Conductor lacks balls hits Finland’s front page
mainLeif Segerstam’s attack on Susanna Mälkki is heading the newstands in Helsinki.
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His words have something in common with his two hundred symphonies, both won’t make a difference.
Good one, PHF!
Sorry to say but it’s near 300 already…
More than 300 now; and he’s a very talented musician.
Way over 300…
– Hi, it’s Toivo, I want to talk to Leif.
– Leif is composing a symphony just now, and can’t talk yo you.
– No problem, I can wait.
[Paraphrasing Hitchcock and Simenon]
He’s actually up to 335 now! (At least according to Wikipedia’s tally as of September. He’s probably written a dozen since then).
The more symphonies you write, the more chance that there will be something of worth among them. Any composer after Mozart and Haydn made the attempt but failed drastically, giving up after 9, 4, 10, 15 etc. This, only this, is the reason that the post-Haydn/Mozart symphonies are so bad in comparison.
With his symphony nr 289 Mr Segerstem has completely surpassed Haydn and Mozart not only in quantity but also in quality, since there is no quality without quantity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krBBsmdxF7I
Does he write them or does he program them?
Credit where it’s due: in the US, even the most outrageous utterance from a conductor would probably garner nothing more than a mention somewhere in the dark recesses of the New York Times website for about a day.
Wish he had been more direct: in his opinion, her interpretations cause the orchestra to sound weak. Alas, he went the slang route.
I take it you read neither the first nor the second interview, in which he couldn’t have been „more direct“. The slang interpretation only functions when you pretend that he never said that the atmosphere on stage and in the hall was directly related to conductors‘s testosterone/estrogen levels, he had disagreed with women being conductors over the course of his entire career and conceding to having ‚sinned’ with his ‚sexist views for most of his life‘.
That doesn’t mean what he says isn’t truthful. Some women do have balls, and you need them to be a conductor. Most don’t get that. Lucile Lawrence, a great pedagogue, told her female students “you have to play like a man.” We discussed it, and the issue is being strong, tough, and being able to match up, tonally, to what the men are doing, because men have a stronger sound.
She says “I can only feel free if I forget about myself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9iBm4i8zTk
I think the best way to make peace would be if Susanna Mälkki would conduct one of Leif Segerstam’s 300 master works.
Leif’s symphonies are played without a conductor….