Just in: Mariss Jansons signs on in Munich to 2024
mainElected unanimously by the musicians in 2023, Jansons has signed a new contract after receiving assurances that the city will finally build a new concert hall to replace the appalling Gasteig.
Jansons, 75, gave up a parallel job with the turbulent Concertgebouw in order to focus all of his energies on Munich.
Typo alert, Norman – wasn’t Jansons elected in 2003?
He officially took up the position with the BRSO in 2003. The election itself took place December 2000/ January 2001.
Oh so Munich will be building a new concert hall? That’s wonderful.
Wonderful news about MJ – and with luck he might still be able influence a redesign of the planned hall. At the moment it looks like a huge glass coffin. Absolutely ghastly.
He may be able to influence a redesign but from his previous statements, it’s doubtful he will (or even cares about what the outside looks like), as long as the inside is up to scratch… http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/konzertsaal-muenchen-ein-entwurf-der-viel-ermoeglicht-1.3729970
Why is the Concertgebouw turbulent? I attend several concert there a year and never noticed.
Wondering same thing.
Did they not have a finance problem?
“financial”….and l don’t know that anyone already said (It was yesterday but) Happy Birthday Mr.Lebrecht…70 years old!
Happy belated b-day, Mr. L.
No. The Concertgebouw has a “tourbulent” touring activity on five continents. Reportedly Jansons has very big problem with coping with the jet leg and all that traveling proved to be challenging for him: during the 125 anniversary tour he had to skip several concerts. I guess two jobs were simply too much and he chosed for the less physically engaging without compromise on artistic matters
Interesting how his “women conductors aren’t my cup of tea” remark didn’t hurt him in the least. He became an honorary member of the Vienna Phil last month and won a similar post with the Berlin Phil before that. And now Munich. The old boys’ network hangs on…
Actually, if you read the transcript, what he said isn’t as bad as it seems. He (clumsily) said something along the lines:
“Women conductors are becoming more common, and there is no reason why women can’t conduct. This is in contrast to when I was young and women conductors were almost unheard of. And it is something someone old like me finds hard to get used to. The new generation will find women conductors completely normal.”
…And that’s no knock on his conducting, of course. I’ve long enjoyed his Mahler and Sibelius recordings.
Personally, I’m not a huge Jansons fan, but I think this is a good move. His work in Munich shows a level of ‘excitement’ that’s simply absent from his rather sterile Concertgebouw recordings. In short, it’s been a good partnership and it’s the smart to continue that partnership through the transition into the new hall. As we all know, the radio orchestra there is very, VERY good.
Have to agree on the added level of excitement in Munich. Don’t know what does it, but I was a non-fan of Jansons’ Concertgebouw readings, only to start following him closely once I started listening to the BR Klassik recordings. The sound and interpretations are nearly consistently remarkable.
Some wrong informations in this post:
The city of munich will NOT build a new concerthall to the BRSO, this will do the county of Bavaria together with the Bayerische Rundfunk.
The Gasteig,which is owned by the city of munich (!),will be closed in 2020 for 4-5 years and rebuild completly,including a new hall with the acoustic of Mr. Toyoda.