In the wee hours of a white Finnish night, I told Valery Gergiev that he had changed the music world forever. (You can hear part of our conversation at 10.15 tonight on the Lebrecht Interview).
‘How exactly?’ he demanded.
‘By introducing perestroika to the Tchaikovsky Competition,’ I replied. ‘No self-respecting contest will ever take place again behind closed doors.’
I expand on the issue in the September issue of the Strad, out this week. Here’s the nub of the argument:
The 2011 Tchaikovsky was a game-changer. There can be no more contests where one judge votes reciprocally for another’s pupil, where talent is drilled to conform, where fear and loathing predominate. My inbox overflows with accounts of dirty deeds at classical music contests, of flagrant injustice, institutional prejudice and favours of every kind. Reform is resisted on grounds of ‘maintaining standards’. But that cover is blown by modern media. When an outvoted judge or a wounded player can take a grievance instantly to youtube, music competitions had better shape up, or ship out….
So what’s to be done? First, learn the lessons of the Tchaikovsky triumph: world-class judges, online streaming, total openness. Second, allow the public to vote. They almost did in Moscow, why not Indiannapolis? Third, regulate the competition circuit to exclude rotten apples… Too many competitions are diluting talent rather than promoting it. A cull is overdue. Someone needs to draw up a league table, relegating the lower ranked. Agree?
If you miss Mansfield Park tonight in East London, here’s more classic romance coming your way – the soundtrack for the movie Jane Eyre, composed by Dario Minelli with Jack Liebeck as solo violinist. Details below.
Jane Eyre – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Score by Dario Marianelli; Performed by Classical Brit Award-winning violinist, Jack Liebeck
JANE EYRE Stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender
Sony Classical is delighted to announce the release of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Focus Features’ new film Jane Eyre, available in the UK on 12th Sep 2011 (cat. no. 88697852582). The film also opens in the UK in September 2011.
Academy Award-winning composer Dario Marianelli (Atonement) has created a romantic and moving score, performed by acclaimed violinist Jack Liebeck, as the perfect complement to the new movie version of the celebrated story.
Dario Marianelli’s Jane Eyre score heavily features a solo violin, recorded for the film by acclaimed 2010 Classical Brit Award-winning violinist, Jack Liebeck. Marianelli is known for the gift of capturing the emotional and poignant elements of a story in his music. His score for Atonement earned him Golden Globe and Academy Awards and his work on Pride & Prejudice was also Oscar-nominated. His other film credits as composer include Eat Pray Love, Agora, The Brave One, The Soloist, Everybody’s Fine and V for Vendetta.
In the bold new feature version of Jane Eyre, director Cary Joji Fukunaga (Focus’ Sin Nombre) and screenwriter Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe) infuse a contemporary immediacy into Charlotte Brontë’s much-loved timeless, classic story. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama, the heroine of which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers.
In the 19th century-set story, Jane Eyre (Ms Wasikowska) suddenly flees Thornfield Hall, the vast and isolated estate where she works as a governess for Adèle Varens, a child under the custody of Thornfield’s brooding master, Edward Rochester (Mr. Fassbender). The imposing residence – and Rochester’s own imposing nature – have sorely tested her resilience. With nowhere else to go, she is extended a helping hand by clergyman St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell of Focus’ The Eagle) and his family. As she recuperates in the Rivers’ Moor House and looks back upon the tumultuous events that led to her escape, Jane wonders if the past is ever truly past…
Commented composer, Dario Marinelli: “Of many joys I had while discovering a musical language that could accompany Jane on her path, none was greater than meeting violinist Jack Liebeck: his passionate, wholehearted, generous playing became the inner voice of Jane’s true self. After hearing him playing and then meeting him, my score no longer had ‘solo violin’ marked in the appropriate part. I simply had “Jack” written in its place. He truly has brought the music to life”.
www.JaneEyreTheMovie.com / www.jackliebeck.com
The responses of two prime ministers to public violence is culturally significant is several ways.
Jens Stoltenberg was reflective, David Cameron punitive.
The Norwegian kept going onto the streets to embrace suffering citizens; David Cameron retreated behind well-planned photo opportunities.
One announced strong support for a clearly flawed police force; the other issued critical and destabilising statements.
One declared a public inquiry, the other refused.
One sought moral clarity across the whole of society, the other took refuge in class condemnation.
In Norway, there is unity, in Britain division.
It is not too late for David Cameron to change his way of dealing with the post-riot landscape. Unless he does, he will look increasingly a lame duck prime minister.
No, let me read that again.
Reports of a free Lohengrin in Bayreuth brought to mind happy images of joyous liberators dunking that infernal white beast.
But a second reading of the German report turns out to be just another open-air family outing this afternoon of the old smoocher.
The performance, conducted by Andris Nelsons, drew a crowd of 40,000 on a sunny afternoon to watch the transmission on a 180 square metre screen. Broadcast relays, however, were marred by breakups. Siemens provided the sponsorship and hi-tech. Here’s a Hamburger Abendblatt report and picture.
Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Klaus Tennstedt will be aware that without the cajoling and constant care of his wife, Inge, he would never have set foot on a concert stage. Klaus was a victim of self-reflection, verging on paralytic self-doubt.
Hours before his US debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Klaus phoned home to say he couldn’t do it. ‘Go in there and conduct! So, bitte!‘ she instructed, and put down the phone. The event was healined next morning as Bruckner – Tennstedt – BSO – Once in a Lifetime.
A hard-working mezzo when they met, Inge gave up her career and her country, East Germany, to follow Klaus into the unknown. She put up with a lot of misery and never reaped her share of his fame, but her complaints were few and her devotion unwavering. She loved a good joke and often lamented her inability to share Swabian subtleties in other languages. She once cooked me a cod in mustard sauce: I still savour the taste.
So deep was she in the background that I have no pictures of her (please get in touch if you have one to share).
She died this weekend in an old-age home, 13 years after her glorious Klaus.
Requiescat in pace.
The Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who did so much to bring the nation together in mutual self-respect after the appalling massacre last month, took time out on Friday to open the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, directed by violinist Arve Tellefsen.
Here’s my correspondent’s report from an overwhelming, emotional encounter:
The main speaker at the opening concert was our prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg. He spoke warmly of how music helps and consoles us in hard times, and gives us moments of rest. When he entered the podium of the University Aula, newly refurbished, everyone just got to their feet as if planned. The ovations went on and on. The participating artists were all given one rose, and the six young women who ended the concert with Brahms’ Sextet, suddenly decided to throw their roses at Mr. Stoltenberg who sat in the front row.
That was a grand moment – the audience went wild, Stoltenberg’s eyes were filled with tears. It was such a Norwegian moment! He had only one (visible) security person with him. Afterwards everyone was milling outside in the university place, prime minister and his wife, hand in hand among us, going from group to group hugging everyone (I got two hugs!), talking at some length with everyone who wanted to. Then we all walked across the square, past the National Theatre across to Hotel Continental to the reception there. The PM met applause everywhere, foreigners were gaping at this show of openness. Then the PM had his first glass of wine and his first hour of relaxation since July 22.
All in the name of music and art – the Aula has marvelous murals of Edvard Munch.
The open Salzburg rehearsal of two unstaged operas has exceeded all expectations in the amounts it raised – 158,000 Euros at the door, topped up to 200,000 by the city council. The money will help build a concert hall in the disaster zone. Press release follows. More from FAZ.
Press Release Salzburg Festival 2011
Today’s benefit dress rehearsal of the concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol netted 158,065 Euros for the reconstruction of Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall in Japan. The City of Salzburg will increase the amount to a round 200.000 Euros.
Enormous Artistic and Social Success
13th August 2011 (SF) The Salzburg Festival is delighted that today’s benefit dress rehearsal of Iolanta / Le Rossignol could take place before a completely sold-out Großes Festspielhaus. The concert performances with the outstanding team of singers – headed by Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala – as well as the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg under Ivor Bolton netted a total of 158,065 Euros. The entire net ticket revenue will be donated to the reconstruction of Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall in Japan. – Kawasaki has been a partner city of Salzburg since 1992.
“It was an enormous artistic and social success,” the President rejoiced – and thanked the artists and the audience. Mayor Schaden, who attended a concert of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall himself, was able to promise to increase the sum to 200,000 Euros, on behalf of the City Government. “A city partnership demonstrates its value when we help each other in times of need,” Mayor Heinz Schaden emphasized. Kawasaki has been Salzburg’s partner city since 1992.
The concert hall – Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall – was destroyed almost entirely during the earthquake on March 11, 2011. The world’s best orchestras and conductors, for example the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti, have performed at this concert hall, which is famed for its outstanding acoustics and architecture. Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall was opened on July 1, 2004 by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under the baton of its Chief Conductor Hubert Soudant, who was previously also Chief Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and subsequently First Guest Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg until 2004.
Social Engagement at the 2011 Salzburg Festival:
Throughout the summer, donations are being collected for the hunger catastrophe in Eastern Africa.
– July 25: benefit dress rehearsal of Jedermann for a project for street children in Alexandria (Caritas)
– July 29: benefit dress rehearsal of Prometeo for the renovation of Kollegienkirche
– August 13: benefit dress rehearsal of Iolanta / Le Rossignol, through which the Salzburg Festival supports the reconstruction of Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall in Japan.
Jonathan Dove’s new opera of Mansfield Park has been touring stately homes in the north of England, bedding in gently before a big premiere. But a sudden cancellation at the Grimeborn Festival in Dalston, a mile downwind from the Tottenham riot zone, has parachuted it into the capital.
The premiere is on Monday. If you’re free, it should be worth a look. Dove’s airport opera, titled Flight and staged at Glyndebourne, sticks in my mind as an ingenious modern drama.
Here’s what they say about Mansfield Park:
Thanks to a last-minute cancellation, and the incredible generosity of some lovely angels, there will be a single performance of MANSFIELD PARK in the Grimeborn Festival this coming Monday.
The opera was commissioned by Heritage Opera and has been touring stately homes in the north of England, out of reach of most Londoners.
Accompanied by a piano duet, a cast of ten tell the story of Fanny Price, a Cinderella-like heroine, who quietly negotiates her way through the moral perils of early nineteenth century high society, from landscape gardening and amateur theatricals to balls and arranged marriages, and wins the hand of the man she has loved all her life.
A cast of unforgettable characters: the shrewish Aunt Norris; the indolent Lady Bertram and her pug; the beautiful but morally flawed Mary Crawford and her charming brother Henry; the bickering sisters Maria and Julia, make Mansfield Park the most subtly comic and moving of all Jane Austen’s novels.
Alasdair Middleton deftly compresses the narrative into an evening’s sparkling entertainment, in which Jane Austen’s voice can be clearly heard. Subtly evoking Regency manners, Jonathan Dove’s music catches Austen’s wit and pathos, giving a voice to her most private heroine.
ARCOLA THEATRE
24 Ashwin St
Dalston
London
E8 3DL
Tickets £15
Box office 020 7503 1646 or www.arcolatheatre.com
One of Britain’s best orchestras has been wrestling with the likely effects of a 7 percent reduction in its Arts Council grant and 9 percent from the local authority, a loss of around £300,000 ($500,000).
After careful, collective deliberation between the players and administrators, the musicians agreed to trim 2 percent off their salaries. Together with a recruitment freeze in certain areas and some changes to working patterns, that ought to cover the deficit.
The enlightened band is the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle’s former organisation. I hear from both players and management that they are content with the outcome and enjoying their summer break.
Over the past decade, base salaries for players in UK regional orchestras have risen from £18,000 to almost £30,000. In that context, a 2 percent cut is a modest, exigent adjustment.
Elsewhere, there’s a rumour going round that the London Philharmonic Orchestra has cut player fees by 3.5 percent. It is strongly denied by a string player’s spouse, who’s in a good position to know what’s what.
Let me know if you hear more of cuts in other orchs.
I have just heard from the pianist Alberto Portugheis that the graceful violinist José Luis Garcia has died in London after a long illness.
He was, for more than 20 years, the leader and soloist of the English Chamber Orchestra, named on many recordings, most notably Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Mozart violin concertos. The funeral will be at 14.30 on Thursday 25th August, at St Paul’s, in Onslow Square, SW7.
I will post further details as they become available.
Here’s a short biography from his niece’s website:
Born in Madrid , Spain , Garcia began his violin studies at the age of six with his father. Upon winning First Prize in the 1960 Sarasate Violin Competition he moved to London to study at The Royal College of Music under the direction of Antonio Brosa. One year later he won the Stoutzker Prize, the College’s senior violin award.
In 1966, at the age of 22, he was appointed Professor of violin at the Royal College of Music in London , the youngest professor ever appointed to any British senior music school. In 1967 he was honoured with the prestigious Harriet Cohen International Award, given annually in England to musicians of distinction.
During a substantial part of his life, Garcia studied with the great conductor Sergiu Celibidache, who became the strongest influence in his music making and with whom he had the privilege of appearing as soloist several times.
Mr Garcia was Leader-Director of the world famous English Chamber Orchestra for more than twenty years. During this time he made hundreds of recordings with the ensemble, many of them as soloist and director. Some of his best known recordings have been those of the of the Mozart violin concertos, two versions of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and many others.
Over the last thirty years he has appeared as soloist with many of the major orchestras in Europe with distinguished conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Garcia-Asensio and others. However, since the mid 1980s he has increased his activities in the USA and Canada , appearing frequently as conductor and soloist with the St. Louis Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Washington National Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Utah Symphony Orchestra and others. He has performed many times in Japan and other countries in the Far East , and has done several tours in Israel conducting the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Sinfonietta.
In 1992 he joined the faculty of the Queen Sofia School of Music in Madrid where he spends as much time as possible as Violin Professor. From 1992 to 1999 he was also Music Director and Conductor of the orchestra. With the orchestra he has toured all over Spain , appeared in several Festivals in Portugal and conducted the orchestra’s debut in Paris .
He participates every year in numerous Summer Festivals and Courses in the USA and Europe as conductor, violinist and chamber music coach
During the last few years he has also appeared as Conductor-Soloist with most of the Spanish orchestras.
In 2007, Mr. García suffered a severe stroke which stopped his brilliant musical career.
At this moment, Mr García has made such amazing progress in his rehabilitation that we will be able to enjoy his knowledge and talent in two Master Classes. His communication abilities, which go beyond speech, will add musicality and inspiration to all of us who will have the privilege to assist to this event.
After a long white night in a Finnish sauna, Gergiev sat down with me again the following afternoon beside a lake for what he described as ‘the longest interview I have given in ten years’. We recorded two hours and would have kept going but he was late, as ever, for rehearsal and he needed to change out of the casual Arsenal shirt he was wearing (gift from an oligarch, ‘I hardly know him) into something less distracting.
No topic was off limits. We discussed the precise nature of his relationship with Vladimir Putin, his casual attitude to time-keeping, his core human and musical relationships and, fundamental to all else, his driving motivations.
You can hear it on the Lebrecht Interview this Monday at 10.15pm London time, and streamed all week on site.
A longer cut of the conversation may run later in the year.
No reason was given last night for the removal of Eric Dingman as head of EMI Classics other than the pusillanimous excuse: ‘He’s moving on’. It’s a line from the Beatles, but you wouldn’t expect Citibankers to know that.
Actually, the figures at EMI Classics have been quite good since Eric was hauled off the clothes rail and hired to run a music business. He ran foul of a few classical artists whom he offered to make famous – they thought they were already – but astute exploitation of back catalogue brought a good bottom line and the bonus hunters at the idiot bank were kept happy, for a while.
The problem was, as ever, creative. EMI was signing no new artists and losing prime assets.
Nigel Kennedy, once a major profit centre, swung off to Sony. The Belcea Quartet, among the best of its generation, felt neglected and withdrew. Others down the line have been seeking other outlets. Apart from the ever-loyal Antonio Pappano, EMI’s talent cupboard has been looking as bare as a post-riot phone shop.
If the bankers care about EMI as an asset, that’s a priority they need to address without delay. Sign some artists, summon a sense of renewal. But they can’t, and they won’t. All they want to do is get the bloody label off their books. But before they manage to do that, more heads will be hired and fired, more payoffs will be made and more ridicule will fall upon Citibank for its imaginative impotence.
Why would anyone trust such a bank with their money?
