Young UK conductor ‘is like Carlos Kleiber’
mainVienna’s Der Standard, which used to be a serious newspaper, has gone wild with hyperbole this weekend over the young British conductor Alexander Soddy who, according to its critic, set new standards in Salome at the Vienna State Opera.
‘Soddy’s conducting was an event that has not been experienced in this house for decades,’ the review gushed.
Read here.
Soddy shares a manager with Kirill Petrenko.
He’s 37
That’s pretty young for a conductor (despite the repeated hyping of 20-something-year-old prodigies, real and imagined)
Perhaps he was indeed like Kleiber in that performance. We’d need to hear it to judge.
Pretty sure Kleiber never conducted it in Wuppertal or Stuttgart, so the whole premise is false. (Would be easier with “Rigoletto,” not that I have tape.)
I’m pretty sure Ken knows nothing about Kleiber or conducting if he thinks he never conducted in Stuttga
…but Salome in Stuttgart?
I was there. With all due respect to Mr. Soddy, it was not a good performance. Without having any orchestral rehearsals, I can understand why everything was so loud and why there were many coordination problems.
It appears that Michael Lewin, the agent, not only owns Mr. Roščić (Lewin conductores conduct about 80% of all evenings at the Staatsoper), but also the Austrian press and its critics.
Who can tell me a little more about Lewin? He appears to be a major player pulling strings behind doors, but all I know about him is he is overweight and plays on his IPad during his clients rehearsals.
He was for a long time a journalist in Vienna. He then ghosted Barenboim’s autobiography and, hey presto, all the necessary doors opened. He is a singularly unpleasant person, but ruthlessly effective, and very well versed in the Wienerkunstpolitik.
That would explain a lot.
Michael Lewin is a serious artists manager respected throughout the business with musical knowledge and a good instinct. Were he not, he would not be so successful. Furthermore, he is generous with his time when dealing or talking to young artists and artist’s managers.
I was there also. It was a routine performance with average singers (only Konieczny was really good) and a too loud orchestra. I don’t know anything about Mr Lewin, but the article in Der Standard is utterly ridiculous, base flatery really, and I have a hard time believing that it’s author really wrote what he thought
Therein lies the key to this headline.
Too bad it was “Salome.” A terrible piece and one of one’s worst nightmares of Strauss.
Why is it that people compare? Each of us is unique; it is just that some are more unique than others 🙂 Is there not the imagination to see Mr Soddy for his own? What if he ‘only’ ‘lives up’ to his own talents and not those of Mr Kleiber? “Comparison is invidious” A pleasant day to you 🙂
Would have expected Vienna to say “Sod off!” in the present climate.
Maybe BRSO should invite him?
Yes, one of those unfortunate surnames.
– Did Alexander Soddy have a chance to rehearse Salome with the orchestra?
– Most reassuring to see they are still performing the wonderful 1972 Barlog/Rose production.
I can tell you this: HE IS NOT.
This is PR at its best.
Trust me, NOBODY is
But nobody until now has claimed to be…
“used to be a serious newspaper”
In general it is, but its arts coverage has always been sub-par, particularly when it comes to opera and classical music. I have no idea how Ender and Tosic managed to land these jobs and hang on to them for all these years. Neither of them has ever written anything that suggests even a rudimentary understanding of the art forms they cover.
Nice guy, competent conductor – like CK (except AS plays the piano better).
How do you know he plays the piano better? Carlos never played in public (except as a repetiteur early in his career). Karajan heard him playing Mahler 6 on his way up the driveway. Let’s ask him…
CK said of himself he wasn’t much of a pianist. That said, Ioan Holender didn’t complain when he accompanied him in Düsseldorf (quite the opposite, in fact).
Did he play as well as Holender sings?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyJ1MtFBMc4
“never believe your own hype” – the best advice I ever received from a teacher on reading my first professional review
The reviewer is clearly in love with him….
Friends playing in the band and singing for his Salome, tell a totally different story….
………you do know orchestral musicians generally dislike conductors I assume…………
Not all.
Orchestral musicians are not stupid. Their complaints about conductors are often (not always) spot-on.
Is this blog ever “serious”?
Listened to his Alpine Symphony in Mannheim, which was a TOTAL disaster (musically nearly as terribly boring as Strauss‘ oboe concerto in the first half…). I don‘t know any word, that would describe how little he has in common with Kleiber!
Just as young violinists have often been characterized as “like Heifetz”, so now we have a conductor who is “like Kleiber”, which only tells us about the depth of Kleiber’s influence. (Carlos, right?)
Either would honour any comparison.
With a surname like that he will go far!
Try this for size: http://arsis-artists.com/en/alexander-soddy-erste-saison-in-mannheim/
‘…in collaboration with Lewin Artists Management’ is not really a guarantee of objectivity, is it?
Der Standard’s critic has never heard Carlos Kleiber conduct Salome, in fact nobody has. And yes, this is hyper-lobbyism in absurdum.
we read a little too often about Kleiberish events these days .. maybe it was a good performance. wasn t this incredibly bad (non-) conductor who ‘won’ the Bamberg competition also compared to Kleiber ? he didn t seem able to give cues, to stay in tempo – he is not even a beginner, rather a dilletant (and the video of his conducting was withdrawn one day after). so better not to compare anyone with Kleiber – especially when he/she is good.
Actually the orchestra was always too loud with Kleiber. I sat in row 12 for Rosenkavalier and couldn’t hear the singers because he insisted on having the orchestra practically at stage level so everyone could see him.
Mack: the orchestral pit in Vienna is at stage level, no matter who conducts. It has nothing to do with Kleiber.
The thing about CK is that he is now considered beyond any criticism, thus the ultimate reference for the next rising star of the day.
Seeing is believing….