Exclusive: China’s chief conductor snags another orchestra

Nick says:

SDReader is certainly wrong in this case. In the 2013/14 season, the 100-member Shanghai Symphony alone gave 19 different programmes between February 9 and June 28. Its guest conductors in that period included Ashkenazy, Dutoit, Mehta, de Waart, Vänskä, Tan Dun and Penderecki conducting his own works. Earlier, that season had seen Marriner, Paavo Järvi, Bělohlávek and Bychkov on its podium Not many orchestras can boast such impressive line-ups. In its tours it has appeared in Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Musikverein amongst others.

The China Philharmonic based in Beijing has even more full-time members and appeared at the 2014 London Prom concerts.

So the issue is certainly not the importance or quality of these Chinese orchestras whose standards can be hugely impressive. It is more the fact that one conductor controls the artistic side of the three major orchestras in the three major cities in China, as well as the Shanghai Summer Music Festival and the Beijing Music Festival in the fall. Presumably the reference to the fourth orchestra is the excellent Hong Kong Philharmonic, but he is merely Principal Guest Conductor and so will probably be conducting not more than 5 weeks of concerts a season.

To be fair, he founded both the Beijing Music Festival and later the China Philharmonic, although there can be little doubt his very impressive familial political connections helped obtain the substantial amount of cash required. On the other hand, there was a near riot amongst the membership of the Shanghai Symphony when his appointment to that orchestra was announced. No doubt their concerns were somewhat eased in the knowledge that funding would be found to engage conductors and artists of the calibre of those I list above – as well as Riccardo Muti who has conducted them at least twice.

As Peter notes, Long Yu has held no titled position outside China, unlike his older Shanghai contemporary Muhai Tang whom many regard as the better conductor by quite a margin. Tang should have been a shoo-in for the Hong Kong Philharmonic post after David Atherton’s tenure as he was particularly well regarded by the musicians. Instead the local political establishment manoevered the appointment of an Hong Kong born eye surgeon cum conductor whose tenure was a disaster. Edo de Waart rescued the orchestra and he and Jaap van Zweden have raised the orchestra’s standards to extraordinary heights.

I suppose having Long Yu on the podium for just a few weeks will hardly do much damage. But the orchestra was surely crying out for a far more inspirational conductor in that position who could concentrate on repertoire less favoured by van Zweden. Unfortunately the Hong Kong Philharmonic has always been controlled by the politicians. It certainly seems this is another occasion when political considerations have overtaken musical ones.

sdReader says:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/on-eve-of-philharmonic-concert-chinese-conductor-slugs-it-out-with-attacker/

On reading Nick more closely, it is clear that the Shanghai orchestra is well established, and perhaps the “China Philharmonic” too, although its name is poorly chosen (imagine “Germany Symphony Orchestra”).

If the scale of operations of these orchestras and the mentioned festivals is as Nick describes, then Mr. Yu starts to look like a money-connected charlatan:

— he lacks the integrity to educate the appointing bureaucrats about the nature of a conductor’s work, specifically the need to build relationships with the musicians;

— he spreads himself so thin that he cannot possibly do any of the jobs well.

Not for the first time, a founder turns out to be more of an opportunist than a deep artistic talent. But I do give him credit for coping well with being mugged in New York!

My guess is he will soon be Long forgotten.