Vienna Philharmonic ‘unhappy’ at loss of Welser-Most
mainThe music director’s walkout at the Vienna Opera has hit the orchestra hard. Franz W-M is due to take them on a Scandinavian tour. And their coming season is unusually full of new music – Olivier Messiaen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Pierre Boulez, Claude Vivier, Jorg Widmann.
‘The Philharmonic musicians are very interested in contemporary,’ declares the orch’s new business manager, Harald Krumpöck.
The ‘not happy’ quote comes from VPO’s new chairman Andreas Grossbauer, and is clearly aimed at the opera boss, Dominique Meyer, who is scrambling around for conductors to fill 34 blank nights this season before he can consider a choice of new music director.
of course, this coming season was certainly finalized before FWM’s departure, and anyway, how much of that contemporary music was he supposed to be conducting? One doesn’t generally think of FWM as doing those particular composers.
He’s touring Widmann with the Cleveland Orchestra this month. (I don’t know about the other composers, though.)
….and from what one hears, the tour next June with the VPO – and next summer’s new production of Fidelio and revival of Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival – are still going ahead.
The Philharmoniker may be upset that FWM won’t be conducting at the Staatsoper anymore, but they, of course, can invite him to conduct them whenever they like.
Right.