Maestro glue: Berlin gives Eschenbach an indefinite extension
UncategorizedThe Konzerthausorchester Berlin has renewed Christoph Eschenbach, 81, for one more season, until 2023.
But he will remain connected ever after ‘in order to shape the orchestra in the years to come,’ according to the press release.
Eschenbach took up the post in 2019 from Ivan Fischer, who did the real reshaping.
Maestro Glueck
By renewing Eschenbach’s contract for only one more season and stating that he will “remain connected ever after in order to shape the orchestra in the years to come,” the Konzerthausorchester Berlin is apparently elegantly and diplomatically getting him out without creating any negative publicity. It is the right thing to do and the other orchestras that Eschenbach was associated with in the recent past years, like the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia Orchestra, announced similar things in their messages informing that he would not be renewed for five or more years.
During the Covid crisis, where there were actually very few public concerts and Berlin audiences didn’t really ever have the chance to get disenchanted with this vagabond Music Director, it is not a good sign that they only renew him for just one more season now.
It is sad that yet again Eschenbach was not able to leave a strong, long and lasting mark on an orchestra that he was entrusted to oversee. His track record in the past two decades is not an enviable one.
How many more years does it make sense to give an 81 year old conductor?
“It is sad that yet again Eschenbach was not able to leave a strong, long and lasting mark on an orchestra that he was entrusted to oversee. His track record in the past two decades is not an enviable one.”
He’s a second-rate conductor, who orchestra managers seem to love, while musicians and audiences have always been unimpressed.
Having heard Eschenbach a number of times, he just seems clueless. His interpretations are superficial, with fussy changes to tempos that come off as a desperate attempt to say something unique without actually providing insight. He seems to be oblivious to issues of balance and phrasing.
When did Eschenbach ever leave a lasting mark on any of the orchestras he lead? I’ve seen him wandering from a medocre pianist to a mediocre conductor.
“Iván Fischer, who did the real reshaping”
Genau!
It has to be management did this on their own.
They count on the maestro’s immortality and eternal youth.
Eschenbach did a phenomenal job with the Houston Symphony a quarter-century ago–it had the darkest, richest, bass-centered, and most European sound of U.S. orchestras, in contrast to the drier, Toscaninian ambiences of Szell and Solti. Houston hasn’t heard his like since.
Including the BSO?.
His tempi are so slow, it makes sense to give him an indefinite extension.
I am very sorry to say this, because Eschenbach and my family had a connection through my father and I liked him as a person and very especially as a pianist, but Eschenbach is a mediocre conductor at best, and it is very shortsighted from the Konzerthausorchester to keep him in that position.
How have I been so statistically lucky to hear memorable performances by Eschenbach with multiple orchestras? Far from mediocre.
All the concerts I have performed with him have been disappointing from his side. We (the orchestra) had to “save the concert” every time, making up for his lack of conducting technique (a conductor who cannot communicate with the orchestra without words is not useful).