Watch Mariss Jansons live- right here
mainHe has recovered.
The concert starts at 1900 London time, 1400 New York.
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A glorious, inspiring, amazing performance by the incomparable Vienna Philharmonic and maestro Jansons.
Thank you Mr.Lebrecht providing access to this special event
The orchestra sounded like the way he looked.
By the way, the Elbphilharmonie accoustics drained the color and the warmth from the Viennese, I had to look hard to confirm visually it was the Vienna Philharmonic.
While obviously glad to see that MJ was able to recover and conduct, the performance of the Schumann 1st was virtually unrecognizable as a performance by the VPO. Immediately after watching/listening to the entire performance I found the late 70’s-early 80’s video with Bernstein in Vienna and the differences were striking. The orchestra isn’t the same but that can not explain the differences in vitality, elan and simple commitment/engagement by the orchestra. With so many men and women studying the art of conducting it is striking how few seem to do it really well. Perhaps one reason is the relative paucity of small regional opera houses which in the 20th century served as training facilities to learn the craft.
In Germany especially there are lots of “small regional opera houses” where someone can learn to conduct. And Jansons has certainly built his career from the smaller venues over time. In any case, there were lots of terrible performances in the past, perhaps more than now where the standard of playing from the orchestra is much higher than it used to be.
Thank you Mr. Lebrecht
Can’t wait to see him in Latvia this summer.
I just cannot understand why people give applause to this horrible concert. MJ was obviously not in great condition and should maybe have cancelled….. He is a good and respectable conductor, but really a terrible concert. Don’t know if it was after or before that evening , but he couldn’t stand after his parisian concert and needed help from musicians. Maybe illness or old age can give some depth to some conductors, most of the times it does not…….
I see you’re getting plenty of ‘thumbs down’, but you speak the truth. I get them too. In many cases, older conductors simply get lethargic and go slower. Granted, they can’t help it. But many are fooled into believing that fact, in of itself, makes something profound.
I have to agree. Most conductors are at their best in their 40s and 50s, as are most soloists. Few conductors can still produce fantastic performances into their 80s (at least on a regular basis); if they keep going they really do need to limit the number of concerts they give to maintain their standards.
==I just cannot understand why people give applause to this horrible concert.
I agree. It was lacklustre and never took off. MJ should have cancelled