Thielemann bleeds in New Year’s concert

Thielemann bleeds in New Year’s concert

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

January 02, 2025

From the Berliner Zeitung:

How dangerous real music making can be was also shown on this last evening of 2024 at the State Opera. Christian Thielemann injured himself on the sharp edge of a score page during a short speech and blood flowed. Thielemann sucked his finger, informed the audience and seemed irritated for a moment…. A female fan rushed up to the maestro and handed him a handkerchief. Later, a musician gave Thielemann a plaster. Every musician knows from their own experience of hastily turning pages how painful a cut caused by a sharp edge of paper is. Incidentally, there is less risk of cuts with old scores than with digital printouts. The obligatory bouquet of flowers went to the concertmaster.

Comments

  • ethant says:

    iPads

  • John Borstlap says:

    It also depends upon the type of music.

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Don’t give Mr Thielemann the latest (last?) book by Thomas Pynchon.

  • John Kelly says:

    Ah – the paper cuts of life..

  • zandonai says:

    why can’t conductors use an iPad like the players?

    • John Kelly says:

      Screen is too small. Some of them know the score anyway. I am.just watching 97 year old Blomstedt doing Bruckner 9 with the BPO on the Digital Concert Hall. He has a score but didn’t open it….

    • Maria says:

      If you are used to a score, then that’s what you use. Have been in a couple of concerts where the tablet or iPad has failed.

    • V.Lind says:

      Yeah — the luddites probably still read BOOKS.

      • Susanne franz says:

        People who read books learn more and are more intelligent

      • John Marks says:

        Yeah… I hear you.

        I am bracing myself for January 20, because all non-Native speakers of French in the US who have been caught using the word “aperçu” in quotidian conversation (and, without the necessary shred of self-conscious irony) will be rounded up and put behind barbed wire, for the safety of all the Real Americans. Hey, maybe I will meet a nice woman.

    • Tamino says:

      Because the disadvantages are (still) bigger than the advantages. Simple matter of practicality and efficiency.

    • H Reardon says:

      Players are working with a single staff, so it works well for them. Conductors have all the parts so it would yield a very small notational display and frequent page prompts to change the page. I personally detest playing piano scores from an iPad.

  • Roger Rocco says:

    I am happy to know that it was not a serious injury to the maestro!

  • Robert says:

    Hmph

    Mitropoulos never had to worry about injuring himself on a page turn.

  • IP says:

    Murray Periah lost I don’t know how many years of music making after he cut himself on a sheet of paper. . .

  • Philipp Lord Chandos says:

    Wiener Blut schmeckt so gut!

  • J Kiefte says:

    Thielemann had nothing more to offer than blood, toil, sweat and tears

  • Jarred says:

    His mentor, Herbert Von Karajan didn’t need a score, so would never have suffered from this sort of thing.

  • lachera says:

    In 36 years as an orchestra librarian you would not believe how many cuts I got. But conductors rarely injure themselves with scores.

  • BrianB says:

    Paper cuts are the worst. And hard to heal.

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