Terrible story just in from Germany.

The Swiss conductor Carl Robert Helg was killed while rehearsing a farewell gala performance in Karlsruhe for the director of Baden State Theatre.

It appars he had climbed up a lighting gantry on Saturday to get a better overview of the choirs and suffered a fatal fall. More details here.

I am receiving reports from Rio that Kurt Masur has pulled out of his Beethoven concerts with the OSB.

A mentor of the crisis-stricken chief conductor Roberto Minczuk, Masur initially offered him public support in an open letter, urging the orchestra’s musicians to do as he told them.

But since 33 players were dismissed it has proved difficult to replace them and the venerable German conductor has wisely decided to remove himself from the thick of the controversy.

His cancellation has yet to be confirmed by the orchestra’s management. Minczuk has been stripped of the artistic director title, but continues to describe himself as such on his website and facebook page.

The crisis is no nearer resolution.

Yes, it was Lang Lang – and I was allowed in on condition I did not write a word about it.

So I won’t.

Except to say that those who asked me to refrain from writing had reason to do so.

I am, however, allowed to review the audience which was a crowd of thirty-somethings, eager to jump up and down for 2 amplified cellos and percussion, a little bewildered by Lang Lang. But polite. One lady was kind enough to offer me earplugs during the percussion gig.

You can see pictures of the Roundhouse show here and iTunes is offering it here as a free download.

I was reliably informed that Lang Lang was the festival’s classical virgin. I now hear that guitarist Milos Karadaglic beat him to it by a year. More contenders are flooding in. What’s the point, i-Tunes, of over-hyping the event?

It belongs to every list of iconic movies: the first sight a mass audience had of modern Greece.

Its director, Michael Cacoyannis, has died aged 89. Obit here.

The music by Mikis Theodorakis is profoundly atmospheric, with a theme tune that was later used to whip up crowd support at football matches.