Thielemann in Chicago: I talk to Barenboim all the time
NewsIn an exclusive interview on returning to the Chicago Symphony for the first time since 1995, Christian Thielemann tells Dennis Polkow about his close relationship with Daniel Barenboim.
Speaking with a player in German about Daniel Barenboim, who should be calling Thielemann’s cell phone at that very moment? Daniel Barenboim. “Sometimes we have daily contact,” Thielemann admitted after the rehearsal back in his dressing room. “He wanted to know how the rehearsals were going and so on. He came to my rehearsal of ‘Rheingold’ [in Berlin] and Elena his wife came for all the ‘Ring’ cycle. I went to see him at his home. He lives not far away from where I grew up, where my mother still lives. He is so warm-hearted and so nice with me. In our business, it doesn’t happen very often that you have colleagues who are friends. There’s so much envy and misunderstandings and whatever.”
Read on here.
The orchestra sounded better than they have in a very very long time last night. Here’s hoping he’s back more often.
Considering that the point of comparison was the constipated, castrated signature Muti sound that the orchestra typically produces on a good evening, the bar was set as low as it possibly could have been. Nevertheless, you are absolutely right.
What is the reason behind your bitter, obsessive hatred of Maestro Muti?
Not a big Bruckner fan but this concert is making me a convert. Beautiful playing, and the audience quite respectful.
We learned that it was a swap date: Thielemann conducts Chicago in exchange for Muti conducting Dresden. How did that go?
We also learned that Thielemann kept urging Muti to do Bayreuth, but the latter declined. But what Wagner opera is Muti known for?
Muti has said he will never do Rosenkavalier, even though Kleiber urged him to do it, because he doesn’t speak German. His reasoning would apply equally to Wagner.
We also learn that he is married. The photo shows a gold wedding band on his left ring finger.
And that is significant how?
Germans traditionally wear their wedding bands on the right hand. An engagement ring is worn on the left – and that can be that same gold band that is destined to become the wedding band.
So who really knows if your charming analysis is correct.
Besides: Mrs Thieleman , his mother, has been known to regularly accompany him to performances.
A ring can mean different things to different people. Married as in married-married? Or Muti-style married?
First, I would not go as far as using the word “reasoning” when describing Muti’s brain processes.
Second, the answer is obvious, Siegfried, he is particularly known for Waldesrauschen which he practices every afternoon :-DD
The article moved me to genuine compassion. Poor old Polkow, after so many years of Muti’s compulsory (and compulsive?) speeches, he is shocked at a conductor who rehearses instead of blurting out brain farts for hours and hours …
I am sure the CSO will work very hard to land Thielemann. They are a “We want the best athlete available” orchestra. That’s Thielemann, Sir Simon, or Chailly. And he’s the only one potentially available right now.
The CSO will have to work a lot faster. Normally they have the most serious candidate do an international tour, like they did with Muti, before extending an offer.
In the meantime, other orchestras are far more advanced in the process and far more nimble. In Thielemann’s case, the Berlin Staatsoper/kapelle, as well as the Berlin and German press in general, are very vocal that he should succeed Barenboim.
Even New York, the perennial pariah, now has a new hall to sweeten the deal. And Borda wants to make a deal before she retires.
I’d be very surprised if Thielemann ever wanted to live in the USA. But, maybe enough cash…..
So why is everyone being touted as wanting to hire CT now? It wasn’t a hundred years ago that this most excellent of German rep conductors was considered universally toxic.
I would love for Thielemann to be the next music director. But I want to be realistic and recognize that, except for money, there are no good reasons why this most excellent Maestro would want to associate himself with what is now a mediocre orchestra, a no longer presentable music director emeritus (for Life), an institution in complete disarray without even the semblance of an artistic planning vision for its future, and audiences that will stay halved for the foreseeable future, as he painfully witnessed for himself this week. Unlike the Godfather and his family business, he does not strike me as a crass and greedy person, but as an artist first and foremost. If he truly is interested in working in America, which in itself I doubt, there are much better options for him, starting from New York.
Nonetheless, I would be sincerely happy to be proven wrong. Time will tell.
After 15 years of Muti desert, the concert was unforgettable for those of us who attended, as reported by the Chicago Classical Review: https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2022/10/thielemann-makes-a-triumphant-return-leading-cso-in-thrilling-and-majestic-bruckner/
Great review…..sounds like a fantastic performance for a such “mediocre” orchestra
Tsss… the CSO need no international tour to assess Thielemann’s stature.
You got it wrong, an international tour is not to assess stature, it is to assess chemistry: it’s a long date, a courtship, to see who IS this guy, as he spends two weeks interacting with 100 musicians and staff and board members, sharing planes, trains, buses, hotels, dinners… Can he do cocktail parties buttering up little old rich ladies who will leave their fortunes to the orchestra…
If Thielemann is available – i.e. doesn’t succeed to Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin inm a very near future – he will succeed Muti in Chicago. It is that simple.
Sure.
Jeff Alexander, the President of the CSO, is known in the world of arts for decisiveness, boldness and speed. He is both the maverick and the cheetah of orchestra presidents and has already booked … Muti for the 2024 European tour. :-(((
Thielemann in a woke American Blue city? Sorry, I don’t see it. He’d have to be fake to the core to pull it off, and he’s not like that.
Oh my god if Thielemann goes to Chicago it’ll be lucky to last a season.
CT in NY? Hahahaha, please! No way!
NY Phil has gone completely woke this season. Sadly, a true pro like CT has absolutely no place here.
CT in America ? Possible in Chicago and nowhere else.
I just listened to Gergiev’s recording of Bruckner 7 and it’s streets ahead of anything Thielemann has done.
Dear Rob, if you ever envision starting a career as a comic actor, I engage you immediately.
I want Thielemann in Europe, where I live. Judging for recent performances, he is one of the six greatest living conductors, with Blomstedt, Muti, Gatti, Salonen and Barenboim.
Your sextet is good for Halloween, and not much else.
Thielemann and Gatti are a cut above the others…
Hail to a Maestro who finally does not use hair, stupid interviews, latin nonsense or socially divisive attitudes to attract attention.