In what may be approaching the final act for New York’s desperate City Opera, the management have announced that members of the orchestra and chorus will be barred from the premises on Monday after their failure to agree a new wage deal on Saturday night.

So City Opera is from this week a company without orchestra or chorus, let alone any money to carry on because a careless board has blown the endowment.

What kind of opera company is that? A dead parrot.

Laurence Dale, director of the Evian Festival, orchestral conductor and a former tenor, has written at our request a short appreciation of Alexis Weissenberg, who died today, aged 82. Laurence sang with Alexis on several occasions and formed a deep friendship. Alexis was a private man, rarely seen or heard in public media. Laurence’s memoir presents him as he was, and as he will be remembered.

Listening to a recording of Alexis Weissenberg, one discovers nearly everything of the man, even though he was a very private man. Few articles and stories about him are out there in the media. But, risking a cliché, the man was his music.
His life was as rich as any film script…. being of Jewish origins in Bulgaria in the 1940’s evokes already some of the aspects one can imagine.
His experiences of the inhumane made him all the more, an extraordinary human being.

Celebrissime pianist, but also composer, before being confronted by destabilising illnesses, he dominated the musical work as one of the greatest pianists of all time and collaborator with the greatest musicians of his time. His phenomenal technique and precision of articulation were characteristic of the man in private. His every gesture was precise; how he sat, how he indicated something which attracted his attention, the manner in which he looked at a painting, how he articulated those thoughts …He reflected on everything… with profound perception but always with a pertinent humour.

To understand the human being, watch the end of the video of his performance of the Rach 2 with Karajan. Alexis plays with expansive, huge broad phrases with amazing detail of articulation and rubati which seem almost impossible, but always in total concord and harmony with his partners. The impeccable trill, the subtle nuances of colour as his turns another phrase in a surprising direction…

Karajan never looks at his musicians, whilst conducting with intensely muscular gestures. With the final chords, Karajan turns to his soloist and dear friend, smiling as broadly as Alexis’ phrases. His expression conveys the pleasure of the unity in interpretation of two monolithic musicians.
If Alexis smiles with a sense of satisfaction there is also a hint of self-mockery… he recognizes his achievement but at the same time remembers his origins, his experiences and the fragility of humanity. A fragility which was to overcome him at a far too early age.

Only today have I been reminded that Alexis’ last public appearance was accompanying me in a rendition of Schubert’s An die Musik at the Salle Gaveau in 2001. It was a moment of lucidity, an inevitable farewell to the scene, a benefit concert for an Autism association that he wanted to help in his typically generous way. The rehearsal time was wonderful, rich in minute observation. The performance somewhat chaotic. However, it had a force ; emotional, restrained, elegant, profound and unequivocal, as was Alexis.

Family friends are reporting that Alexis Weissenberg died this morning, aged 82.

There has been no official confirmation yet from his two daughters. Bulgarian born, to Jewish parents, Weissenberg was based for much of his career in Paris and is remembered most widely for the Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky concertos he recorded with Herbert von Karajan.

Watch video here of the opening of the Rachmaninov C minor concerto with Karajan and Berlin. read a friend’s tribute here.

And here’s a close-up of his extraordinary virtuosity:

Acting on information received in response to a speculative punt last night, I am in a position to compile a list of the world’s oldest orchestras that are still in full functioning existence. Each has claimed, at some point or other, to be the oldest. Feel free to add or challenge.

1 Copenhagen: Royal Danish orchestra…. 1448

2 Weimar Hofkapelle …. 1491

3 Kassel Hofkapelle …. 1502

4 Stockholm: Kungliga Hovkapellet … 1525

5 Dresden (or Saschsiche) Hofkapelle … 1548

6 Karlsruhe – Badische Staatskapelle … 1662

7 Mannheim …. 1702 (?)

8 Leipzig Gewandhausorchester …. 1743

What, nothing in Austria or Italy?

William Francis McBeth, professor of music at Ouachita Baptist University, died on January 6 aged 78. He was the first composer laureate of the state of Arkansas and the first in the US to hold such a title. Tribute here.

He also conducted the Arkansas All-State Band in which a 15 year-old Bill Clinton played in the tenor saxophone section.

Here’s one of his symphony orchestra works, a formidable piece called Kaddish.

The singer Beyoncé has given birth in New York to a baby girl, ‘Ivy Blue Carter’, according to first reports.

Readers of Why Mahler? will be aware of a probable family connection between the singer and great composer.

The baby enters a distinguished, if troubled, musical dynasty.

(UPDATE: 12 hours later, Reuters can still get no confirmation of the birth from the singer’s PRs. Maybe they don’t work Sundays.)