Justus Franz plans comeback after Tchaikovsky debacle
NewsThe German pianist and conductor has explained his ill-advised presence at the sanctioned Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow to the British pianist John Humphreys:
Dear Sir!
Thank you for your critical message, but let me tell you that I am of a completely different opinion: already when I founded the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in the days of the Cold War (1985), which was not only about organising outstanding music with outstanding artists, but also about the desire to do something for peace! The trauma of the Second World War will accompany me all my life! My father was shot before I was born, as were many other relatives who did not survive the horrors of the Nazi Reich! Many of them were actively involved in the resistance against Hitler; I think just like my long-time friend Helmut Schmidt, it is better to seek conversation 100,000 times in vain than to shoot even once!
So here I am, taking part in the most important competition in the world: my friends Karajan, Bernstein, Menuhin, Rostropovich and others have set a strong example for me. To these great humanists I would like to dedicate myself a lifetime long to peace, respect, spirit and understanding! Anyone who plays preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach every morning – as required by the competition – can be a role model for a better world. Among young people, we need many such examples so that the world does not end in a terrible chaos. And what can be better than to support such great wonderful young artists, as I myself was supported by Karajan, Bernstein and othersI hope you understand why I am here right now, following their ethical path with love for culture and especially the International language Music!
Best wishes,
He also displays other ambitions (see below).
He sounds like a useful idiot (in Lenin’s definition)
Having been conducted several times by him in my youth I would say ‘useless idiot’ would be more accurate.
All I can say is he’s very lucky to have survived recent zeitgeist cultural and political movements.
He is not an idiot, he knows very well what he is doing.
This in my opinion is a correct, noble and refreshing reaction to current situation. We as artists have to make our own moral decisions and not be driven my the obsessive doctrine of others. I myself have no difficulty in responding positively to invitations to work with artists in Russia. My personal decision would be to accept no public, budget money for this. So long I was free to make the work in the way and with messages that I want i cannot think of any other restriction I would impose. Bravo for your leadership.
Wow. What a load of crap of a letter.
A very poor pianist – his recordings are embarrassing.
Growing up in Schleswig-Holstein, I had the misfortune of hearing him life. It was even worse, both as a soloist and when accompanying a singer. Fortunately, I deliberately missed him as a conductor. The reviews were almost unanimously bad. But credit where credit is due: Frantz was always great at sucking up to the powerful. Eschenbach, Schmidt, and now apparently Putin.
I don’t remember seeing your name in lights!
I did not say that my piano playing is better than Justus Frantz’. But I am not making my living that way, and I can comment on the quality of a cake without being a baker…
https://youtu.be/yukgqzEPpjg
Normalizing relations with the USSR during the cold war helped prevent it turning into a hot war. Then, musical diplomacy sometimes preceeded political one, serving the cause of peace. The current situation is altogether different: Now Russia is waging a very real war. Colaborating with it’s cultural pretence is at best very naive. Even less excusable than taking part in the 1936 Olimpic games.
You don’t think the Cold War was a ‘very real war’???!!!
As Robert Frost wrote, “…and, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs” (Out Out).
Yes, Justus. Of course. It’s all about PEACE. Blah, blah, blah! And Putin is the greatest peacemaker the world has ever known!!! Admit the truth…you did it for the money…the “stipend”. A payday is still a payday…regardless of who is buying you for the appearance of true legitimacy that only you can offer! Congratulations!
Why did Van Cliburn enter the Tchaikovsky at the height of the Cold War? Answer the question. Russia was murdering its own people in gulags at the rate of tens of thousands right at that time.
Justus is quite simply a marvelous musician and an incredibly kind, spirited human being. And yes – it IS all about music for him.
He •must• be serious — just look at all those exclamation points!
Nothing bad. Well said and totally understandable. Let him be a musician and not politician
He is neither….
And you’ve got the cultural truncheon to prove it, haven’t you??!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccQIUiXJyV8
Good on Maestro Frantz for standing up to the Thought Police.
“Anyone who plays preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach every morning – as required by the competition – can be a role model for a better world.”
I think that the Russians making people play Bach does not adequately negate their other not-better-world activities.
And, the WWII and Nazi Reich thing he references rather demonstrated that being devoted to German music doesn’t necessarily make one more civilized or more peaceful or a better model, anyway.
I sure wish more of us had your elegant sensibilities, exquisite judgment and noble morality!!
He probably got paid for it, which, fine he’s a professional who should be compensated for his work – and he might very well be sincere in his principles/reasoning – but so many of these statements are phrased in such grandiloquent terms that one might be tempted to think it’s the altruistic, selfless work of a peace volunteer, rather than “man does job for paycheck”.
How is that YOUR business? Unless you’re one of the ‘freedom fighters’ who police what is right and what is wrong – which the American people are increasingly experiencing.
Let’s get real here. Tchaikovsky competition pays $20K+ to their jury members for adjudicating. So there you go – the real reason he went. Don’t thank me 🙂
Right, but does the Ruble buy much outside of the Motherland?
Who said they paid the jury in rubles?
A perfect example of the Putinversteher in Germany (and now it all becomes political) who always seek to justify their failure to criticize Russia on moral grounds. Everybody wants peace but failure to condone naked aggression in pursuit of supposedly higher goals is not a very sensible thing to do. But then history is littered with the tales of artists who believed that they could undo or at least thwart the evil in the world by espousing wonderful ideals.
I don’t understand, why his participation in the piano jury of the Tchaikovsky Competition was a “debacle”. Did he vote wrong? I would understand better, if you had written : “Comeback after his debacle after conducting two Mozart operas at the Mariinsky Theatre”.
What a tacky poster. Will he be playing his biggest hits?
Wouldn’t that be a very short program?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccQIUiXJyV8…..Please not!
O.M.G.
Ik hör’ den jantzen Frustus.
Justus Frantz plans debacle after Tchaikovsky comeback
Altogether, a cunning move to get his name back into the gazettes.
Has Gergiev resigned yet from the “World Orchestra for Peace”?
Wasn’t he replaced by Runnicles?
Bernstein, Menuhin and Rostropovich, sure. But Karajan was ‘a great humanist’ ?
Sure, music was all for him. He never minded serving dictators.
Karajan was an extraordinary person who taught me to be a better human being.
Was it Karajan or Bernstein who supported him? Or both? I forget. Maybe I should read the letter again.
Both said hello to him.
I believe JF is the only person to have slept with both Leonard Bernstein, and Bernstein’s daughter.
In one sentence he condemns the Nazis, then in another sentence he kisses Nazi party member von Karajan’s butt, calling him a “friend” and praising his “ethical path.” What a two-faced, self-serving, hipocrate!
Some people (mostly those who never in their life had to fight for freedom, because they live between two oceans that keep foreign powers away) have no clue what it means to be a young aspiring professional in a totalitarian system, but feel free to judge anyway. Sad state of the weak human mind.
Karajan was no Nazi. If you want to point your finger from your armchair, then point at Karl Böhm. He was a nasty opportunist.
But a phenomenal musician.
The most ardent Nazis were Abendroth and Konwitschny. Both found cozy places in the DDR. Kabasta, on the other hand, was mobbed into suicide mainly for signing his letters with Heil H. (like everybody did). In these matters, it seems that punishment is inversely proportional to crime — yet another reason to stay far from politics.
Then in the next sentence he outs himself as communist – a friend of Helmut Schmidt.
And he uses Bernstein to woke-wash Karajan.
In which of your private parallel universes does Helmut Schmidt, architect of the „NATO double track decision“ from 1979, become a communist? He was as middle of the road reasonable, and free of ideology, as the best of the politicians come.
Only joking…
„Das große Comeback“
Three Mozart Sonatas.
LOL
How about the Opus Clavicembalisticum of Sorabji instead? And he can pay the audience to be there.
Not sure the constant use of “!” Helps his point! In any way! Also, citing Karajan (3430914) in this situation… Well I think I’ll leave that thread alone!
Tamino: Can you perhaps handle three Mozart Sonatas in public?
Oh I love them.
But I wouldn‘t use „The Great Comeback“ as a marketing headline, if I modestly planned to play three of them publicly, and nothing else.
If you never went anywhere, comeback is easy.
He performed in the occupied Crimea in 2018 to promote world peace, I suppose. And multiple concerts in Russia after the beginning of the war against Ukraine. For good money, I suppose, and for world peace.
Ca.30 years ago i got a call from a minor german orchestra, if i could sub with them as a last minute guest principal, just a few hours before the concert started……I asked about the details.The manager answered(in german): Justus Frantz,2 Beethoven Konzerte,keines geübt!
Beethoven lost 2:0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfvHG9retNU
Even better!!!!
Poster by school leaver with shareware. JF never did pay much.
I know someone who was in the New York Philharmonic when Frantz recorded the Dvořák Piano Concerto with Bernstein conducting. The recording session consisted of more takes than anyone could remember, and the final product was apparently a splice-fest.