Just in: Gergiev’s concertmaster goes
NewsThe city of Munich has let it be known that Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici ceased to be concertmaster of the Philharmonic from the end of last month.
The Romanian violinist, 60, was a confidant of the sacked conductor and toured with him in Russia during the war against Ukraine.
The city has not specifically said he was fired but it ‘thanked Nasturica-Herschcowici ‘for 30 valuable years as concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic’ and wished him all the best for the future.
The next concertmaster had better be apolitical.
“The next concertmaster had better be apolitical.”
Or at least not a rashist.
Who will succeed Gergiev in Munich? That’s much more interesting question as for now.
Former concertmaster has made his choice, it was predictable that he will left.
Not apolitical, but woke.
Not “apolitical,” but just don’t tour Russia while it’s invading and carrying out horrific war crimes against its neighbor, with the Russian conductor who is a staunch supporter of the president who is doing it. Not so hard.
especially in munich if your name is hershkowitz
Musicians who get involved with politics and lose their careers only have thsmelves to blame.
Spoken like a true classical musician, those artists taught from their earliest childhood to squat and jump according to how an absolute authority figure waves his arms and scowls. Be sure to stay in step.
That should apply to both sides of the political aisle, right?
Only if you think that democracies and autocratic regimes are really the same. Nobody cares whether you are conservative or liberal or left or green. But touring Russia in times of an imperialist war is something different. Most people know that.
By that logic, I trust that you will also condemn with at least equal vigour artists who tour the UK or the USA, countries that have engaged in (and are still engaging in) imperialist wars for decades, many of them illegal under international law (notably, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but there are plenty of more recent military interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere that one could cite). Or are the imperialist wars waged by the West acceptable?
Nope, false equivalency. There were UN resolutions in 2002 which could be used to legally justify the Iraq invasion. When was the last time that the UK or US invaded a country in order to annex it? There is literally no example in the last 100+ years. Russia has invaded Ukraine for territorial gain two times in seven years.
“Gergiev, on tour in Russia with Richard Strauss’s Heldenleben, is looking east.”
https://slippedisc.com/2022/09/munich-to-gergiev-not-a-penny-more/
Do we know who the concertmaster is in the Heroes’ Life? I have a suspicion…
Purging artists based on their political and professional affiliations opens a big can of worms.
Ugh this tired trope. Artists don’t just represent themselves in some sheltered rosy place over the rainbow. They represent the organizations they are employed by. You know, employed for money? I believe the saying goes “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”.
What artists seem to forget is that unless they are selling out performance after performance on their own, they are dependent on an organization (one or more) to get an audience for their livelihood. If you embarrass or anger one of those organizations in pursuit of those aims, you can easily predict the outcome.
Absolutely! Orchestra musicians get a bit too comfy and lose sight of this cold, harsh reality. It’s possible for this violinist to play at a train station yet be completely ignored regardless of ability.
Fantastic musician. Played one of the most touching performance here:
https://youtu.be/bEBQAgQeV9M?t=640
The most vulgar performance of this Strauss solo. He has chops but doesn’t get the style of it at all. Not everything should sound like Russian music…
Despite that LN-H is excellent concertmaster/violinist – touring with Putin’s pet gives strange feelings. So resignment (or firing) was good decision.
There is still Julian Shevlin and Naoka Aoki as fellow 1st concertmasters + 2 or 3 associate concertmasters so they keep flag on high + Munich will find an excellent successor for LN-H.
And again that when someone is going – other is coming.
I just noticed that after quite a long search they finally picked new principal trumpet player (quite a famous Alexandre Baty) as pair for Guido Seegers so now three of Germany’s top orchestra’s have French principal trumpet player. Munich also have French quite a new principal horn player and Australian (also quite a new) principal trombone player who recently placed 2nd in ARD competitions so lot’s of new face is coming.
I wonder what the real story behind the conflict in the Ukraine is; maybe history will reveal the truth at some point. In the meantime, blind, unthinking ignorance on the part of our government and the governments of the EU and the US will prevail.
The real story is that Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union, only this time with a fascist leaning. End of real story.
Hmmm, never seen any faschist rhetoric there, any proofs?
He wanted to spend more time with his chins.
The insinuation that Nasturica is being “fired” for political beliefs is false. He is driven by financial self-interest and can’t accept the city of Munich’s decision to forbid him pursuing a very lucrative gig. it just so happens that high-income moonlighting happens to be in a country which attacked Kiev, the sister city of Munich.
The hero and the hero’s companion…
“The next concertmaster had better be apolitical”.
Unfortunately that is not allowed in the world we live in. People are not allowed by the police of the “political correctness” to deviate from the “acceptable positions” and even to keep their personal and political opinions private. Try to remain quiet about the Ukrainian invasion and you will be called a “russian supporter”; don’t publicly support Black Lives Matter and you will be called “racist”; be critical with (or don’t participate in) the sex quotas and “sex-based positive discrimination measures” and you will be called misogynist; vote for a conservative party and you will be labelled as fascist; program a concert with works by Schumann, Bach and Stravinsky and someone will say that the program is “all white European male music, perpetuating patriarchy and colonial positions”…
Apolitical? That doesn’t exist.
It is exactly that.
Good riddance! He can play at Putin’s funeral.
i stumbled on this today. i leave the politics out. it is just gorgeous playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5A6G4Ww-Ro