Fallen maestro stands in for post-op Muti

Fallen maestro stands in for post-op Muti

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norman lebrecht

February 05, 2016

Riccardo Muti is recovering from an operation on his hip after a fall at his home in Ravenna.

For want of anyone better (or a burst of initiative), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has asked Gennady Rozhdestvensky to stay on for an extra week and cover Muti’s concerts.

Gennady is a wonderful conductor, but he’s 84 years old and, like Muti, very recently suffered a serious fall that caused a last-minute concert cancellation in Dresden.

Chicago need to go bolder on their subs bench.

They could be tempting fate.

gennady rozhdestvensky

Overnight press release:
CHICAGO— Distinguished Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who is currently in Chicago to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1 & 15 this weekend (February 5 & 6), has graciously agreed to remain with the Orchestra for an additional set of concerts on February 11, 12, 13 & 16.   Rozhdestvensky steps in for CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti, who had to withdraw from his February concerts in Chicago due to recovery from a hip operation.

Comments

  • harold braun says:

    Let’s be glad this great conductor is well and does it! Better than picking some karaoke conducting style lady conductors getting top jobs who could learn a thing or two from Maestro Gennady….Greatest conducting technique ever!

    • Olassus says:

      Let’s be glad this great conductor is well and does it! [END]

    • Ellingtonia says:

      I see the mysoginists have crept out of the woodwork already. What is it about middle aged white men that they can’t cope with the progress made by women in the field of music?
      I note also that you use the sycophantic term “maestro”, he’s a bloody conductor not a brain surgeon, now that would be someone worth addressing with a suitable title!

      • dave says:

        He doesn’t look as bloody as the brain surgeon might look hehe

      • RW2013 says:

        Mysogyny has nothing to do with it.
        The implied lady simply conducts and behaves like first semester/teaching methods/second study.

        • Ellingtonia says:

          I take it you were unsuccessful with your application four the post at the CBSO……

        • Lisa says:

          No, it doesn’t imply a particular ‘lady’. The person wrote ‘some lady conductors’. The word ‘some’ plus the ‘s’ on the word conductors both
          imply the plural. Misogyny has everything to do with it.

      • Eddie Mars says:

        Sorry you have problems with Italian. ‘Maestro’ means ‘master’, and is and is an official recognition of great achievement.

        • Ellingtonia says:

          It is still a sycophantic term applied to the vast majority of conductors whether they deserve it or not. It smacks of “doffing the cap” as we say here “up north” and we have moved on since then

  • cherrera says:

    Great conductor, a fount of lifetime of wisdom that any world class orchestra worthy of its name would not miss an opportunity to drink from.

    A very insightful documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuEeZsEY75Y

    An astonishingly humanist approach to conducting, hear his comment to his conducting student on why it was necessary to cue the timpanist, not because he needed it, but because it is human to establish a connection with the musician.

    Chicago will be the richer for keeping him on for a couple of more weeks (in a very unusual program to boot – Ligeti, Mozart, Part, Tchaikovsky)

  • Ingrid says:

    He is a wonderful conductor. What a ridiculous statement. …. need to dig deeper in the sub bag.

  • Stuard Young says:

    Why go ‘bolder into the subs bench” when a highly respected sub was right there for the asking? Having taken a fall or not, the age of 84 is no reason to snub a conductor the caliber of Rozhdestvensky. Stokowski and Paray were still doing excellent work in their 90s. Christoph von Dohnanyi (87), Herbert Blomstedt (88) and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (92) are still actively making music, and highly respected wherever they go. There should be room on the bench for any highly talented and respected conductor “subs” no matter their age or gender, or ethnicity.

  • Andrew says:

    I seriously can’t comprehend how this old clown is still considered a real conductor. My orchestra was appalled by the way he rehearsed and his comments and jokes. That generation of Russian conductors just has to go. Seriously.

    • Stuard Young says:

      What orchestra is that? Find it hard to believe the CSO would have Rozhdestvensky bracket for a second week, subbing for Muti, no less, is they did not respect his music making and the man. Your orchestra may have a different makeup of personalities. I would like to read more about this subject from the musicians of both the CSO and Orchestra X.

  • Dileep Gangolli says:

    This video demonstrates exactly why Rozhdestvensky should be conducting the CSO. Wonderful music making and very clear in my opinion (while demonstrating the underlying musical ideas). This in an age of overconducting. I have heard from many the Shostakovich concerts were wonderful. Looking forward to hearing the Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

  • Peter says:

    Bla, bla, bla. So much irrelevant talking.
    Who cares if its a man or a woman. Who cares old or young.

    Close your eyes, listen to the music. Then decide if you want to hear these musicians again or not. End of story.

    • Pedro says:

      Agree and you will recognize Haitink, Barenboim, Thielemann, Gatti, Muti, Gergiev, Mehta, Pappano and Salonen as the best around. At the same level and from my experiences live, Susanna Mälkki conducted superb Mahler symphonies in Lisbon, as did Simone Young a few years earlier here. Hannigan as also bery impressive in Mozart. I am waiting for Myrga now.

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