When the earth shook in Tokyo this afternoon, there were two orchestral concerts scheduled for the evening.
The Japan Philharmonic Symphony was playing at Suntory Hall with chief conductor Alexander Lazarev a programme of Stravinsky’s violin concerto (soloist Yano Ryoko) and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suite. Not much is known to me of this event except that, despite a paralysis of public transport. it went ahead without incident.
The New Japan Philharmonic, with guest conductor Daniel Harding, were performing Wagner’s Parsifal prelude, followed by Mahler’s fifth symphony at Sumida Triphony Hall. Barely 50 people managed to attend out of an expected 1,800 but Harding reported a ‘wonderful atmosphere’, with one elderly man walking four hours across town to get there.
Getting home was another matter. The orchestral musicians bedded down on the floor of the concert hall, unable to get home. The conductor was driven back to his hotel at snail’s pace, covering five kilometres in two hours. He posted a picture of the traffic jams taken from his bedroom window
and settled down to watch England play cricket on the telly against Bangladesh.
Spirit of the Blitz? Alive and well.
Tomorrow’s concert will go ahead, public transport permitting.
When the earth shook in Tokyo this afternoon, there were two orchestral concerts scheduled for the evening.
The Japan Philharmonic Symphony was playing at Suntory Hall with chief conductor Alexander Lazarev a programme of Stravinsky’s violin concerto (soloist Yano Ryoko) and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suite. Not much is known to me of this event except that, despite a paralysis of public transport. it went ahead without incident.
The New Japan Philharmonic, with guest conductor Daniel Harding, were performing Wagner’s Parsifal prelude, followed by Mahler’s fifth symphony at Sumida Triphony Hall. Barely 50 people managed to attend out of an expected 1,800 but Harding reported a ‘wonderful atmosphere’, with one elderly man walking four hours across town to get there.
Getting home was another matter. The orchestral musicians bedded down on the floor of the concert hall, unable to get home. The conductor was driven back to his hotel at snail’s pace, covering five kilometres in two hours. He posted a picture of the traffic jams taken from his bedroom window
and settled down to watch England play cricket on the telly against Bangladesh.
Spirit of the Blitz? Alive and well.
Tomorrow’s concert will go ahead, public transport permitting.
Here’s the latest appeal from the heart of an orchestra that is being torn apart. The writer, a New Yorker, payed first in the Israel Philharmonic, then in Germany before he fell in love with Rio. The rest, is here.
Dear Norman Lebrecht :
It is indeed wonderful that you have allowed so much space in your blog
for the problems with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. What is currently happening here in Rio de Janeiro –where I have resided since 1973 and was the first oboe of the orchestra until 1997 or 24 years–resembles unsavoury procedures in the musical world in the 1930s.
Meaning: firing/sacking musicians just because they have committed the
“crime”of getting old or older, calling for re-auditions of veterans
despite their long-time experience and survival in the orchestra and
encouraging scabs to take the place of discarded musicians.
What is the worst “crime”in my view,is Maestro Minczuk and the
Brazilian Orchestra’s use of the Youth Orchestra to replace the
“ÖSB”(Brazilian Symphony) for the first three months of season with
some members of the orchestra–who are not rebelling vs.
Minzcuk–playing in he first stands of the youth orchestra.
In the UK and USA ,a court order would probably bar the younth
orchestra from taking over the initial part of the season from the
professionals. In Rio de Janeiro however(and not necessarily Brazil)
anything goes(unfortunately).
Today,Friday,as I write you Rio’s major newspaper O Globo hasa picture
of the musicians who refuse to take the audition awaiting in the front
of the Labour Ministry for a reconciliation hearing–which never
occurred because neither the Maestro or administration appeared.
We are living in the epoch of internet which has overthrown
dictatorships in the Arab world and hopefully via this same magical
communication ,Maestro Minzcuk and his cohorts will receive their
proper due if these 58 musicians are sacked.
Can the unions in the UK, USA, Canada,etc bar Minzcuk from conducting and
holding auditions? Can other measures be taken? Our fears here in Brazil
are that the draconian measures which have begun in the Brazilian
Symphony will spread to all the 56 orchestras in this growing
nation,threatening thelivelihood of local musicians.
Best wishes,
Harold Emert
oboist
Brazilian National Orchestra
Here’s the latest appeal from the heart of an orchestra that is being torn apart. The writer, a New Yorker, payed first in the Israel Philharmonic, then in Germany before he fell in love with Rio. The rest, is here.
Dear Norman Lebrecht :
It is indeed wonderful that you have allowed so much space in your blog
for the problems with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. What is currently happening here in Rio de Janeiro –where I have resided since 1973 and was the first oboe of the orchestra until 1997 or 24 years–resembles unsavoury procedures in the musical world in the 1930s.
Meaning: firing/sacking musicians just because they have committed the
“crime”of getting old or older, calling for re-auditions of veterans
despite their long-time experience and survival in the orchestra and
encouraging scabs to take the place of discarded musicians.
What is the worst “crime”in my view,is Maestro Minczuk and the
Brazilian Orchestra’s use of the Youth Orchestra to replace the
“ÖSB”(Brazilian Symphony) for the first three months of season with
some members of the orchestra–who are not rebelling vs.
Minzcuk–playing in he first stands of the youth orchestra.
In the UK and USA ,a court order would probably bar the younth
orchestra from taking over the initial part of the season from the
professionals. In Rio de Janeiro however(and not necessarily Brazil)
anything goes(unfortunately).
Today,Friday,as I write you Rio’s major newspaper O Globo hasa picture
of the musicians who refuse to take the audition awaiting in the front
of the Labour Ministry for a reconciliation hearing–which never
occurred because neither the Maestro or administration appeared.
We are living in the epoch of internet which has overthrown
dictatorships in the Arab world and hopefully via this same magical
communication ,Maestro Minzcuk and his cohorts will receive their
proper due if these 58 musicians are sacked.
Can the unions in the UK, USA, Canada,etc bar Minzcuk from conducting and
holding auditions? Can other measures be taken? Our fears here in Brazil
are that the draconian measures which have begun in the Brazilian
Symphony will spread to all the 56 orchestras in this growing
nation,threatening thelivelihood of local musicians.
Best wishes,
Harold Emert
oboist
Brazilian National Orchestra
The BBC Philharmonic, based in Manchester, was shaken but unharmed by the quake.
Here’s the
BBC report. Tomorrow’s concert in Yokohama is cancelled.
Conductor Daniel Harding has also tweeted that he’s safe.
Just played Mahler 5 for the 50 who made it… Hope the other 1750 are all ok. Wonderful atmosphere on strangest of days.
Would have played just for the 69 year old who walked 4 hours across Tokyo to make it to the concert! That’s dedication to music!!
Daniel is due to conduct the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo a second time tomorrow in Mahler’s fifth symphony. Tonight, many of the musicians are having to sleep on the concert hall floor.
The Maggio Musicale company of Florence, in Tokyo with Zubin Mehta and director Nicolas Joel, have posted on their website that they were shaken up but uninjured.
Here’s the message:
Terremoto a Tokyo: stanno bene i componenti della tournée
Giungono notizie rassicuranti da Tokyo. Tutti i componenti della tournée del Maggio Musicale stanno bene.
Per i familiari che volessero avere notizie dei loro parenti a Tokyo, numero dedicato 055 2779254
Fittingly, they are performing Verdi’s, Forza del destino.
I’ve received accounts of music stands flying around the rehearsal room. Flautist Nicola Mazzanti reports:
This ordeal has made me appreciate the great virtues of the Japanese people.
The American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers told
WQXR that she’s OK:
The American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers had just landed in Osaka after the quake struck. “I heard of the previous earthquake but had no clue that there was another devastating one until we got in our car to go to the hotel,” she said in an e-mail. “The driver had to circumvent the city to arrive at the hotel an hour later because of the traffic and the Hilton hotel in Osaka (!) is sold out because of it.
“Every channel on TV shows unbelievable devastation and there is a feeling that we just landed in the ’emergency zone.’ I don’t have concerts till next week, and have not heard anything from the presenter as we have literally just plopped into our room.” Meyers is scheduled to perform next week with the Osaka Philharmonic.
More follows.
Dear colleagues in Brazil, musicians of the OSEP,
Re-auditioning is simply illegal. Once you have got your orchestra job by an audition you have made it.
Every musician has to keep his artistic standard individually. 133 German orchestras, amongst them the famous Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and others, have unlimited, longterm contracts. Only by building longterm relations – without re-auditioning – high perfomance teams in the orchestra can grow and develop. Re-auditioning is not the way to raise artistic standards. They are forbidden.
My recommendation to all musicians: just boycot any illegal re-auditioning procedures.
Gerald Mertens
Managing Director German Orchestral Union
I had to rub my eyes twice and pinch myself in the fleshy parts before I could give credence to this news report, but corroboration across the German press suggests that it must be true.
The winner of the 2011 Hebert von Karajan Prize, with a fifty-thousand Euro stash and a widow-signed certificate is…. Helmut Rilling.
Rilling, right? You know who I mean. Chap from Stuttgart, has been conducting Bach all his life. Never frightened the horses, never got charged with war crimes. Quiet chap, does his job nicely and goes home to his slippers.
Rilling is the new Karajan? Not quite. The citation says ‘he’s one of the most outstanding personalities on the international music scene’. Maybe that’s how they see it in the quieter parts of Germany. The award is made in Baden-Baden.
Previous recipients include the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (natch), Daniel Barenboim and Anne-Sophie Mutter. I guess they won’t be sending their cash back.
Still, Rilling? The only times I have seen him, twice, it was standing in for one of the big beasts who called in sick (or bored). Rilling came on stage inconspicuously. He did not look like Karajan, strut like him or bear any perceptible charisma, good or bad. He looked, to me, like a Dickensian watchmaker and the longer he conducted the more little wheels he set spinning in my head, tick-tock, tick-tock. He did not need rewinding.
The idea that Rilling, 77, should be honoured with a Karajan prize is priceless. Beyond irony.
Mine’s a Rolex, thanks.
