Keep watching til he starts the Mendelssohn concerto.
Credit: MeloClassic
Russia’s Classical Music News has a fascinating article on Leon Zaks who, born in Canada of Russian-Jewish parents based in Detroit, was taken back to the USSR after his father joined the American Communist Party.
Leon’s music education began in Moscow at age seven. He went on to study with David Oistrakh before landing a seat in the Bolshoi orchestra and eventually being promoted to concertmaster. He was, for many, the very essence of Moscow’s musical sound.
And then he went on vacation to Greece…. Read here (in Russian).
An unfortunate accident has halted the 2Cellos US tour.
The injury is to Stjepan Hauser’s neck.
UPDATE: A press release said: ‘The group apologizes to their fans and looks forward to returning to the US after Stjepan has healed.’
2Cellos are a crossover duo from Croatia, signed to Sony Music Masterworks.
2nd UPDATE: A Sony executive informs Slipped Disc: ‘I am happy to report that the injury is not serious, however, per medical recommendation, Stjepan has been advised to take a few weeks to recuperate.’
Slipped Disc editorial:
There was always a risk when Roger Wright stepped down on the first night of the 2014 Proms that the power vacuum would lead to a decisive weakening of the event. Nine months later, those fears have born fruit.
Edward Blakeman, the acting controller, has fulfilled his job admirably without the slightest hint from his superiors that he is the right man for the job. If they wanted to confirm him in the post, launch day was the time to do it. They refused. He survives without a vote of confidence.
The absence of a strong controller has exposed the Proms to all the corporate forces within the BBC that Wright – and before him Nicholas Kenyon and John Drummond – fought with vigour and resolution. The forces of darkness that seek to equalise all forms of activity and creativity within the BBC. The foolish and malign executives who, on an annual basis, propose ‘sharing’ the Proms around the BBC and, ultimately with outside sponsors.
Those forces have won round one.
The imposition of club music night with DJ Pete Tong on the classically-oriented BBC Proms was, we know for a fact, never contemplated in Wright’s time. It was easy to push through a temp controller and a civil servant head of Radio 3, Alan Davey.
Aside from Pete Tong, there is BBC Asian Network Night, BBC Radio 6 Night, BBC Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2 Night and so on….
You can see what’s happening. The Proms are being parcelled out across the BBC as corporate property in which any and all of 100 BBC executives on 100k salaries can feel free to mangle for their own politcally correct purposes.
Watch out, sponsorship will be next.
The Proms are what they are because strong controllers over recent decades have preserved their musical character – their Fach, as musicians would say. The Proms are a festival of high-value classical and contemporary music. They are now at risk of being royally Fached up.
As Richard Morrison warns in today’s Times: ‘The Proms ultimately come under the “arts and music” grandees at the BBC who seem to have little passion for the classical repertoire…. It doesn’t take long to wreck an indestructible British institution.’
Cracks have begun to appear in the indomitable Proms. The glorious festival will soon fall to pieces unless someone stands up to defend the Fach.
At the Proms launch last night, I chatted briefly to Martin Anderson, founder of Toccata Press and Toccata Classics, and all-round enthusiast for interesting and important music.
Martin confided to me that Yodit, ‘the love of my life’, was dying in hospital of stomach cancer.
Yodit died at 2.15 this morning, aged 44. She is survived by Martin and their son Alex, 5.
Yodit and Martin met seven years ago at a concert in Cadogan Hall. They had planned to get married this spring, but the cancer was too quick.
Several composers are writing pieces in her memory.
May she rest in peace.
And may music bring comfort to Martin and Alex.
A private tutor in Auckland, New Zealand, has admitted admitted sexually abusing two underage boys students and filming himself doing so.
Lam Chun Roentgen Ng, 23, will be sentenced in June.
The court was told that Ng smacked one boy regularly on the bare bottom, ‘when he felt the victim had not been doing sufficient practice.’
Sordid details here.
We are fast reaching the point where private lessons can no longer be private – for the comfort and safety of both teacher and student.
Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil have just announced that they will play their annual Europe Concert in the Greek capital, a week from now.
Could be a tense occasion.
Press release:
Europakonzert der Berliner Philharmoniker am 1. Mai 2015 in Athen
Sir Simon Rattle und die Berliner Philharmoniker spielen Werke von Gioacchino Rossini und
Robert Schumann sowie das Violinkonzert von Jean Sibelius mit dem griechischen Geiger
Leonidas Kavakos. Das Konzert wird live im Ersten sowie im Kulturradio des RBB übertragen.
Das traditionelle Europakonzert der Berliner Philharmoniker findet in diesem Jahr zum 25. Mal statt. Sir
Simon Rattle dirigiert im Megaron in Athen die Ouvertüre zu Semiramide von Gioacchino Rossini, das
Violinkonzert von Jean Sibelius mit dem griechischen Geiger Leonidas Kavakos als Solisten sowie die
Symphonie Nr. 3 von Robert Schumann, die sogenannte Rheinische.
The mayors of Düsseldorf and Duisburg, together with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein have awarded Oleg Bryjak the title of Ehrenmitglied (honorary member).
Oleg, originally from Kazakhstan, had been an ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein for 19 years. He died on March 24 in the Germanwings air crash, together with his fellow-singer Maria Radner and her young family.
Slipped Disc editorial:
There is a strong party in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra that will vote for Christian Thielemann as music director on May 11, come what may. Many players consider him the quickest way to return the orchestra to its former prosperity and to its iconic German national status. Here are five reasons why they are wrong.
1 Karajan was an entrepreneur.
He saw the opportunity of turning Berlin rehearsals into recording sessions and playing corporate giants off against each other. Thielemann has no commercial nous.
2 Karajan was apolitical.
After 1945 he never consciously uttered a political preference, treating left and right with studious neutrality. Being Austrian helped him to rise above German factionalism. Thielemann, by contrast, is identified with the political right and is prone to making controversial statements that will get the orch into hot water.
3 Karajan had irresistible charm.
4 Karajan was a people person.
Until the late 1970s (when he grew too rich) he was involved in players’ lives and attended their family occasions. He was never aloof, as Thielemann is.
5 Karajan conducted everywhere, all over the world.
Thielemann has burned bridges in the US, the UK and France.
SEE ALSO: Why Barenboim would be wrong for Berlin Phil. Click here.
The anonymous Corymbus makes an interesting St George’s Day attempt to redefine the idea of nationalism in relation to English music. Can parochialism be universal? Read here.
Giancarlo Guerrero will cease to be principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra in Miami from next March.
Neither side is saying why*.
Guerrero is music director of the Nashville Symphony.
*UPDATE: The Cleveland Orchestra has clarified to us that it’s a matter of time. The Miami residency is being lengthened and Guerrero’s diary is full. The official lingo: ‘Giancarlo will continue to appear as a Cleveland Orchestra Miami guest conductor in future seasons. Giancarlo’s decision to step down from his titled position is in keeping with his expanding international career, and the growth of Cleveland Orchestra Miami.’
After 16 years in the outstanding Mandelring Quartet, Roland Glassl is moving onto other things. He will be replaced by Andreas Willwohl, former principal viola of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orch. In a nice parting touch, the two violas will play side by side in an upcoming recording of the Brahms sextet.
photo: Ralf Ziegler