Who’s Vienna’s favourite conductor?
OrchestrasThe Vienna Philharmonic has just awarded honorary membership to Christian Thielemann, a conductor who will always take its calls.
Thielemann stepped in last weekend when Kirill Petrenko dropped out at short notice.
‘He is one of the Philharmonic conductors who is closest to the orchestra,’ says its chairman.
24 hours later:
Vienna Philharmonic Honorary Membership for Franz Welser-Möst
“Honorary membership is not only awarded to musical artists, but also to individuals who share personal bonds of friendship with the orchestra. For many years now, Franz Welser-Möst has been one of us”, says Daniel Froschauer, Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Go figure.
He should expand his repertoire a little more, maybe Maxwell Davies’s first symphony.
I’m not surprised! Made for each other.
In 2009 a Ring cycle in Bayreuth proved unstable musically, to my ears, and a Salzburg friend said, go hear Welser-Möst in Vienna. So I did, that November. He was right: FWM’s plainness let the thing cohere in a way CT’s spontaneity had not — and Stephen Gould’s effortless Siegfried only added to the many pleasures.
Isn’t this all so silly? Meaningless titles, handshaking and giggling? I propose two possible approaches:
– Read Ecclesiastes.
– Troll the conversation by asking whether there any female honorary members.
I can’t figure out if the Philharmonic statement about FWM is a backhanded compliment to both FWM and to Thielemann: so FWM *not* a “musical artist” but a “personal friend”, whereas Thielemann *is* a “musical artist” but *not* a “personal friend”?
Sometimes not saying anything is best.
They have favorites but no official maestro. The conductor is considered to be another member of the orchestra with no administrative duties or authority. They maintain control over the administration of the orchestra. They have done a great job! Probably the best in the world!
Maybe the real vote of confidence lay in inviting a conduct to the podium: how often, how long. In this respect, Muti and Mehta probably stand head over shoulders over any other living conductor.
Carlos Kleiber is THE conductor!
I think that the VPO knows what it is doing, so it would be ungenerous to complain about either of these two appointments. Accordingly, I trust the opinion of the VPO.
Thielemans was rejected as successor to Rattle in Berlin because of his support for Pegida. Just recently there have articles about the VPO’s less than savoury behaviour during the Nazi period.Made for each other ? I watched part of the New Year’s concert- not his cup of tea, at all.