Jean-Pierre Rousseau, who became Directeur de la Musique at Radio-France last May, has had his resignation announced on the France-Musique website.

His departure, said the site, was ‘predictable’.

That could be because he hasn’t been seen in the building in a couple of months.

Meanwhile, the chaos just grows and grows. Read more at resmusica.

She performed at the inauguration of Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emmanuel, in front of an audience that included President Bill Clinton.

Much excitement among those who spend their lives trying to save Bruckner scores from his meddlers.

The conductor Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs has discovered a long-lost set of parts for the sixth symphony in the St Florian monastery, where the composer grew up in the choir and where he lies buried.

Here’s what he has announced:

After Anton Bruckner had finished his Sixth Symphony, a set of handwritten parts was copied which were to be used for a read-through of new repertoire by the Vienna Philharmonic (6 Oct 1882) as well as for the ensuing first performance of the Adagio and Scherzo, which was directed by Wilhelm Jahn (11 Feb 1883). This set of parts was believed to be entirely lost, as confirmed by Leopold Nowak in his Critical Report (1986, p. 49). To his own surprise, Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs found a remnant of it in the archive of the Monastery of St. Florian – a part for Bassoon I in the hand of a copyist, with autograph annotations, and with the pencil indication “Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien” on the first page by an anonymous hand. Cohrs´ furtherresearch in the Archive of the GdM in Vienna then brought to light the full set of parts, with only the Bassoon I part missing which is today in St. Florian. Earlier researchers had overlooked it, perhaps because it is held under the same signature as the dedication copy (XIII 37.730), but stored at another location in the archive stacks. The set of parts comprises all the wind instruments, timpani, and strings in single copies (except the viola, of which six copies survive!). The copyist responsible has yet to be identified. Most of the parts reveal autograph corrections as well as some pencil annotations by orchestral players.

Nachdem Anton Bruckner seine Sechste Sinfonie beendet hatte, wurde ein handschriftlicher Stimmensatz kopiert, der sowohl für eine Novitätenprobe der Wiener Philharmoniker (6. Oktober 1882) wie auch für die Erstaufführung von Adagio und Scherzo unter Wilhelm Jahn verwendet (11. Februar 1883). Bisher wurde angenommen, daß dieser Stimmensatz verschollensei, wie Noch Leopold Nowak im Revisionsbericht zur Sechsten vermerkte (1986; S. 49). Zu seiner Überraschung entdeckteBenjamin-Gunnar Cohrs jedoch einen Überrest davon im Archiv des Stiftes St. Florian – eine Stimme für Fagott I aus Kopistenhand, mit autographen Eintragungen, sowie auf der Titelseite mit dem anonymen Bleistift-Vermerk “Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien”. Cohrs´ weitere Suche im Archiv der GdM in Wien brachte dann den gesamten Stimmensatz zutage; es fehlt nur die in St. Florian befindliche Fagott-Stimme. Frühere Forscher hatten dies übersehen, vielleicht deshalb, weil der Stimmensatz unter der gleichen Signatur wie die Widmungs-Partiturkopie indiziert ist (XIII 37.730), aber im Archiv-Magazin an einem anderen Standort verwahrt wird. Der Stimmensatz besteht aus allen Bläserstimmen, Pauken und je einer Streicherstimme (mit Ausnahme der Viola, von der sechs Exemplare erhalten sind). Der Kopist muß noch identifiziert werden. Die meisten Stimmen enthalten einige autographe Korrekturen sowie auch Bleistift-Anmerkungen von Spielern.

Artists at the opera house in Lviv (Lvov) say their company is being torn apart by a sudden spate of draft orders from the Ukraine military. We present their appeal verbatim, in a translation by the pianist Valentina Lisitsa:

From the artists of Lviv National Opera Theater:

Please read and share our appeal!

Lviv Opera Theater received 35 military draft summons from the Ukraine Armed Forces.
Majority of those summons are for our artists. Among those summoned are orchestra players, choir members, leading soloists of opera and ballet, Honored Artists and even one People’s Artist of Ukraine!
We, the artists of the theater, have hard time understanding such a wholesale ( at least for our theatre) rounding-up of highly qualified professionals!
We want to stress that such rampant mobilization will force the theater to withdraw certain performances from the repertory, and quite possibly – to shut down the theater entirely!
We would love to explain to the bureaucrats responsible for these actions, that the preparation of highly qualified orchestra players, opera soloists, ballet dancers etc. can take between 12 and 16 years of study plus many years of work experience performing on stage.
Just one example – our ballet troupe received 4 draft summons for the leading soloists – out of total of our 7 leading dancers . Among those drafted one is People’s Artist; in the entire Ukraine one can find hardly two dozens of artists of such a high level!
We would like to remind that no martial law has been declared in the country. The impression we get is that some bureaucrats are hell-bent on destroying the best artistic traditions of Ukraine. It would be interesting to know how many children of Parliament members or of bureaucrats have been drafted so far?
Is it that our leaders are only capable of sending artists to fight at the frontlines or robbing the population through raising the utilities’ tariffs to the level detrimental to majority of regular people?
FOR RENAISSANCE OF UKRAINE
WE MUST HAVE PEACE!
We very much hope that our appeal will be read by thinking people.
Sincerely,
The artists of the theater.

Original text:

УВАГА ЗВЕРНЕННЯ!!!
У Львівську оперу прийшло близько 35(!) повісток у ЗСУ.
Більшу частину з яких складає артистичний склад театру.
Серед запрошених на службу є артисти оркестру,хору,провідні солісти опери та провідні солісти балету,також є Заслужені артисти та навіть Народний артист України!

We’re delighted to hear that Dr Alejandro Martínez of Codalario magazine spoke to the great tenor this morning and found him in good spirits.

We erroneously reported Nicolai Gedda’s death yesterday, based on independent messages from two usually reliable sources and on his altered Wikipedia entry.

We took down the post as soon as the error became apparent and have tightened our procedures for the future. We apologise without reservation to Mr Gedda and to our readers.

The Welsh bass-baritone has been running through his qualifications to perform Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. He told Richard Morrison of the (London) Times that he grew up with Topol’s recording of the musical echoing around the family farmhouse. And there were other aptitudes:

‘My dad milked cows. I carried milk churns. I have a long connection with milk. So who better to play a milkman? And I have lots of links to the Jewish community. Years ago when I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama I lived in Golders Green and supplemented my income by singing at Jewish family gatherings.’

Fiddler on the Roof opens at Grange Park Opera on June 4.

My album of the week on sinfinimusic.com is a rare five-star.

It’s a set of the six Ysaye sonatas by the UK-Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova who, in my view, imposes herself on the sonatas with an authority that is arrestingly quiet. I cannot recall any artist who keeps the level down with such fierce determination, avoiding the temptation of a flashy trill in favour of maximum concentration….

Her playing is of unerring and at times unearthly accuracy, yet the effect she projects is totally warm and compassionate; of sympathy for the human condition. Among the 20-odd recordings of the complete sonatas, this becomes immediately my preferred choice.

Read the full review here.

Here is what Alina is up against by way of past recordings:

Ruggiero Ricci, 1974, Candide
Gidon Kremer, 1976, VMI
Charles Castleman, 1981, Music & Arts
Oscar Shumsky, 1982, Nimbus
Lydia Mordkovitch, 1988, Chandos
Yuval Yaron, 1990, Accord
Evgenia-Maria Popova, 1991, Leman
Mateja Marinkovic, 1992, Collins
Vilmos Szabadi, 1992, Hungaroton
Stéphane Tran Ngoc, 1994, REM
Frank Peter Zimmermann, 1994, EMI
Tomoko Kato, 1995, Denon
Vincenzo Bolognese, 1997, Arts
Philippe Graffin, 1997, Hyperion
Takayoshi Wanami, 1997, Somm
Leonidas Kavakos, 1999, BIS
Hana Kotková, 2002, Forlane
Thomas Zehetmair, 2004, ECM
Rachel Kolly D’Alba, 2010, Warner
Judith Ingolfssohn, 2011, Genuin
Tai Murray, 2012, Harmonia Mundi
Krystof Barati, 2013, Brilliant
Tianwa Yang, 2014, Naxos

(main source: Peter Wilson, violinist.com)

The Colorado MahlerFest in and around the city of Boulder is one of the boldest musical initiatives of modern times. Founded in 1988 by Robert Olson and apply intense immersion to one symphony each year, it has become a byword among Mahler scholars and followers for its uncluttered idealism, its uncommon altitude (5,430 feet high) and its internationally resonant scholarship and recordings.

Bob Olson is retiring as artistic director after 28 years.

His successor, in May 2016, will be the UK-based American Kenneth Woods, principal conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and a widely recorded interpreter of post-Mahler romantics.

Roll on the next Boulder.

The Philharmonia Orchestra has ‘bid a fond farewell to our Principal Timpanist Andy Smith, who has just retired after 42 years in the Orchestra.’

While lifelong tenure is common in US orchestras it is less usual in London, where there are infinite distractions and multiple temptations. To spend 42 years in the same orchestra, and still keep your sanity and hair, is a triumph of tolerance and dedication.

We wish Andy a happy and fulfilling retirement.