Just in: Rattle to make jump-in Verbier debut
mainThe makeshift Verbier Festival has persuaded Sir Simon Rattle to step in for one of Ivan Fischer’s concerts next week, after the Hungarian cancelled for health reasons.
Fischer’s other two concerts will be taken over by Gábor Takács-Nagy, music director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, and – enterprisingly – the François López-Ferrer of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile. François is the son of the much lamented Jesús López-Cobos, who died in March this year. Like Rattle, he will be making his Verbier debut.
Does he get to change the programme?
Why would he need to?
For some reason I was not attracted to Rattle’s all-Ravel program at the Proms this year. However, Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra promise a real treat with Enescu’s Prelude a l’unisson, Bartok’s Music for String, Percussion and Celesta, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 — can’t wait for that one! Hopefully Maestro Fischer will recover by then – the performance is more than three weeks away, I believe.
If Rattle’s Mahler is anything to go by, it’s goodbye Verbier, sorry Vienna.
Perfect! I love how they are sharing the program, with the young Francois Lopez-Ferrer conducting Bernstein’s Candide!
Lopez Ferrer grew up and trained in the US and will have a far better understanding of this work than most European conductors! He is the youngest son of Jesus Lopez Cobos, born during the Maestro’s tenure as Music Director of Cincinnati.
With all due respect, it‘s nonsense to imply, that someone born in a certain country has by that virtue a better understanding of a composition from that country.
Particularly if said country has a long tradition of multiculturalism.
Sure, it’s a generalization, but why not? Wouldn’t the British do it with Elgar?