Mezzo cancels on Currentzis debut

Mezzo cancels on Currentzis debut

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norman lebrecht

November 29, 2019

The mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine has cancelled tomorrow night’s Verdi Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonic.

She’s replaced by Annalisa Stroppa.

It’s the Berlin Phil debut of Teodor Currentzis.

Watch rehearsal trailer here.

 

Comments

  • Currentzis fan says:

    Article neutral. Now let’s see how many comments it takes to become toxic!

    • Tamerlano says:

      Not from me…his Verdi Requiem is a stunner.

      • voxnemo says:

        The recording maybe. Today’s live concert was anything but…

      • FrauGeigerin says:

        Recordings are NEVER the way to judge a conductor. Recordings these dates have heavy editing, patching etc. and there are many more rehearsals for recordings than for concerts. If you want to judge a conductor do it in a live concert, and if possible in a work with singers.
        In my experience, Currentzis is a FAKE.

        • innocent-engineer says:

          I have watched this Correntzis guy rehearsing, been involved with recording him and his orchestra on and off for more than anyone else in the world.

          I have to say, he has managed to produce some of the most hideously ugly recordings I have ever heard, the Beethoven 5th being one of the most absurd examples ever.

          The Mozart opera series were loudly touted, done by some cretins at Sony, who were specially flown in, then cheekily borrowed our entire microphone inventory, adding hideous reverb for the opera house then inflating Correntzis ego, as he claimed to hear stuff, proper sound engineers can’t.

          I could go on about this FAKE, big mouth PR- Mislin pupil, but the biggest convincer has to be how close he is to the other big faker Gergiev.

          If you can get a carver, to get paid 10x the normal salary for a Russian, claim how he is going to change the course of 21st century music, grandstand bringing in foreign talents, pay them 10x more, but who clearly sang less well than home grown ones (Boheme being a perfect example..)..

          We could go on.
          At least one good thing for Russia, Correntzis is GONE.

          All the material he installed at great expense for nothing at his house has had to be returned, and there will be no others to emulate this pantomime.

          I have one recording of his Leningrad symphony (live as usual).
          Parts of it are really not bad, apart from the ridiculous dynamics and general lack of vision & breadth.

          Go listen to anything from Mravinsky, zero PR, economy of gesture, vision, and hatred of the “system”.

          Fact is, Correntzis is the hated “system”, and gamed it incredibly successfully.
          It’s the only success I can think of.

          • Expletive says:

            You mad bro? His Beethoven 5 was the best I heard. His Mozart operas were amazing. Sorry you’re a failure in life, that’s not a reason to hate on the successful.

          • Tamerlano says:

            You’re lying. Either that, or you’re an idiot. Prove otherwise?

    • Bone says:

      You’re certainly chumming for downvotes with this crowd.

    • Michael says:

      You go right ahead and like him. Just because there are people that do not agree with you does not make it toxic. Everyone has a right to his/her own opinion.

  • RW2013 says:

    Full of sound and fairy…
    And where’s Simone Kermes?

  • Pedro says:

    I like chorus members singing without a score, like in Karajan’s old days, though the result is very different…

  • made in greece says:

    I have the last recording of Correntzis Verdi requiem. LIVE.
    It’s really crap.

    After hearing Jessye Norman on radio 3 with Muti last weeks, it makes you realise what a crap conductor Correntzis really is.

    PR, PR, PR. It doesn’t make up for real musicians.

  • Berlín says:

    It’s not his Berliner Philharmoniker debut, he’s playing the Requiem with his own orchestra. It’s also not his Philharmonie debut, as he has played in both halls many times before.

    • HugoPreuss says:

      In that case, you know more than the Berlin Philharmonic and Deutschlandfunk Kultur Radio, both of whom called it his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic.

  • O. S. says:

    For a sec I thought it was the channel that cancelled, not the singer. Much less interesting now that I got it right. Hardly worth an item.

  • music fan says:

    well, Currentzis fan, as you can see: without any
    “Fiddle, Faddle, Drivel, Posh
    Twiddle, Twaddle, Blather, Bosh.
    Bilge and dodge and double-dutch
    And Flim-Flam”
    no one is interested in this charlatan.

  • HugoPreuss says:

    I am currently listening to it; it is broadcast live on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. And the first 50 minutes or so (I write at 7:55 German time) have been absolutely glorious and magnificent.

    I *would* write “and now let the hating begin”, but that is clearly unnecessary, since there are already plenty of hate comments. Well, you enjoy your hate, and I’ll enjoy another hour of a wonderful concert.

    • HugoPreuss says:

      Concert is over. And it stayed magnificent. You can listen to it at the Deutschlandfunk Radio Kultur “Mediathek”, just google it.

      Hermann Prey once said that the only thing more impressive than applause is no applause, and he linked the quality of his concerts directy to the seconds of silence between the last note and the applause. Tonight, there was a looooong pause before the bravos started to reign down on the performers.

      • voxnemo says:

        For me it was quite a disappointment. And I think it was for the orchestra, too. Have rarely seen so many grimaces.
        I had high hopes that he could somehow ‘reign in’ this arabian horse of an orchestra. I’m afraid it was wishful thinking.. Maybe next time. If he will get a next time..

        • HugoPreuss says:

          I didn’t see it, I just heard it on the radio. Might have been a different experience (no irony). The only review I have encountered so far was quite good, with some nagging about minor things.

      • Bruce says:

        There are 3 different verbs in English that all sound the same. The spelling is very similar and they are also all nouns. Very confusing. Native speakers, in the US at least, mix them up all the time.

        • rain: to fall down from above in many particles, like rain (bravos began to rain down on the performers)
        • rein: used with “in” — to bring under control (from using the reins to control a horse: “I hoped he could rein in this Arabian horse of an orchestra”)
        • reign: what a monarch does (when Karajan reigned in Berlin)

        Sorry to be pedantic.

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