Zubin Mehta to make India debut
NewsThe Mumbai-born maestro, 87, is to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of India for the first time on August 19.
Two concerts at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre in Mumbai will feature Mahler’s first symphony. An overflow screening will be out on at a neighbouring theatre.
The concerts are being organised by the National Centre for the Performing Arts with the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation.
Zube still does the best exotic Mahler 1.
It’s one of his specialities.
Gustavo: What does it mean “exotic Mahler”? Does it sound “ethnically out of its conventional lane”? Is it more “exotic” than for instance Ozawa’s?
You might know that Maestro Mehtra studied almost exclusively in Vienna.
It’s about time he conducted there — I wonder what took him so long?
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He has already conducted in India with the BRSO
Mehta the Indefatigable is not a bad epithet.
I heard the aeonian maestro in Tirana Albania and Skopje North Macedonia last June where he conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic on tour in Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique.
His connection with the Balkans premier orchestra goes back over 60 years when some prescient but now long-forgotten arts administrator in Serbia offered the prodigy from Bombay his first engagement immediately after he won the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Conducting Competition in 1958.
Mehta recalls how he made the journey from Merseyside to the Sava by train with travel time taking several days.
While his mode of transport these days is undoubtedly much more speedy, his personal movement is definitely on the lentissimo side – not surprising for 87.
His measured and almost timid entry onto the stage in both cities was greeted with an instant standing ovation in genuine admiration and appreciation for such an extraordinary career.
The fact that a maestro of such advanced years and in less than robust physical condition conducted both works from memory is in itself remarkable, especially given the complexities of the Berlioz oeuvre.
Seated on a stool and with small but immensely effective hand gestures, Mehta’s baton technique was reminiscent of Bernard Haitink in his later years and his control over the orchestra was equally impressive.
Under its Principal Conductor Gabriel Feltz, the Belgrade Philharmonic has developed a truly luxuriant string colour but winds and brass had a tendency to play sempre forte rather than observing the correct dynamic markings.
This was not the case under maestro Mehta’s avuncular guidance.
The Beethoven 7th was full of nuanced phrasing and gentle rubati but with plenty of punch in the more syncopated passages.
The Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique may not be the most subtle or sophisticated symphony ever written, but it is definitely an exciting orchestral showpiece and the four timpanists, three trombone and two tuba players from Belgrade were determined play at their zenith.
The tsunami of sound which concluded the manic “Songe d’une nuit du sabbat” final movement was stupendous and the cacophony of cheers and raucous applause from the standing-room only audience rightly competed for decibel level records.
One can expect a similar reception when this remarkable wunderkind returns to his place of birth.
The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai may be 65 years behind Belgrade in recognizing such an extraordinary talent but as Geoffrey Chaucer opined, “Far better than never is late”.
Has Zubin Mehta really never conducted in India on tour with a foreign orchestra before?
He did conduct in India on tour, but apparently never the Symphony Orchestra of India. I seem to recall that he brought the Munich Philharmonic on tour to india a few years after Celibidache’s death, but I may be wrong.
Maestro Mehta has conducted in India on many occasions with visiting orchestras at the NCPA Mumbai.
This is the first time he conducts the Symphony Orchestra of India.
The headline is misleading, as this isn’t Zubin’s India debut, as he took the New York Philharmonic on tour there when he was MD.
Is it the orchestra his own father Mehli Mehta founded?
I believer that was the Bombay Symphony Orchestra that Maestro Mehta senior founded.
No, the SOI was founded in 2006 by the NCPA under the baton of Marat Bisengaliev.
It is sad and mournful at the end of his brilliant career Mo Zubin Mehta finally find time to conduct with India Symphony Orchestra