Members of the Berlin Philharmonic, the LSO and Barbican Centre played a team of London musicians at football today. They lost 3-6.
Yay.
pics: LSO
The Economist has an article on how English National Opera has become the world’s nursery for co-productions.
Read it here.
Then ask why two vindictive members of Arts Council England wanted to close ENO down, and why the Times newspaper today calls in an editorial for its director, John Berry, to be dismissed.
It seems witch-hunts have been revived in 21st century England.
The conductor, about to start a low-key US tour with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, has been talking for the first time to our pal Elijah Ho about his rough treatment by the orchestra that made his name.
Sample:
I still live in Montreal. My wife, Chantal, is from there, and we still have an apartment there. Of course, I miss a lot of the musicians in Montreal. What happened there, you know, I made one mistake: I never answered the attacks from the union. One has to understand the context. When they signed the contract, I was completely on the side of these people. I even was wearing a shirt to help them to get more money, and I was quite close to the premier ministre, and so on.
When I read the result of the contract that was signed by the lady – who was completely ignorant of music, who took over the position of director of the orchestra – I was completely appalled, because these people were starting to think they were so good they didn’t have to work, and they didn’t need to rehearse.
Full interview here.
We’re hearing that South Korean media have come in general praise for an MBC television shockumentary that depicted Myung Whun Chung, music director of the Seoul Philharmonic, as a gold-digging imposition on the suffering taxpayer.
Few have spoken out in support of the embattled maestro. An interview that I gave to the programme was selectively distorted.
For the record, let me repeat what I said:
There are two ways of assessing a conductor’s fee: by past reputation, or present achievement. Certain maestros have been able to command $80,000 a night in Japan on the strength of name alone, but most are now dead.
Myung Whun Chung has to be assessed on the basis of achievement. He has given the Seoul Philharmonic a world status it never had before. He won it a 10-CD contract with Deutsche Grammophon, a commitment greater than any orchestra in the world, the envy of the Berlin Philharmonic. If he goes, the orchestra will revert to obscurity. Now, put a price on that.
None of this was used in the programme. Needless to add, I hope Chung prevails.
UPDATE: The media war has spread abroad. Musical America is carrying a banner headline: ‘Myung Whun Chung cheated the Seoul Philharmonic’. Don’t they check their sources?
UPDATE2: A correspondent writes: Your interview was one of the few included in the show that gave ‘somewhat’ positive spin on Chung. There were quite a few interviews included (mostly with korean officials, media people, etc) which negated the whole show against chung.
Friends of Mariss Jansons say he may quit the Bavarian Radio orchestra over the city’s backtracking on its promise to build a new concert hall.
It has emerged that BR were not consulted by the authorities before the decision was taken, although the Munich Philharmonic was. Boih Jansons and his orchestra are taking this snub to heart.
In an interview with Die Zeit, Jansons was asked about Munich and its musical reputation. He said: ‘I’ve been ashamed of it for years.’
Screen grab:
Some of us remember a time when spelling got humanly checked at the BBC.
The latest ABC circulation figures for the second half of 2014 show steep drops for BBC Music and Gramophone magazines.
BBC Music circulation is down 9.2% to 36,330, Gramophone down 6.7% to 21,718.
It has been announced in Milwaukee that Edo de Waart will retire as music director in 2017. He will be 76.
The orchestra is on a high and should have no difficulty naming a top-calibre successor.
We regret to share news of the passing of John McCabe, prolific symphonist, wonderful pianist and inspirational musician. He was 75 and had been in poor health for some time.
Born in Huyton, Liverpool, he attended the Royal Manchester College of Music which had lately graduated Birtwistle, Goehr, John Ogdon and Maxwell Davies. Like Ogdon, he was a polymath, able to devour all music on sight. Influenced in Munich by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, he wrote a violin concerto for Manchester in 1959, followed by the brilliant Variations on a Theme of Hartmann. John Barbirolli premiered his early works, followed by Sir Georg Solti who conducted his work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. McCabe’s major stage works are a two-act ballet Mary, Queen of Scots (1975) and, Edward II (1995).
As a pianist, his greatest legacy is the set of Haydn sonatas her recorded for Decca. Unsurpassed after 40 years.
Tribute here.
The Royal Academy of Music has broken its duck. The tenth winner of its Bach Prize is violinist Rachel Podger.
The £10,000 award is for advances in Bach performance or scholarship.
Previous winners are: Professor Christoph Wolff, András Schiff, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Peter Schreier, Professor John Butt, Thomanerchor Leipzig, Masaaki Suzuki, Murray Perahia and Ton Koopman.
The Argentine soprano Helena Arizmendi, a star of the Teatro Colón for 24 years, has died at the age of 87. Her limelight nights were singing Liu in Turandot with Maria Callas and Mario Del Monaco, conducted by Tulio Serafin.
