Munich hints at Mirga job
NewsMunich’s Oberbürgermeister Dieter Reiter – the man responsible for sacking Valery Gergiev in February – has made clear his preferences for the next music director of the city-funded Munich Philharmonic.
‘I would also have great sympathy for a woman,’ he said yesterday.
There are two in the running: Susanna Mälkki and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. The Finn is considered a contemporary music specialist. Mirga has been booked to conduct a limelight Mahler second symphony at the Berlin Festival next summer. Not so much a Resurrection, perhaps more a coronation.
Susanna Mälkki is the absolute darling of professional music critics, and I try, I really do, to listen to those concerts they reviewed to understand what they found so extraordinary, and I can’t, not even after multiple hearings to specific elements these critics point to, I can’t hear it.
If she is picked, it’ll be because of the superduper refined critics, not because of ignoramuses like me, but I have the sense that the paying audience is made up of more people like me than like the professional critics.
My two cents.
I have heard Malkki lead the Boston Symphony in a truly memorable Sibelius 5th: very transparent sound, very intense, not just superficial sound effects.
And I heard Malkki lead the New York Philharmonic in a Sibelius 5 that lurched all over the place, with awkward transitions, poor balances, and a very limited technique that seemed unable to actually yield any subtlety. Sibelius 5 builds to some very intense climaxes, but there is a lyrical flow that must happen through the gradual transitions from one section to another that simply wasn’t there at all.
Couldn’t agree more! I’ve heard Malkki live in Boston, and neither concert was special in my opinion. She’s a very competent conductor. But I’ve yet to hear anything more than that, and none of her concerts made any emotional connection with me unfortunately. And that includes a performance of Sibelius’ 5th symphony, a work that I love and which I generally make a real connection with.
I’m in no rush to hear her again anytime soon.
She is a terrific conductor….If she is picked,it is because the orchestra players,like me,recognize and value talent ,musicality ,and leadership qualities,both musically and on a personal level.I played several times under her,and she ticks all the boxes?…The other lady mentioned rather not.Armchair conductors giving theit two cents shouldn´t effe ct the vote..Conductors get elected by musicians,not the audience.Otherwise we might get Mr.Rieu waving his violin bow to the orchestra playing.
Malkki has conducted the NY Philharmonic a number of times, and I have discussed here with several of the members of that orchestra, and none of them had much that was positive to say about her. Grazinyte-Tyla hasn’t been there yet, and my own experience of her music making is still fairly limited, so I’m not going to venture a comparison at this point.
Over at least the last half century, the Munich Philharmonic has consistently opted for seasoned conductors. Susanna Mälkki is far more experienced than Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.
Not to mention that based on their respective histories Ms. Malkki would no doubt stay for more than the proverbial cup of coffee.
And way more interesting,musically and technically.And she has a huge repertoire.Having played under both,Mrs.Mälkki is absolutely excellent and a pleasure to work with.
And how was Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla? The opinion of an orchestral musician who has played under her matters more than any other. Your anonymity is justified.
That´s why i refrain from any comment on her….
I vote for Mälkki. Some days Abbie and I feel a bit sad we came to Germany about 40 years too early, but at least we got to help open some doors.
Music directors:
Celibidache
Levine
Thielemann
Maazel
Gergiev
And now, Mirga.
With this you can judge if we can call these times critical in the field of conducting.
Celibidache was the biggest prick i played under…Totally overrated,mostly delivering comatose performances in the wrong meter at half speed…arrogant,boorish,ridiculously pompous.
Maazel ? Very competent,poor musicianship…Levine was almost never there.Thielemann,yes in certain German rep(Bruckner,Wagner) he is fantastic.The rest?.
But don´t worry…Mrs.Grazynite Tyla won´t get the post…
And, before Cell, Rudolf Kempe. Arguably the best of all.
Agreed!!!!!!!
If Munich wants at all costs a female conductor, Mälkki is a decent choice.
Do they know how to deal with a morally upstanding conductor.
Coming from the man who praised the deceased Leon Fleisher after having previously indicated that the living artist was no longer even know out side of Baltimore, the question is beyond ironic.
The internet is full of mole people…
An enormous change from the 13 years my wife was in the orchestra (1980-1993) when Celibidache would pronounce things in newspapers like El Pais (a major Spanish paper) that Anna-Sophie Mutter is a “violinplaying” hen. Or speak about critics such as with the following excerpt from an Abendzeitung interview, Nov. 10, 1984, in which he explains his opinion of critics:
“These people who daily poison everything, should take a pause or write about gynecology. In that area everyone has a little experience. But in music they are virgins. So they will remain, and so they will go into the other world, never fertilized by a single experienced tone.”(28)
(“Diese Leute, die taglich alles vergiften, sollten einmal pausieren oder über Gynakologie schreiben. Auf dem Gebiet hat doch jeder ein bischen Erfahrung. Aber in der Musik sind sie Jungfrauen. So bleiben sie, so gehen sie auch in die andere Welt hinuber, nie von einem wirklich erlebten klang befruchtet.”)
Glad to see Munich taking a different course.
Celibidache was a pompous clown.
He was quite right about the critics and their musical virginity, no?
From the down thumbs (as expected,) it looks like many attitudes have not changed (as expected.)
Mälkki is definitely the best Finn around, all gender included.
Having attended a good number of Mirga’s concerts while she was conductor and director here in Birmingham, I can only say that any orchestra management seeking a female conductor, who has the chance to have Mirga but fails to seize that opportunity, have, frankly, forgotten what — and who — music is for.