From the bottomless archive of Bruce Duffie’s interviews, we offer as an August curio the memories of Franz Mohr, chief concert technician for Steinway, and personal tuner to Vladimir Horowitz. Apparently, he only ever attended one Horowitz recital. His nerves would not have survived many more.

Read the interview here.

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From my Album of the Week on sinfinimusic.com:

If, as the prophet so aptly put it, the Ethiopian can change his skin and the leopard his spots, there is no reason to imagine that Anne-Sophie Mutter can’t do a club night. The Ice Queen of the violin, Germany’s first international virtuoso of modern times, has been awoken to club culture by her 20-something children and would like to have a slice of the action. Promo videos for this release show her chatting up a young audience in a Berlin den and generally acting in a manner altogether out of character from her aloof and self-absorbed concert-hall persona.

So how did she perform? Read here.

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The culture minister Vladimir Medinsky wants the composer to be reburied in a new memorial complex which is being constructed on the Rachmaninov family’s estate. ‘Nobody needs Rachmaninov in America,’ he declared.

Rachmaninov, who died in exile in 1943, is buried at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.

 

rachmaninov grave

The pianist Denis Matsuev, a presidential advisor on music, is said to be less keen on the transfer. Russia is presently in the process of buying the composer’s estate at Senar, Switzerland.

 

Opera Australia principal artist Kanen Breen was singing the national anthem at the FIBA Oceania Championships in Melbourne, wearing a rainbow-like tie when an audience member shouted ‘faggot!’

His partner and fellow-singer Jacqui Dark writes:

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I was in the middle of a show at the Opera House and myself and all of his colleagues were incredibly proud of him and were running offstage when we could to try to catch a glimpse of him televised live on Channel 9. I had friends poised to tape it in case I missed it, and his family were set to travel from the country to watch him perform.

He nailed the anthem. He looked fantastic. He also wore a snazzy rainbow tie to show his support for marriage equality, an issue on which the government of this country is embarrassingly backward. He finished and stepped back to rousing applause. The applause died down and a solitary, angry male voice in the crowd yelled ‘Faggot!’.

I am beyond stunned by this. Beyond hurt and beyond angry. He took it in his stride, texting me that it had happened and adding ‘My work here is done.’. I found myself unable to accept it with such grace, and then found myself wondering why this was so. The sad conclusion I have reached is that he can accept it because it happens to him every day. Every. Day. Stop to consider that – imagine that every time you leave the house, you’re resigned to the fact that you’ll cop abuse from complete strangers. That you could be standing in a silence in front of 15 000 people – the most vulnerable a performer will ever be – and be shot down by a pathetic, cowardly word. I sometimes see it: When we’re walking down the street and a stranger sneers “Nice pants”, or when he’s riding on the train with our son and an ignorant bigot yells out “Oh, look – the poofter’s got a baby!” I’m outraged every time and can’t believe that this is 2015 Australia. He shrugs it off and occasionally tells me if there’s a really bad event. I find this sadder than the abuse itself. That people are walking around every day expecting to be abused. Resigned to it. USED to it. This appalls me beyond words.

A Norwegian film festival has refused entry to a film about disabled children because it is Israeli, not Palestinian.

A Spanish music festival has cancelled the American rapper Matisyahu because he refused to sign a Palestine solidarity statement.

Orwell was right. The world can only conceive of politics in binary simplicities. Palestine good, Israel bad.

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Three years ago, Peter Tregear was brought in to calm down the Australian National University’s (ANU) School of Music in Canberra from which the teaching talent was flying out as fast as and wherever it could after a round of budget cuts. Peter succeeded. Canberra reverted to a modicum of quiet efficiency.

Three months ago, Peter saw his job advertised. Today, he quit.

ANU has lost all credibility. It may also be missing a final consonant.

peter tregear

Andrey Krichevskiy, head of the Melodiya record label, has been severely beaten up near his office. His condition is described as serious and he has been transferred to the central clinical hospital.

Andrey has been the subject of threats since he opposed a government reform of authors’ rights which threatens to enrich certain oligarchs and leave composers and performers without revenue.

Andrey said his attackers repeatedly threatened to beat him again if he persisted in opposing the measure.

andriy krichevsky

Just another day’s work in Putin’s Russia.

We’ve been sent by its official transcriber what may be the most candid interview ever given by the heroic tenor.

In it, he discusses seriousness of purpose (which should not be mistaken for lack of humour), the importance of principle and the tolls of mortality.

Bruce Duffie, who conducted the interview in November 1981, clearly formed an intiutive bond with the tenor.

After having seen and admired his performances and recordings for many years, it was in November of 1981 that I made contact with Jon Vickers, and he agreed to meet with me at the Civic Opera House in Chicago.  More of those details are in the introduction below.  A day or so after the chat, he called me to correct and further amplify a detail he had related.  I later sent him a copy of the finished interview and some months afterward, I received another call from him – not from his agent nor a secretary, but from the man himself – just to tell me how very pleased he was with the way it came out and with how well I’d been able to present his thoughts and opinions.

Read the full, absorbing interview here.

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His wife, Florence, has informed an unofficial site that the great and much loved baritone has received his last dose of radiation in London for a brain tumour. We wish Dmitry a swift and full recovery.

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We’re hearing cries of distress from players in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra who are appearing in an open-air concert in Bodrum, Turkey, today. The temperature at rehearsal this morning is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37 Celsius.

One guest player tells us: ‘This is, quite possibly, the hottest temperature I’ve ever played in. The sun, however beautiful, is punishing.’

So when is a hot date just too hot? When should musicians put down their tools and say it’s too dangerous to play?

sun coast

 

Stile Antico, the early music choral group, have posted:

We’re really sorry that we weren’t able to sing the second half of our concert in Cambridge tonight. We wish a swift recovery to the lady who fell ill during the interval and would like to thank the audience who waited so patiently while she received attention. We look forward very much to returning to Cambridge in 2016.

The group will be appearing in the BBC Proms Sherlock Holmes concert this afternoon.

stile antico

A Brazilian film that has just won international distribution at the Locarno Film Festival goes to the top of our must-see list. Sergio Machado’s film ‘The Violin Teacher’ tells the story of a player who flunks his audition to the Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra and cannot find his place in the world until…

First review here.

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