902168_original.large-4-3-800-277-0-2872-1948

Christian Thielemann has denied through a spokesman that he had anything to do with these changes.

 

The critic Paul Pelkonen informs us that an elderly woman suffered apparent cardiac arrest at the start of the second half of a New York Philharmonic matinee concert on Friday. There has been no external corroboration of the death. UPDATE: The New York Philhamonic says it cannot comment ‘out of respect for the person’s family’.

Here is Paul’s eyewitness account:

When she collapsed, the orchestra was already seated to play the second half of the program, awaiting the arrival of the concertmaster and Mr. Kahane. She was on the west side (house left) of Avery Fisher Hall in the Orchestra seating, when she fell to the floor at the end of the row. An usher was quick to summon the house manager and a little later, Lincoln Center Security.

An unidentified party administered CPR, helped and relieved by two strong men who aided with the gruelling task of heart massage. They administered chest compressions and rescue breaths, working steadily until EMTs arrived with a wheeled stretcher. The young men helped the woman onto the stretcher, and continued compressions as she was wheeled out. She was pale and from my point of view across the auditorium, unresponsive. The lights then lowered and the concert proceeded as planned.

 

avery fisher hall

We’re delighted to report that  the Swiss artist, Sebastian Jacot, considered a flute rock star by his fellow-pros, has just won the Principal Flute position at the Leipzig Gewandaus.

Sebastian, 27, won the Kobe competition in 2013, the Nielsen in 2014, before being mysteriously eliminated after a brilliant performance at the Geneva finals this year. He was advanced to the finals for Berlin’s Princ.

He was in contention for the Berlin Philharmonic position, which was won by Chicago’s Matthieu Dufour.

Sebastian plays a wooden flute, like his teacher, Jaques Zoon.

Leipzig have picked a winner.

sebastian jacot2

Emma Denton, cellist of the Carducci Quartet, is working on a complete cycle of the Shostakovich string quartets. In the course of her preparations, she found a way through to her ailing father, Alan Lumsden. Here’s her experience, written exclusively for Slipped Disc.

emma denton

In 1961, Dad was asked to translate an article that first appeared in the Sovyetskaya Muzyka following the premiere of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.8. The Quartet has always held an almost reverential position in our household and performing it as a teenager at the Royal Albert Hall with Dad watching was an experience that gave me the hunger and desire to become a professional quartet player. 

Dad is suffering from Alzheimer’s and a steep decline in the past few months has made conversations increasingly difficult. However, sitting down together and revisiting the article set off a string of memories. He took great pride in recounting how during his last trip to Russia in the 1970s he managed to flee across the Finnish-Russian border with his friend Dmitri, after being summoned to appear at a tribunal on charges of selling on the black market.

Growing up, I was aware that Dad had a very unusual and eclectic musical career. He was Professor of Sackbut at the Royal College of Music, taught recorder at Birmingham Conservatoire, was a member of the London Serpent Trio, the Early Music Consort of London, provided instruments and played on the soundtrack for Alien, freelanced as a trombonist with many of the top UK orchestras, as well as publishing and editing music. His study was full of weird and wonderful instruments including a medieval double recorder, ophecleides, sackbuts and serpents. He also had shelves and shelves full of old music with a distinctly musty smell. It was in his study that I first learned of Dad’s connection to Russia.

Before university, Dad had to join up for National Service. This was at the height of the Cold War and the powers that be thought that there was an urgent need to train Russian interpreters. It seemed the most profitable way of spending two years, particularly as those selected for training as interpreters were automatically commissioned. For the final months of his service, Dad was the official Russian interpreter at the Admiralty and later he was employed by the BBC Russian service to give regular talks on music in the UK. Dad was incredibly passionate about Russian culture and once berated me for reading War and Peacein English, as so much was lost in translation!

On leaving Cambridge, Dad was offered a job with Musica Rara, a London music shop which specialised in importing music. He made three extraordinary trips to Russia. Dad used to sit me and my siblings down and recount how he would wear up to 15 Marks & Spencer shirts at a time and walk up and down the street taking them off one by one as he exchanged them for money or coffee. Underwear from C & A also proved popular! He would use the funds to buy manuscripts that were hard to come by in the west, including Shostakovich scores. Unfortunately, this led to some tricky encounters with the authorities, which means that Dad was refused permission to return to Russia. It did however, give him a lifelong interest in Russian music. Musica Rara published a lot of his finds, including unknown works by Glinka .

After his first visit to Russia and six months after the premier of Shostakovich’s Quartet No.8, Dad was asked by the Musical Times to translate an article written by Yury Keldysh, entitled ‘An Autobiographical Quartet’. Dad remembers how difficult this was at the time to translate from the Russian and still preserve a good sense of the meaning. His article has become a fascinating read for me this year as my quartet, the Carducci Quartet, embarks upon its Shostakovich15 project, performing the complete string quartet cycle. It is a good example of intelligent Soviet criticism, but only really tells half the story of the 8th Quartet. In the article, Keldysh noted the use of quotations from Shostakovich’s earlier works, the ‘lyrical content’, ‘deeply-felt emotion’ and the dedication to ‘victims of fascism and war.’ But interestingly that is almost as far as it goes. Perhaps in 1961 Russia there was a resistance to delve deeper. From what we know now, it seems that Shostakovich was very near suicide at the time, partly as a result of being coerced into joining the Soviet party. Shostakovich’s friend Lev Lebedinsky provides an insight into Shostakovich’s desperate state of mind:

shostakovich_smoking

‘Shostakovich dedicated the Quartet to the victims of fascism to disguise his intentions, although, as he considered himself a victim of a fascist regime, the dedication was apt. In fact he intended it as a summation of everything he had written before. It was his farewell to life. He associated joining the Party with a moral, as well as physical, death. On the day of his return from a trip to Dresden, where he had completed the Quartet and purchased a large number of sleeping pills, he played the Quartet to me on the piano and told me with tears in his eyes that it was his last work. He hinted at his intention to commit suicide. Perhaps subconsciously he hoped that I would save him. I managed to remove the pills from his jacket pocket and gave them to his son Maxim, explaining to him the true meaning of the Quartet. I pleaded with him never to let his father out of his sight. During the next few days I spent as much time as possible with Shostakovich until I felt that the danger of suicide had passed.’

The use of his initials DSCH as a musical monogram woven throughout the work points towards the intention of the Quartet to serve as a ‘requiem’. Yet Keldysh finishes the article by criticising the ‘monotony of thematic material’ and the ‘tiresome repetition of fragmentary melodic particles.’ In performing the Quartet we find the opposite to be true. Within the complete cycle, it often has the greatest impact on the audience and it is perhaps the economy of melody and musical material that helps.

A lot has been written about Shostakovich since Keldysh’s article appeared, much of it conflicting and contradictory. The one certainty is that his music has had a profound affect on audiences and performers alike and on a personal level, it has helped me reconnect with my Dad on a level I no longer thought possible. For that, I will always be grateful.

(c) Emma Denton/Slipped Disc

The Carducci Quartet will perform the complete quartets of Shostakovich throughout 2015, including at the Cheltenham Festival, Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Washington DC, Columbia, Aldeburgh, Cardiff and Cork.

Norman Scribner, who died two months ago, founded the Washington Choral Arts Society in 1965 and conducted it until 2012.  Steven Honigberg, cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra, has produced a documentary tribute.

Scribner is especially perceptive about his fellow-conductors.

You see the video here first.

bernstein_scribner

Out of 103 applicants, the Dallas Opera has selected the following candidates for its inaugural Institute for Women Conductors:

 

    • Jennifer Condon (Australia/Germany)
    • Jessica Gethin (Australia)
    • Natalie Murray Beale (UK)
    • Stephanie Rhodes (USA)
    • Anna Skryleva (Russia/Germany, pictured)
    • Lidiya Yankovskaya (USA)     

anna skryleva

The IWC will consist of master classes and one-on-ones with Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume and Principal Guest Conductor Nicole Paiement.

It’s Martha’s birthday. She’s 74 today.

So the Cleveland-based pianist Zsolt Bognar whipped out his diary and retrieved a record of the week he spent, two years ago, with Martha and his teacher, Sergey Babayan.

Sample:

I am struck again and again by the highly sensitive, even vulnerable nature of creative artists—their refusal to trust themselves and their abilities without unimaginable reserves of work. I witnessed all-night rehearsals and repetitions that seemed superhuman. For performers to give so openly and emotionally of themselves, time does not leave room to build illusions of personal defenses.

 

martha argerich

Suddenly, the Pace Changes

Long nap in the hotel—but suddenly the call came at 8.30pm. “A car will pick you right away to bring you to the Radio Studio. Be ready.” A quick ride up the mountain ended at the pizzeria. We picked up food and beverages for the artists. When we arrived, I saw the radio control room with the engineers, artists, and directors surrounding some concentrated task of unspecified intensity. I waited in silence backstage, guarding the pizzas. From everywhere, the sounds of rehearsing musicians. Fragments of Shostakovich Trio from the recording studio from the Maiskys. A Rachmaninov prelude from upstairs. A Chopin Sonata somewhere else. Noticing the backstage aesthetic is characteristic—austere, almost clinical, and yet it is the scenery behind the scenes for stage musicians.

I can only sit and wait–alone. My heart pounds. I have no idea how long the night would last, but surely it is long haul. My teacher and other musicians joined for food briefly to recharge. This pizza late night was breakfast for most of us. The Maiskys passed through and the cellist used the opportunity to recount more stories and tales—a favorite pastime of musicians. Suddenly the voice of Martha Argerich. She joins us and we all start telling stories as though purposely defying the fact of the grueling work lies ahead. We discussed physical conditioning routines and I demonstrated a stretch I learned in Cleveland. She asked me to help her learn. Then she showed even better ones. Suddenly the impulse for work began. Without words, they started.

Read more here.

 

A Brazilian craftsman who numbered Menuhin, Ricci, Kremer and David Nadlen among his clients and friends, Luiz Bellini has died at 79.

luiz bellini

pictured: Bellini, with S. F. Sacconi

The magazine Music & Literature has published a somewhat unidiomatic translation of an interview given by the great violinist in Kiev last November. It contains some sublime and surreal reflections on the state of the world, as well as Gidon’s strongest statements yet on the Russian intervention in Ukraine.

To draw any newsworthy conclusion would risk taking his humane and principled views out of context. But read the paragraphs below and you will catch the drift of his thinking.

Ôîòî Íèêîëàÿ Òèì÷åíêî 18.11.14 Ôèëàðìîíèÿ. Ãèäîí Êðåìåð. Êèåâñêèé êàìåðíûé îðêåñòð. Äèðèæåð Ðîìàí Êîôìàí

When I think about the events of the past year, I find that the concept of “human life” has been profoundly devalued. What we are all given is a single life to share. If that sounds sentimental, so be it: it was Ostrovsky’s opinion, and Brodsky’s, and that of many others. And there are those today who want to destroy this notion of life as a physical and spiritual gift. It doesn’t matter what they hide behind—politics, economics, ethics, religion. When talk turns into destruction, everything within me rises up. The Nazis murdered, the Bolsheviks killed, the Latvian gunmen fired. Once you have followed them, unable to respect the right to life of your neighbor, colleague, or brother, then it’s a very short stretch from one victim to one million victims. How terrifying, that the person who sends another to kill and the person who is sent to kill are both infected with the belief that murder is the key to moving forward, to perfecting justice. The very people defending “their land,” “their language,” “their homes” become the unwitting victims of a tragic calculus. Some, denying others the right to question anything, call it “belief in an historic mission.”

Let me reduce this to a formulation so simple as to seem trivial in comparison with today’s tragedy: when a couple splits up, one of them inevitably has to pack a bag and leave first. It happens sometimes that the one who ups and goes is in the right. Or that the one who stays behind is. But it rarely happens that both people pack their bags at once.

Now click here to read the full interview.