A stolen score from Cate Blanchett’s Tar?
NewsThe Boston Philharmonic Benjamin Zander lost some important marked-up scores when thieves stole his car from in front of his house.
William Sarill, who saw the Cate Blanchett film Tar, sees some spooky parallels:
‘In the film the score of Mahler’s 5th Symphony is stolen from Lydia Tár at a critical juncture as she prepares to record the symphony for the first time. The loss is particularly devastating because the score has been carefully marked with her notes from past performance.
‘Word just came out today that Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, suffered a similar fate when his car was stolen 10 days ago. Although the car was recovered, a briefcase with the marked-up scores of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony as well as Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben is still missing.
‘The parallels are superficially striking – Boston Philharmonic vs Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven’s 5th vs Mahler’s 5th. Furthermore, like Lydia Tár, Zander is an expert on Mahler and has recorded almost all of his works. And Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 is thematically related to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 because Mahler idolized Beethoven and paid homage to him in his own Fifth Symphony.’
Benjamin Zander is an expert on Benjamin Zander. And that’s that.
As a conductor Benjamin Zander is eccentric, and very interesting.
You got that half right. I’d actually say “incompetent” is probably a better word.
I heard him last Saturday with the BP. His pre-concert talk was excellent – he’s down to earth, charming, witty and came across as a regular guy who can explain music to anyone – even his Uber driver who was invited to the concert. He delivered a passionate, fine account of the Dvorak cello concerto and a terrific Brahms 2nd that put many more famous maestros to shame.
And how was the soloist Hayoung Choi in the Dvorak?
Hayoung played with absolute mastery and beauty throughout! Wish you’d been there. 😉
THANKS for the hearty chuckle. He has a cameo walk-on in the book about the demise of the Arthur Anderson accounting firm. The former AA top executive who wrote the book was totally unimpressed by his motivational shtick. Which IIRC cost $20,000.
Benjamin Zander is good but he’s no Lydia Tár.
So we wouldn’t want to brush the two of them with the same Tár.
I’d rather think a lost Zander marked-up score is no loss for classical music.
His youtube “master”classes are absolutely unbearable.
Maybe the briefcase was very valuable!
I tried to watch Tar, with two companions. They fled a bit more than an hour into it. I stuck it out for perhaps another half hour. We all found it interminable and preposterous.
I thought this was going to be a story about the film props, but then I got a part of the movie spoiled for me. Thanks a lot.
I must say that the movie in my view was terrible. To anyone who knows how orchestras function, half of the plot was totally contrived and false. The notion that a conductor can decide on the spur of the moment that they are recording the Elgar Cello Concerto (Presumably to fill out a DVD of M5) with her newly handpicked prospective girlfriend is ludicrous. And Assistant Conductors are not personal assistants. The M5 Orchestra was the size of a large chamber orchestra .One could go on. And finally, Harvey Kreitel did a much better job imitating Furtwangler.
Keitel didn’t play Furtwangler.
He played the US soldier charged with interrogating him. The Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard portrayed WF.
The best nugget from the linked news article is that Zander made the assistant conductor trek around greater Boston to personally look for his car and his scores. “A job for the police!? No way. Assistant conductor, get in here!”
Also the quote from the orchestra’s managing director who says that he’s been prepping the orchestra since September for a Beethoven Fifth concert. Really? Two months to trot out an old warhorse?
Performed by a part-time youth orchestra!
I’m well aware of what is and what isn’t my job. No one asked me to look for the car. I did that out of my own accord.
You are entitled to your own opinions but you’d do well not to spread unfounded rumors.
This posting is a perfect example of the logical fallacy ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ [If B follows A, A is the cause of B].
Don’t leave valuables in the car.
As far as I know Mr Zander doesn’t even bother to lock his car! And I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves the keys in the car as well.
Three ‘off the beat’ short notes, leading to a long note – while there might be some truth in the ‘Mahler homage to Beethoven’ story, that rhythmic figure was/is hardly unusual throughout music. Without definitive word from Mahler or N. Bauer-Lechner, it’s still conjecture.
People can scoff at Benjamin Zander all they want. His recording of Beethoven symphonies 5 and 7 on Telarc was really very good; quite competitive. His Mahler is a bit more up and down, but so is most EVERYONE’S Mahler. Those works are simply too big for the majority of folks to ‘hit out of the park’ every time. I thought his Bruckner 5 was pretty good, and that’s a tough work for many conductors to get right.
I’ll scoff then. He’s a charlatan, simple as that. Man has no business on the podium.
Having attended 2 seasons of BP concerts I’d say he is an extremely uneven conductor. His Mahler 4th was the least effective I’ve ever heard. His Mahler 2nd one of the more memorable despite his instance, based supposedly on instructions left by Mahler, to stop for a full 5 minutes between the 1st and 2nd movements to contemplate what we just heard (he opted to sit down & pose as though imitating The Thinker). Last, he presided over a performance of Brahms PC #1 with a soloist who didn’t have the technical ability to deal with the outer movements, slobbered over the slow movement as if it was the end of the Tch 6th and dressed for the occasion as if he was auditioning for the lead in a local production of American Gigolo complete with white leather from head to toe.
I know that Norman doesn’t typically review films, but if he’s written anything about Tar, would someone please let me know where? The story sounds ridiculous in every way yet most reviewers are beside themselves with praise. Are there any redeeming qualities?
Yes.
The dog ate my homework…….
Zander is the best interpreter of Mahler available on CD, bar none. But, even if he weren’t, the people undeservedly complaining about him speak volumes most when they resort to bad manners.
Zander has notably hired pedophiles– including one who was recently arrested for possession of child porn– onto his youth orchestra’s videography team. I could not care less about his damn scores.