Pierre Boulez cancels Paris
mainThe veteran composer and conductor has withdrawn from a pair of December concerts with the Orchestre de Paris. He has not conducted a full concert since undergoing eye surgery early in 2012, but remains hopeful that he might at some point return to the podium.
He is replaced in Paris by Alain Altinoglu and a much softer programme.
Altinoglu is a superb conductor. Good choice.
OK, but replacing Debussy, Webern, Berg and Schönberg by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn is kind of a statement.
If Altinoglu is such a great conductor, he wouldn’t have wimped out with the changes of program. Any new Juilliard conducting graduate would be able to handle the original lineup, if not with the full interpretive insight of a Boulez.
We greatly enjoyed his Prokofiev — L’amour des trois oranges — 17 months ago at the Bastille! And it was a hit with the whole audience.
Nobody can replace Boulez.
“Has not conducted a full concert”? Has he conducted a half a concert then?
It pains me that Pierre Boulez is not in better shape. I had the good fortune to produce his recordings for many years. It was a joy to work with him.
Tom Shepard