Hello? Daniel Barenboim on the phone
NewsBarenboim once told me he received a call from Herbert von Karajan.
That came as a shock. The septuagenarian Karajan disliked the young Israeli and most of his friends.
But Barenboim had just been dismissed by Pierre Bergé as head of the Paris Opéra and Karajan had an urgent message for him: ‘We conductors must stick together.’
Now, it is reported in Berlin that Barenboim, after two decades of not speaking to Christian Thielemann, picked up the phone in person to ask him to take over some performances of the new Ring at the Staatsoper under den Linden.
I wonder if he told him: ‘We conductors must stick together.’
Where is it reported that Barenboim “picked up the phone in person”? Maybe he did, but that’s not what the article says at all. It just quotes the press release. But maybe Barenboim texted him: “Sup, Chris? Long time no speak!” Isn’t it somewhat more likely that the Staatsoper’s back office sounded Thielemann out via the usual channels of agents and so forth?
No, in exceptional circumstances like these, asking a top notch conductor to jump in on very short notice for a Ring cycle rehearsals and performances, to save the whole house, a direct call is very much indicated, at least as an introduction, the subordinates then clearing the details.
Reminds me of Muti’s first encounter with Karajan: a phone call inviting him to Salzburg.
I assume this is how cultural evolution works.
That was funny. Muti was on tour in the middle of the USA and believed It was a joke by someone else pretending to be Karajan.
But the story Moody tells us that he was awakened from his sleep in Raleigh, North Carolina by carry-ons call and didn’t believe it was real.
Interesting question: Would you as a conductor personally call someone to replace you who would outshine you?
Thus can we assume that Barenboim personally called the most competent conductor he knew (to ensure that his Ring would not end in a failure), but not necessarily most brilliant conductor he knew (who would overshadow Barenboim)?
For instance, Karajan would NEVER have called on Bernstein to replace him, and he never did.
(I’ll leave to others to fill in the blank as to who would be that “most brilliant conductor” that Barenboim would never call.)
If Bernstein was the one with whom Karajan acted badly… The list is so long, Celibidache, Harnoncourt etc…
I love Bernstein, but I would pick Daniel instead for a Wagner cycle. Don’t you?
An old story about the art and the politics in France… The irony is that Chung (it was an excellent choice from the left) who replaced in the late 80’s Barenboim (who started in France with the right) will know exactly the same problem in the 90’s at Opéra de Paris against the will of the orchestra. Those two great conductors were victims of French political vengences between the left and the right. Concerning Karajan in the 80’s, it was reporeted that he realy liked Chailly in the 80’s who was at the direction of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. But at the time he was not very famous and not a menace for Karajan.
Thielemann once was at Deutsche Opera Berlin, and Barenboim at Berlin State Opera – and there was this younger man on the rise. Someone who could potentially take over the Berlin Phil – which Barenboim wanted (who wouldn’t). Now with Thielemann on Chicago’s radar, it’s different times – maybe Barenboim has some advice for him. [It remains to be seen, but the man with the right credentials and age seems to be Jurowski, if the orchestra likes him.]
I beieve Carlos Kleiber didn’t want the Berlin Phil.
Well, with the atrocious singing at Bayreuth this Summer, anything’s possible. What a shambles.
Were you there? Because a lot of singing in Bayreuth was stellar this summer, for instance in Lohengrin with Thielemann conducting.
I have a suspicion, only for some roles in the Ring they could not find the world’s current A-cast, simply because these could not be bothered with another experimental semi-amateur stage director Katharina was offering them.
Ring…
CT: “Hallo?”
DB: “Herr Direcktor Dirigentissimo Barenboim here, I wish to speak to Chris.”
CT: “Chris? I am Christian”
DB: “Ja, ja, you are Christian, I am Jewish, so what?”
CT: “How can I help you, Danny?”
DB: “Listen, can you take over for me for my Ring cycle?”
CT: “But I am booked for Chicago in the middle of the run”
DB: “Chicago? What’s that, some Broadway musical you people are so fond of?”
CT: “Don’t be bitchy Danny. The Chicago Symphony, the one you abandoned because you couldn’t fill Solti’s shoes.”
DB: “Now you’re being bitchy, Chris. Forget Chicago, they’re never going to appoint you, not unless you became a Black lesbian.”
CT: “Fine, I can do the first and third runs, and I’ll give the second run to the Gorgeous Guggeis.”
DB: “Keep talking like that, you won’t last in day in Chicago. Now, in the immortal words of Rupaul: ‘Don’t fuck it up!’ ”
CT:”Berlin or Chicago?”
DB:”Both!”
Ha ha, forget Chicago indeed, because Barenboim the King Maker is grooming Thielemann to inherit the Staatskapelle or Staatsoper or both in Berlin.
Grooming? That’s nonsense. Unless you believe Barenboim was willfully behind Blomstedt breaking a leg and himself having a serious relapse of vasculitis.
More like Barenboim respecting his own legacy with Staatsoper and Staatskapelle enough, now trying to get the best, regardless of mean rivalry in the past.
Hope this will not end as usual “Sashay away!” for Thielemann
As the only black member of the CSO , and having been hired by Maestro Barenboim I find this very offensive.
Why?
You would find this offensive only if you thought Black lesbians didn’t naturally deserve to be music directors, that a Black lesbian would be appointed only because of affirmative action.
You should/would be outraged that you’re the only Black member of the CSO, if you thought Blacks were naturally superior musicians.
If one heard in Austria, don’t expect to be appointed to the Vienna Philharmonic unless you were a White straight male, every Austrian would understand that to mean it’s the natural order of things.
What you need is Black lesbian pride. Dream big: dream of a world one day in which Black lesbians ruled the world, as White straight males did (and do) for millennia.
There is a mistake. Barenboim is’t israeli. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It be stick to you Israeli even you emigrated for a week and became famous outside of Israel.
He was born in Argentina, and therefore, is Argentinian, but he is also Israeli, has an honorary passport from Palestine, and apparently now he is Spanish, too.
Yes. You are correct. When something suits his ambitions and quest for more fame, he does it. All carefully calculated.
To Carlos: yes, but he has also israeli citizenship, amongst others.
He holds an Israeli passport. Isn’t that all that’s needed to be called an Israeli? Not so important anyway. If anyone on this planet can be called a world citizen, not only by passports but also by conviction, it would be DB.
Born in Argentinia, speaks Spanish among his array of languages and a Jew but Barenboim himself says: Since 1952 I have owned an Israeli passport. Since I was fifteen years old, I have travelled the world as a musician. I have lived in London and in Paris and I commuted for years between Chicago and Berlin. Before I had an Israeli passport, I had an Argentinean one; later I acquired a Spanish one.
https://danielbarenboim.com › 60-y…
Since 2008, he also holds a Palestinian passport.
He is probably hedging his bets and has a suitcase full of passports.
He has Israeli citizenship and is therefore Israeli. But a very poor Israeli. DB has as much idea of loyalty as I have of conducting.
DB has the greatest loyality. To all of humanity. Not the backward tribal kind you refer to, that is the root of so much evil in the world.
Barenboim is an Israeli citizen – has been since 1952. Married Jacqueline du Pré in Israel when they went there to play for the troops. In those days he did good things. Now he doesn’t. His ambition conquers all good sense, all kindness, all generosity, all loyalty, all faithfulness.
He became a citizen when he was very young.
Any jewish person can
Is it true that Thielemann recently cancelled his Chicago Bruckner 8 ?
He’s still listed:
https://cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/thielemann-conducts-bruckner-8/
Seems rather wise on the part of Barenboim, regardless of his personal motivation, to make a reconcilatory gesture toward “the enemy” before his imminent final departure.
Barenboim Israeli!?
He was born in Argentina and has never lived in Israel.
He has an apartment in Jerusalem.
He was an opportunist: he hardly ever mentioned he was Argentinian when he was young, in order to advance his career.
Same thing with Domingo: he hardly ever mentioned his early years (and studies at the Conservatorio) in Mexico.
In his five lifes Thieleman would never achieved what Barenboim achieved in one life.
One of the greatest pianist, great chamber music player and among greatest artists with conducting button in his hand.
I was lucky enough to witness his years with Chicago Symphony after Maestro Solti’s death. I moved to Chicago from Europe just 4 days after Solti’s death. There is no one Barenboim concert that I have forgotten. All were unic musical experiences of the highest artistic order. I wish all the luck to Maestro Barenboim and speeder recovery. In the meantime I’m enjoying his Beethoven’s piano sonatas (early version), Beethoven’s piano concertos with Klemperer and his Beethoven’s Symphonies with Staatskapele Berlin.
I can guarantee that Karajan never got a call from Furtwangler.
Staatskapelle and Staatsoper will go to either Jurowsky or Thielemann. Both are fine.
Also, I thought that it was sad to see that Jonas Kaufmann (who sang that evening at the Colon) and his family, who were in a table next to Barenboim did nothing at all and kept talking and smiling after that…
To top it all, a member of the Divan orchestra (they had a big table in a corner and were singing homophobic songs) approached the old man and took a selfie telling him some nasty words, in front of his wife !!
My friend told me “is that how decent people in classical music are ??”
VERY disturbing.
But who really knows. Or cares. We’re just gossiping here.