The Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel has pulled out of the Verbier Festival, where he was meant to be singing Tosca. No reason has been gieven, but coming so soon after the very public withdrawal of Gidon Kremer it accentuates the sense of crisis at the Swiss mountain Festival.

Terfel, unlike Kremer, is not a stranger to cancellations. Last night he stood in to the festival’s relief for Thomas Quasthoff in Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

But his pullout could not have come at shorter notice, or hit the festival harder. Those present say the atmosphere is exceptionally tense.

One has to sympathise with the festival’s director Martin Engstroem, whose birthday it is today.

Martin Engstroem

Here’s the press statement (in French). Terfel is replaced by Ambrogio Maestri.

Verbier – 22 juillet 2011 / Le baryton Ambrogio Maestri remplace Bryn Terfel dans Tosca le dimanche 24 juillet.

Bryn Terfel a le regret de devoir renoncer à sa prestation dans Tosca le dimanche 24 juillet. Il est remplacé par le baryton Ambrogio Maestri dans le rôle de Scarpia. Ambrogio Maestri a déjà chanté ce rôle plusieurs fois notamment à Torre del Lago et a débuté dans le rôle de Falstaff sous la direction de Ricardo Muti à la Scala. Il s’est fait connaître dans les rôles de différents opéras, dont entre autres Rigoletto, La forza del destino, La Traviatata ou Il Trovatore. Il s’agit de sa première apparition au Verbier Festival.

 

AND….. Now they’ve cancelled the annual barbecue and raclette, but that’s because it’s too cold… see here.

Lear Auerbach, a young Russian-American composer, has taken it upon herself to address Gidon Kremer’s dissatisfaction with the festival ratrace.

Here’s her open letter, just in:

Lera Auerbach

 

Dearest Gidon,

Your integrity, hard work, your talent and vision have been an inspiration to me and to generations of artists. Your position is unique in the history of music as you are, in large measure, responsible for much of the invaluably rich violin repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries. By championing my work during the last ten years you have given me courage to continue. The work of a composer in our times is one of the most challenging, uncompromising and commercially unrewarding paths that a musician can choose.
Nothing is ever static in life: molecules, atoms, planets – all move in a constant dance. Similarly in art, remaining static is deadly. There are too many artists who get comfortable recycling the same ten concerti for the rest of their lives without actively searching for new challenges and discoveries. They take no risks nor accept responsibility for the continuation of our beloved art form.  You are an example of true artistic honesty.
I would like to invite you to look through my eyes at what I see in Verbier, why I am hopeful about its potential, its future and am grateful for its present. This magical village perched on a mountain top generously gives more than it receives. Every day here, I witness surprises, experimentation, inspiration, successes and failures, all traits of our lives as musicians.
The gift of Verbier to the young musicians of the Academy, to the members of the Festival and Chamber Orchestras, who come from different parts of the world, and to those artists who have already achieved world-wide recognition – is one that cannot be quantified, it can only be felt, and my feelings for Verbier are strong. Two weeks can change one’s life and Verbier does it summer after summer.
This year, I see in the audience a group of children from Russia, from Urals and Siberia, where I was born. These children were brought here by the Neva Foundation so that they could experience this music festival. I am certain this will forever change their lives and their perspectives on music.
Having turned 18 years old, coming of age, Verbier is still searching for its identity, its mission, its unique place among countless other festivals. And this searching is good, because the moment one stops changing and developing, one looses the very essence of our art.
“Living music”, music of our times, of which you have been one of the greatest and bravest champions – is becoming part of Verbier’s mission, its contribution, its legacy.  Works by Lowell Liebermann, Milton Babbitt, Alfred Schnittke, Richard Dubugnon, Behzad Ranjbaran, Rodion Shchedrin as well as several young Academy composers is now a major part of the Verbier experience.
One of my strongest recent impressions was the piano recital of Jorge Luis Prats. Which other major festival would dare to produce a full program of a virtually unknown 56-year old Cuban pianist? Yet, he is one of the best musicians alive and Verbier had the guts and the vision to present his recital.
Yes, Verbier is not perfect, but which festival is? Perhaps only death may be perfect, life is full of imperfections. One can always choose and Verbier, thankfully, is full of choices.
I personally hope you will choose to return to Verbier next summer and play. After all, this is what we do, this is who we are.
You will be missed here this summer. I am personally sorry not to hear you play. I am sure that the children, brought from Urals and Siberia, will be sorry not to hear you this summer and it may be very difficult for them to be able to attend your concerts any time soon. I am sure that the Academy and Orchestra’s young artists will miss you as well as your numerous friends and colleagues.
To take a stand and refuse to share your gift by canceling a concert requires courage, maybe as much courage as going on stage, if not more, but we are the ones getting hurt by it; we who love you, who  admire your playing, your audiences, your friends, your students, your
followers, your colleagues.
The show must go on even when the walls around are falling down, because this is part of being an artist – accepting the  imperfections of the world around and transcending the reality, transcending the gravity, creating regardless of circumstances and above all – sharing the gift of music.
I realize that Verbier may be a different experience for different people, but I wanted to share with you what I see here,  because I know it will give you hope. And I do hope you will return here in the future as you are very much loved and missed.
Yours always,
Lera Auerbach
Composer-in-Residence Verbier Festival

The great violinist has sent me the original, private letter that he sent to the Verbier Festival, announcing his withdrawal. I publish it with his permission and with that of Martin Engstroem, the Verbier director to whom it was addressed.

Kremer took offence when Verbier announced that he was cancelling because he was unwell. In fact, his grievance appears to lie deeper, in the way the few super-famous classical musicians are exploited. It is the first coherent declaration of dissent to the celebrity culture in classical music.

I present the letter verbatim, in the original English:

 

(June 28th ,2011).

*******************************

 

Dear Martin,

 

Today, unfortunately I have some upsetting news for you. After many weeks of questioning myself, and a barrage of conflicting thoughts, I have finally decided to withdraw my participation in this year’s Verbier festival.

While I do not want to hurt you, I can only imagine how disappointed you will be. Please believe me, when I say that I really do not have any other choice.

We all get older, this is a fact we can’t deny this and this somehow demands more responsibility towards our actions. It concerns as well the important question of where and why we say “yes” or “no”.

It is wonderful, that Verbier provides so many opportunities for young musicians to share the music. I especially value the enthusiastic work of the Festival orchestra. I am also aware of how important it is for you, to celebrate all your friends birthdays and anniversaries. And among these highly valued performers are also some of my own very dear friends.

Nevertheless the question to myself remains: what am I personally doing on this summit of “names” and both old and new celebrities?

Having all my life served music and composers, a repertoire which is established as “classic” and one which, for decades I had to fight for to be heard, I now feel that I need to make a choice. I simply do not want any more to be part of “parties for the sake of parties”. To be one of a group of so many splendid artists is not something that I want to justify or confirm.

Some decades ago an American newspaper wrote a contradicting but ironic punch-line about me: “he is so much out, that he is in”. Time has come for me to feel, that I want to be “in” in everything I am doing. It is not easy for me to explain why, but I do feel that in Verbier, I am an “outsider”.

You would wonder: “Gidon! How can you say such a thing, being surrounded by so many friends, who respect you, who love to play with you, who look up to you? Aren’t you aware, that I myself have admired you for years?”.

Dear Martin! Please do not draw any wrong conclusions.

I am not putting up barricades because of any ambitions or desire to look at everything as a snob, as many critics do! – With their prejudice, so to say- “from above”. – No way.

I simply do not want to breath the air, which is filled by sensationalism and distorted values.  Lets’ admit – all of us have something to do with the poisonous development of our music world, in which “stars” count more than creativity, ratings more than genuine talent, numbers more than…. sounds.

This summer I have decided, after 30 years of full commitment to conclude my activity for the Lockenhaus festival. For three decades, I served the cause and can only be grateful for having had so many friends who also follow that spirit. Music itself was and remained the core of this festival, which can be proud to have given an opportunity to thousands of musical scores to have been performed. It was and remains an oasis of intimacy, in size and in orientation.

Now, finding myself rather exhausted through my numerous tours, new projects and recording sessions, I feel even more, that I should do only the things which I believe myself are still somewhat necessary. And here it is: I simply do not have enough energy to support gatherings and collaborations on highly exposed stages with “rising” or approved stars of today’s music business for the sake of ovations and name-dropping.

Yes, I know, I should be professional. Most of my life I tried to stick to my word (and I am aware that promised you that I’d come) but a time has now come in which the overall devaluation of the word “interpreter” has resulted in a misguided fixation with glamour and sex appeal.

This is not anymore “my” time. I leave it to those who believe in it, be it the audiences or the new bread of performers, who have overwhelming capacities to please crowds, but who are often themselves quite EMPTY and artistically lost, chasing a hunger for recognition over ability.

Let it be like this.

Not being a hypocrite, I simply need to gain some distance and rest from all those “fireworks”. This is the only reason that I have made this decision to step out, since I do not want this to add to the overall confusion, which has established itself within the music market in recent years.

I wish you a productive summer full of joyful meetings and “great performances” which every evening, you will announce at the usual gatherings, in circles of artists, hosts and friends.

I hope that you not only sell plenty of tickets, but as well promote the image of the festival itself, which can be honored to have such a great music lover and salesman as it’s “artistic director”.

I wish as well some day, that you find some distance from all those musicians, who use the given opportunity to share and SERVE music by simply showing up and “enjoying themselves”.

Many festivals these days unfortunately allow mixing self-enchantment with entertainment – (be it crossover or “events”) and they succeed to remain a magnet for all those, who want to be seen or hailed.

Yes I am a bit ironic and with a bitter feeling in saying these words;

REAL artists like those that we still remember, haven’t vanished completely. But the “greenery” of Verbier rather contributes to forgetting them and hails mystifications and substitutes of those, who truly served ART. Opposing such a tendency, I simply want to find peace with myself. Lately being warn out by so many dissatisfying partnerships, I simply need a rest. I do hope this will be the best remedy for the hype that surrounds many of us.

I want to conclude with these well known words from a song used by my favorite composer Robert Schumann: “Ich grolle nicht”.

Not being driven by a desire to blame anyone, but rather by self–protection (if there is still something to protect!), I need to apologize once more to you and to all those artists and friends, whom I was supposed to play with, for my inability to attend Verbier festival this summer.

Please forgive me for breaking my word and believe me, this is done to allow me to remain loyal to myself, and above all to music, which I still love.

Yours,

 

Gidon.

The Austrian mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Kulman has been rushed to hospital in Bochum after being hit accidentally in the larynx by an unnamed colleague during rehearsals for Tristan und Isolde in the Ruhr Triennale.

She suffered loss of voice and has been ordered complete rest for the remainder of the summer. Details here and here.

‘I am totally shocked,’ she said in a statement.  ‘The throat is a singer’s most sensitive body part, her achilles heel.’

Ms Kulman was due to sing Orfeo in Gluck’s opera in Salzburg, conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Update: She has just announced that she is back home in Vienna, starting the slow process of recuperation. We wish her well, and soon.

A portrait of Elisabeth Kulman

There is a restaurant in Kensington where I go from time to time to have a very quiet chat with someone over lunch. The food is superb and the decibel level never rises above 30, a workable pianissimo. Best of all, I hardly ever see anyone there from the music world.

One day, eight or nine years ago, a shadow fell over my soup. A tall man, slightly stooped and sombre, stood at the street door. In contrast to the suits and boots seated around the room, he wore baggy, paint-stained pants and a torn, ancient sweater. The maitre d’ bustled over and led him to a corner table at the rear, evidently his regular spot.

I saw him there afterwards on quite a few occasions, usually with a young female colleague, as muted as the rest of us. He caught my eye once, a slow, inquisitive, somewhat shy glance, not seeking connection, rather assuming that we knew each other. I nodded. He nodded. That was it.

But his glance imprinted itself for the way it seemed to take possession of all it embraced – the walls, the space, the waiters, the diners, me. I did not shrink from it, but its assumption of ownership left me feeling as if had been observed in a private, possibly intimate, act. The artist’s eye? No, more than that. Lucian Freud had a way of making everything within a space his own.

I took to looking out for him whenever I entered that restaurant. If he was there in the corner, our eyes would gloss like a handshake, and move on. He had placed me in his perspective, as backdrop.

Lucian Freud

Self-portrait by Lucian Freud, on sale at Sotheby’s, London, January 2010, all rights reserved

 

 

 

 

 

The great violinist, concerned about inadequate translations and possible misrepresentations of his reasons for withdrawing from the Verbier Festival, has sent me the following approved English text of his statement. I post it verbatim.

To whom it may concern

You of course remember Mark Twain’s lines to the publisher – “the rumors about my death are highly exaggerated”. Another quote belongs to the great Mstislav Rostropovich, who knew perfectly that the only justification for traveling alone with one’s spouse in those weird Soviet times, was to refer to one’s “unstable health condition”. Instead of “playing this card”, he used the following wording while applying for an exit visa for his spouse from the Soviet government:

“Dear comrades. Because I feel perfectly well and do not experience any health problems, I do want to ask your permission for my wife, the singer Galina Vishnevskaya, to join me on my next concert trip”.

Since your website published a questionable statement issued by the Verbier festival, announcing my cancellation due to “health problems”, I received numerous messages from known and unknown friends concerned for my well being.

My intention today is to use your website to reassure everyone that I am actually fine. To be “tired” does not mean to be ill. Exactly the opposite: tiredness can be seen as an extension of ones state of health and a sign of a busy and active life.

Therefore, unfortunately I must oppose the words and actions of those, who seem to be attempting to give the falsified impression that I am sick.

Dear friends and music lovers,

I am still fine. And I do hope to be around for a while. Sorry if this could be perceived as a challenge. There are many “good behaving” artists, who are obediently following the imposed “rules of the game” with endless hope that this will somehow lead them to “success”.

Some of those artists are obvious victims of aspects of this modern musical industry. Stepping out of a festival with a high profile and great ratings, I do question the integrity of those gifted musicians who are ready to trade their talent for symbolic “recognition” on the wall of “stars”.

I simply want to distance myself from the hype of “eventful gatherings”. My goal has always been to SERVE music and composers, and it will always remain to be. To please crowds, promoters and managers is another issue.

My letter, addressed to the respected organizers of the Verbier festival says it all.

I just want to underline in this text once more the symptoms of the real disease, which strongly spreads, while not always being obvious and “visible”.

All of us must be aware of the dangers that surround young talent today. They too easily become victims of promotional policies and success, especially if the last comes “too early”.

There is a certain tendency to look at brilliant instrumentalists as the “personalities”, which often they are not. Why? Because many of them are able to conquer the most difficult scores with ease, but have little to “say” as a result of it. Thank God there are also those who have the talent, ability and discipline to go into the depths of music making.

To become a real artist, to nurture one’s talent, to discover ones own path in life, this in music takes TIME and EFFORT.

It seems that the music market and its certain “rules” aiming for a quick promotion do often neglect these aspects of creative growth.

Therefore, many wonderful young and gifted artists become victims of a well-orchestrated success, which in fact becomes a real hindrance for them to discover………themselves.

All those for whom Music means more than a vehicle of self-promotion or a subject of small talk, should be reminded of its deep meaning. The fetish of following “names” should not make us blind or deaf. The history of music (supported by many documents of recorded material) should remind us of what real gemstones are, and not allow us to accept many artificial imitations.

Somehow quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, I would say:

“Life without music would be a mistake”.

It is also a mistake for it to be filled (as it happens often today) with many “raising stars” and making this emphasis on entertainment and “small talk” part of our culture.

 

To come to such a conclusion allows me to feel stronger and healthier, not always to be available when asked.

 

I do not expect everyone to share my point of view, but I am can reassure you that it is not related to any “health problems” as used misleadingly by the Verbier festival as an excuse while announcing my cancellation.

 

Nevertheless, I hope the guests and musicians of this year’s festival, will enjoy all the “fabulous performers” and special events.

 

I am sorry not to walk on stage with some of my dear friends.

 

Let’s hope we’ll still share music we all love, in the future.

 

Yours sincerely

Gidon Kremer.