Conductor makes NY debut in gold slippers

Conductor makes NY debut in gold slippers

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

May 20, 2024

From our roving critic Susan Hall:

Chloé van Soeterstède, French-born founder of London’s Arch Symphonia and principal guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, made her New York debut at Lincoln Center. A mentee of Marin Alsop and a Dudamel fellow in Los Angeles, Ms.van Soeterstède is tipped for a major career. Her dress is a signal of her unusual talents. Stepping up to the podium of the Rose Theater in gold Mary Jane slippers with a slight pump, she wore a flowing black blouse over tight gold pants.

Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun led the program. The opening flute melody is light, yet clear in it varied recurrences. The players in The Orchestra Now (TON) created by Leon Botstein, responded attentively with striking uniformity in the strings.

Peter Moore, the British trombone phenom, took up the US debut of Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto. Smooth glissandos are peppered intermittently with tiny decorations. Challenges to the tuba’s tone depth flicker in the opening movement. In the second, the trombone moves in and out of the orchestra, in the third, it exuberantly explores the outside world with tongue-twisting agility.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances followed, with pulsing energy. The saxophonist stood out. One heard the composer yearning for his homeland, disrupted by raging episodes of the Dies Irae. Chloé van Soeterstède appears to be a conductor who melds exquisite gentleness with exuberant outbursts.

Comments

  • Mercurius Londiniensis says:

    There is no word ‘mentee’, just as there is no verb ‘to ment’. ‘Mentor’ is both noun and verb, and it derives from the proper name of the wise adviser to young Telemachus in the Odyssey.

    • chet says:

      “There is no word ‘mentee’”

      You should report your discovery to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Cambridge Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, because they obviously didn’t get the memo.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      With all due respect, you are incorrect.

    • Nik says:

      Yes, mentor is a noun, but it has a different meaning.
      The mentor is the dispenser of mentorship. The mentee is the recipient.
      It’s analogous to employer/employee for example.

    • zandonai says:

      I think she meant “manatee”.

    • William Ward says:

      No word? In Greek, perhaps. But as it has done so often, English has remedied that omission.

  • Dragonetti says:

    So what? She was either interesting musically or not. No outfit is going to have the slightest bearing on her talent. In fact it could be quite the opposite. There’s a terrible lesson to be learned here from Nigel Kennedy. Let’s judge her on talent please.

  • chet says:

    “From our roving critic Susan Hall:

    … she wore…tight gold pants.”

    1) Is it better that it is a woman critic who writes about another professional woman’s work clothes?

    Can Susan Hall please tell us what she was wearing while on the job for this concert? Do we care? Should we care? Is it reflected in her review?

    2) Soeterstède wore tight gold pants and what got NL’s attention was that she wore gold slippers?

    Were they like lamé gold yoga tights?

    Now I DO want to know.

    3) If a critic is going to write about a conductor’s clothing, going so far as to justify that “Her dress is a signal of her unusual talents”, the critic has to post a photo.

    • Hugo Preuß says:

      And what was “Peter Moore, the British trombone phenom” wearing? Inquiring minds want to, no: NEED to know. So much more important than the music!

    • Truth Hurts says:

      Does anyone know which brand of underwear Dudamel wears on the podium? I don’t feel I can accurately gauge his success with the Mahler repertoire unless I know this. Also: Is it true that Tár shops at Victoria’s Secret? Thanks to all in advance!!

  • Player says:

    “Her dress is a signal of her unusual talents”.

    Could this be any more a) wrong and b) lazy?

    • Truth Hurts says:

      I hope I live long enough to say to my grandkids:’ You’re all too young to remember the Politically Correct Feminist Conductor Era … but I was there! It was really so sad. So many mediocre women were promoted due to this trend. But somehow we suffered through it… and there were online sites that feasted on this garbage and thought we were actually interested.’

  • John Borstlap says:

    I love it! You will see, when we take over, there will be so much more to see.

    Sally

  • Interested Bystander says:

    Who cares what she wore. Honestly. Do men’s attire ever merit mention in a review of their conducting. I would venture never.

  • Shalom Rackovsky says:

    This review is essentially information-free.

  • RichinCA says:

    When Peter Maag guest-conducted the Boston Symphony in 1970, Globe critic Michael Steinberg devoted the opening sentences of his review to the maestro’s formal wear; the lapels, velvet accents and large bow tie preceded his discussion of Debussy, Mozart and Schubert.

  • Haley says:

    There was absolutely zero reason to add a (innacurate) descriptor of the fit of the conductors pants. When’s the last time the fit of a male conductors was prominently discussed in a review? That’s right – never. Do better. Undermines the (very short) review.

  • Jennifer Dyster says:

    “Her dress is a sign of her unusual talents”. Sack Susan. What ineffable twaddle!

  • Jordi Vilanova says:

    What did the trombone player wear?

  • Annie says:

    Aren’t yoga pants supposed to be loose?

  • Meredith Jane says:

    Why are we talking about the color of a conductor’s shoes? What an unnecessary observation.

  • Hilary says:

    Would you mention a man’s outfit?

  • Anthony Guterwicz says:

    Why on earth are people still talking about what women wear?

    • John Borstlap says:

      It’s because the men are talking about it, and then the women are talking about the men talking about it.

    • Allma Own says:

      Because they don’t dress the way men do, with seriousness and selflessness. Have you EVER seen a man conduct in gold pants??? Maybe in a Pops concert. If this is how they approach the orchestra, how can they possibly be taken seriously?

  • Jen says:

    Where is the picture of her in the gold slippers?

  • Jen says:

    Actually she wasn’t wearing gold slippers, they were black shoes, or flats really, which if you stretch might be called slippers.

    She was wearing bright shiny gold pants though, I don’t know how Slipped Disc missed that ‍♀️

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