Maazel quits Munich a year early

Lorin Maazel has announced he is quitting as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic a year earlier than planned due to health reasons.

Maazel took over in 2012 and was due to step down at the end of next season and hand over the baton to Valery Gergiev.

Maazel has said that, should his health allow, he might be able to conduct some of the 2014/2015 concerts.

Here's the statement (in German) from Munich's culture authorities:
 

Pressemitteilung
12.06.2014
 Rücktritt von Maestro Lorin Maazel als Chefdirigent der Münchner Philharmoniker

Maestro Lorin Maazel wird aus gesundheitlichen Gründen sein Amt als Chefdirigent der
Münchner Philharmoniker niederlegen. Wie er mitteilte, verläuft sein Genesungsprozess
langsamer als erhofft, sodass er in seiner Verantwortung für die Münchner Philharmoniker
seinen Verpflichtungen nicht nachkommen kann. Sollte es seine Gesundheit erlauben, sei er
jedoch gerne bereit, einzelne Konzerte mit den Münchner Philharmonikern zu dirigieren.

Dass die erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Maestro und dem städtischen
Orchester in der kommenden Spielzeit 2014/2015 nun nicht wie geplant zu seinen Ehren
vertieft werden kann, bedauern alle Beteiligten außerordentlich.

„In Konzerten mit Lorin Maazel hat unser Publikum Sternstunden der Klassik erleben dürfen.
Das Orchester war höchst motiviert, in der kommenden Saison weitere herausragende
Konzerterlebnisse mit ihm zu gestalten. Wir bedauern es sehr, dass es ihm nicht möglich
sein wird, die fordernde Aufgabe als Chefdirigent weiter auszuüben. Und wir danken ihm
gleichzeitig für sein bisheriges Wirken. Wir wünschen ihm eine baldige Genesung, damit er
rasch wieder die Energie hat, die ihn als Künstler und Persönlichkeit besonders auszeichnet",
so Dr. Hans-Georg Küppers, Kulturreferent der Landeshauptstadt München.

„Die Nachricht, dass Lorin Maazel in der nächsten Spielzeit nicht wie geplant mit uns
weiterarbeiten kann, hat uns sehr getroffen. Wir haben jedoch großes Verständnis für diese
Entscheidung und wünschen ihm das Beste. Es stellt uns vor große Herausforderungen, die
Saison 2014/2015 zu disponieren. Das Orchester hat aber in den letzten Wochen gezeigt,
dass es mit solchen Ausnahmesituationen professionell umzugehen weiß – hervorragende
Konzertkritiken haben das bestätigt. Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass wir weiterhin ein attraktives
Programm für unser Publikum anbieten können und danke bereits jetzt für das Verständnis
und entgegengebrachte Vertrauen", so Intendant Paul Müller.

„Für die Münchner Philharmoniker war und ist Lorin Maazel ein Glücksfall. Von seinem
musikalischen Verständnis, seiner schlagtechnischen Präzision und seinem Umgang mit dem
Orchester werden wir noch lange profitieren. Wir wünschen uns sehr, dass er wieder
vollständig gesund wird und freuen uns jederzeit auf ein Wiedersehen", so Orchestervorstand
Stephan Haack.

Die Münchner Philharmoniker werden zunächst versuchen, für die bis Jahresende von
Maestro Maazel abgesagten Konzerte angemessene Lösungen zu finden. Über personelle
und programmatische Änderungen werden die Presse und das Publikum laufend informiert.

Derzeit arbeitet die Intendanz bereits daran, die betroffenen Konzerte in München und
anstehende Tourneen neu zu planen. Die angebotenen Abonnements bleiben grundsätzlich
bestehen. Wie das „Chef-Abonnement" (h5), das ab Oktober beginnt, aussehen wird, soll
Ende Juli feststehen. Alle Abonnentinnen und Abonnenten werden umgehend über
Neuigkeiten in Kenntnis gesetzt.
 

Don Giovanni, Staatstheater Mainz

Staatstheater Mainz
June 7th, 2014


Don Giovanni  - Heikki Kilpeläinen
Leporello - Hans-Otto Weiss
Donna Anna - Tatjana Charalgina
Donna Elvira - Patricia Roach
Don Ottavio - Thorsten Büttner
Zerlina - Alexandra Samouilidou
Masetto  - Dmitriy Ryabchikov
Commendatore - José Gallisa

Conductor - Hermann Bäumer
Director - Tilman Knabe
Stage - Wilfried Buchholz
Costumes - Eva-Mareika Uhlig


Tilman Knabe's action-packed production of Don Giovanni couldn't possibly be more different to Christof Loy's masterly new staging running concurrently just 40 kilometres away in Frankfurt.

While Loy's offers us an extremely personal, deeply melancholic but  psychologically probing portrait of the aging Giovanni, Knabe's reading is extrovertly, unapologetically political and has the look and feel of a computer war game.

His overriding interest seems to be in the westernized idea of "freedom", his staging an examination of the "clash of cultures" -- between our hedonistic, self-obsessed West and the Middle East with its Jihadist wars and corrupt ruling classes.  

Wilfried Buchholz's revolving set portrays a run-down hotel in a dusty town in an unnamed Middle East state. 

Giovanni resembles Julian Assange and his Parka-wearing sidekick Leporello films the Don's sexual exploits with a tablet computer and stores them all on a USB stick. 

The Commendatore is a (Christian) religious leader assassinated by snipers, bombs explode, sirens go off, there are air raids during which town dwellers are repeatedly chased through the streets by soldiers or cower in bombed-out shells of buildings.

We see Pussy Riot and Femen protestors.

Donna Anna wears military khaki and Don Ottavio is also some high-ranking military official. 
Donna Elvira, heavily pregnant, smokes and drinks and then in Act 2 appears in Rambo attire, complete with bazooka, to give birth.

She then reappears again at the end to present the newborn baby, wrapped in bloodied rags, to Giovanni as "the last proof of her love".

Masetto seems to be a human trafficker who has seized Zerlina's passport and regularly beats her.
But he is sexually ambivalent, too, and allows himself to be seduced by Giovanni (disguised as Leporello).

Zerlina is a nymphomaniac who needs no persuasion at all to rip her clothes and mount the prostrate Giovanni. 
But she throws fake blood all over herself to accuse him at the end of Act 1.

It looks as if Giovanni will meet a fiery death at the end, too, when he is overpowered and doused in petrol, with Donna Anna standing above, threatening to drop a match.

But Don Giovanni escapes when she, in turn, is overpowered and in a defiant final pose, he rips off his shirt to reveal the word "Liberta" scrawled across  his chest.

Even if in the Frankfurt production, Loy's title character is anything but likeable, Knabe's worldview is so joyless, so unredeemably misanthropic that you're left neither liking nor caring about any of the characters.
  There's no denying that Knabe has plenty of ideas.  But he fails to follow through with any of them with any coherence or cogency.

Unlike Loy in Frankfurt, he never really engages with the text and all too frequently resorts to gimmickry. 

And with a bewildering amount of superfluous action going on onstage, and earfuls of extraneous sound effects, it's over-directed, too, and easy to get lost or distracted.

Teams of cameramen and journalists constantly appear on stage for no apparent reason, Donna Anna noisily shreds documents while Ottavio sings an aria. 

I wish the evening had been musically more interesting.  

Knabe's idea of Personenregie is to stand the singers all at the front of the stage.
But everything seemed to be at a relentless forte, with little attempt made to alter shade or colour or really work with the words.

Patricia Roach as Donna Elvira came closest to bringing her character to life. 
Tatjana Charalgina was a relentlessly shrill Donna Anna, Thorsten Büttner a vocally wooden and one-dimensional Ottavio. 

Neither Heikki Kilpeläinen as Giovanni nor Hans-Otto Weiss as Leporello left any lasting vocal impression. 

But that may not be entirely the fault of the singers.  
Knabe is so preoccupied with shoving our noses in his concept and political message that he forgets to inject any life into the characters who remain cyphers.

Nevertheless, no-one stood out as a real vocal actor. And it all sounded as if they were singing from a teleprompter with no attempt to inject any meaning into the words.

Much the same could be said of the orchestral playing under conductor Hermann Bäumer, too, which was marred by rushed, scrappy tempi and some duff intonation throughout.

Of course, it's not really fair to compare the two productions side by side:  a small house like Mainz will simply not have the same resources as the opera in Frankfurt. 

But for all its visual overload, Knabe's treatment didn't leave me wanting to see it again, while Loy's continues to reap rewards even after repeated viewings.

Gergiev's letter to Munich Philharmonic's subscribers

"Music is the best bridge-builder!"

Valery Gergiev, under fire for his support of Vladimir Putin, has written a letter to the subscribers of the Munich Philharmonic, the orchestra which he will head from 2015/16.

The city authorities and the orchestra are concerned that Gergiev may no longer be tenable as the Munich Philharmonic's new chief conductor following comments in which he appeared to link homosexuality to child abuse and in which he supported Putin's annexation of Ukraine.

Gay groups have demonstrated and protested outside his concerts in cities such as New York and London.
And, given Munich's large and visible gay population, there has been speculation that he may not actually take up his new position next year.

Now, in a letter to subscribers, he lays out his position in greater detail than ever before.

Here is the full text. It is dated: Munich, May 2014.

Dear subscribers and friends of the Munich Philharmonic,

The events in and around the Ukraine have been dominating the headlines over the last

few weeks, causing new rifts between East and West that are distressing to all of us. I,

personally, have also become the subject of accusations and controversial disputes. I

would like to take this opportunity to make a personal statement.
 

I am immensely proud of the fact that I have been appointed by the city of Munich to

head the Munich Philharmonic as Music Director in the 2015/16 season. Yet this

appointment means much more to me. In my opinion it is based on trust and on the

belief that, together, we can and must succeed in upholding this city’s unique musical

culture and to guide it into the future. I am fully aware of the magnitude of this task and

the responsibility associated with it and my future orchestra. Therefore, I shall do my

very best to ensure that our concerts are filled with unforgettable moments.

I am a musician and conductor. However, I am also a Russian citizen with close

connections to my native country. For nearly a quarter century I have been in charge of

the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, one of the world’s most prestigious theatres,

home to the the Mariinsky Opera, Ballet and Orchestra. My range of musical activities

is not limited to this one post. I have been conducting music in the most important cities

around the world for many years and work together with many orchestras and musical
colleagues. Music is both my profession and my passion and I have devoted myself to it,
heart and soul, from a very early age. I also assumed responsibilities to ensure that the
cultural and musical tradition of St. Petersburg continues to blossom.

Future political developments could give rise to problems along the lines of what we

are currently experience since some people might interpret my involvement given my

nationality. In some countries I am seen as a representative of a “different” society,

which does not stand for the values and principles of Western life, or does not advocate

for them strongly enough. But is this accurate? After all, our Russian musical culture

was Europeanised by Mikhail Glinka and is influenced and shaped, in particular, by the
German musical culture. Many people in my native Russia are very well aware of this.


Yet, on the other hand, I cannot ignore the fact that parts of Russian society live

according to fundamental principles that are different from those of Western societies.

For example, many elements of Russian culture are based on the Russian Orthodox

religion and the traditions associated with it which still plays a fundamental role in

people’s lifestyles. It is important to recognize that this tradition has helped the Russian

population to survive such difficult eras in the twentieth century.

 

I respect my people and their traditions. I also respect the principles of life that are

extremely important to the people of Russia. These include upholding taboos that have

not applied in Western countries for many years, but where many attempts and much

time was needed to abolish them. With respect to my personal stance, there is no one in

my ensemble and team who could accuse me of anything. One of my most important

principles is respect for others and their personal lives.

Of course, I am aware that my work, my initiative and my commitment - to the extent

that music has an influence on everyday life - demand a high degree of responsibility

towards my fellow citizens and at times these functions can be construed in a political

nature. Nevertheless, I aim a continuous believer in music’s power to reinforce societies

and their great traditions. That is why it is very important to me to help promote and

invigorate educational music programmes.

I know that many colleagues throughout the world support me in my efforts. Yet this

can and must not hide the fact that circumstances of Realpolitik can suddenly infiltrate

the common ground of our cultural work and cause harsh and jarring discord. In my

opinion, it is particularly crucial at times like these to still have the courage to listen to

the other side and to exchange opinions. Moreover, we should not lose respect for each

other and never allow for communication to breakdown. We should always be able to

exchange thoughts and ideas.

It might sound banal, which does not make it wrong, in fact, quite the opposite is true in

my experience: Music is the best bridge-builder!

I look forward to welcoming you to many concerts, perhaps as early as July as the

Munich Philharmonic and Marinsky Orchestra complete their Strawinsky Cycle

Yours sincerely,

Valery Gergiev

 

Opera Novices wanted! Oder: Nehmen Sie Platz auf der Opern Couch!

Have you ever fancied going to an opera, but felt put off because you think it's only for the old and rich?

Would you like to give it a try, but feel intimidated by the stuffy, snobby atmosphere and the high ticket prices?

Do you think opera is just a bunch of fat women in horned helmets screaming their heads off?

Do you feel the plots are ludicrous, the stories irrelevant and the music old-fashioned, dragging on for hours and hours?

Well, I'm planning a new column, Opera Couch, where I invite you to challenge those pre-conceptions, come along with me to a performance and blog about the experience afterwards.

If you're interested in taking a seat on the Opera Couch, just get in touch at Simon.Morgan@gmx.at or via Twitter (@SP_Morgan).

I'll ask you to fill out a short questionnaire (musical interests, etc.) beforehand (for publication here) and then you write a warts-and-all report of the entire experience afterwards. 

(PS: The idea for Opera Couch came from blogger Ulrike Schmid, whose very readable and highly entertaining blog -- and corresponding Konzert Couch -- you can find here: www.orchestrasfan.de )

Haben Sie je davon geträumt, in die Oper zu gehen, aber dachten, es sei etwas nur für Alte und Reiche?

Hätten Sie schon Interesse, aber finden die Atmosphäre zu steif und zu versnobt, die Kartenpreise zu hoch?

Wenn Sie an Oper denken, denken Sie automatisch an übergewichtige Schreihälse mit Speer und Helm?

Finden Sie die Handlung lächerlich, die Geschichten irrelevant und die Musik altmodisch und langatmig?

Ich plane eine neue Kolumne, Opern Couch, wo ich Sie dazu einlade, solche Vorurteile zu überdenken und mich in eine Vorstellung zu begleiten, um nachher darüber gemeinsam zu bloggen.

Wenn Sie Interesse haben, auf der Opern Couch Platz zu nehmen, melden Sie sich unter: Simon.Morgan@gmx.at oder per Twitter (@SP_Morgan)

Alles was Sie tun müssen, ist vorab einen kurzen Fragebogen zu Ihren musikalischen Interessen auszufüllen (die Antworten erscheinen dann hier), und nachher über die Erfahrung zu bloggen.


(Die Idee zu der Opern Couch stammt von Ulrike Schmid. Und über die Erfahrungen, die sie mit einer entsprechenden Konzert Couch gemacht hat, können Sie auf ihrem wunderbar lesbaren und unterhaltsamen Blog www.orchestrasfan.de nachlesen)

Don Giovanni, Oper Frankfurt

Oper Frankfurt
May 15th, 2014


Don Giovanni  - Christian Gerhaher
Leporello - Simon Bailey
Donna Anna - Brenda Rae
Donna Elvira - Juanita Lascarro
Don Ottavio - Martin Mitterrutzner
Zerlina - Grazia Doronzio
Masetto  - Björn Bürger
Commendatore -  Robert Lloyd

Conductor -  Sebastian Weigle
Director - Christof Loy
Stage - Johannes Leiacker 
Costumes - Ursula Renzenbrink

Christian Gerhaher freely admits he's not everyone's idea of Don Giovanni, either physically or vocally.

"No-one can seriously take me for a lady's man," he told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau in a recent interview, pointing out that his baritone is probably too light and lyrical, too, and "not necessarily suited for Don Giovanni."

Gerhaher's usual self-deprecation aside, the idea of casting one of today's greatest Lied singers in the role did indeed raise a few eyebrows in the opera world.

If a sexy Hollywood heartthrob with a macho swagger and an unquenchable libido is your idea of a perfect Don, then Gerhaher and Christof Loy's new reading for the Oper Frankfurt won't be for you.

There will be those who, like the critic of the Bayerischer Rundfunk in his first-night review, are looking for a hero who is a "sensual anarchist" and a staging that sizzles with the "gloriously ambiguous irony" of Mozart's score.

They'll miss the seductively saucy banter that normally leaves everyone -- not just Donnas Anna and Elvira-- drooling over our Casanova and his sidekick Leporello in more traditional productions.

But rarely does a review like the BR's so entirely miss the point as it does in this case.

For Loy, the interest does not lie in the dramma giocoso of this "opera of all operas".

It is instead a deeply melancholy -- even depressive -- portrait of an ageing egomaniac staring death in the face and trapped in a hell of his own making.

Like the idea of casting of Gerhaher in the title role, Loy's reading is unsettling because it goes against any ingrained expectations for Don Giovanni. And it can really get under your skin, if you let it.

And shouldn't that be what opera is all about?

The beautifully stark sets by Johannes Leiacker and swish period costumes by Ursula Renzenbrink exude a run-down elegance.

We're in dilapidated baroque theatre with grubby white walls. And the curtain comes crashing down on the overture's opening D-minor chord to reveal Giovanni standing over a lookalike (his alter ego?) whom he has defeated in a fencing duel.

The scene anticipates the duel and murder of the Commendatore -- who also seems to be Giovanni's double -- a few minutes later and returns again, this time much multiplied, at the end as the hell into which the Stone Guest drags Giovanni. 

The ageing Don -- confronted with his own mortality by the Commendatore's death -- is reviewing his life in flashback, weary of the role that both society and he has cast himself in and plagued by existential ennui.

And the action that unfolds is his final dance of death.

Gerhaher, ever the intellectual among today's singers, portrays him as an arrogant, unlikeable man, a manipulator, icy on the surface, brutal underneath.

In the few arias Giovanni actually gets to sing, his baritone gleams with characteristic beauty, no more so than in his delicately sung, finely nuanced serenade in Act 2.

But he can be fiery and dramatic, too, as in the Champagne aria (for which he is dressed up as the singer Francisco d'Andrade in Max Slevogt's painting). And his diction is always exemplary.

The rest of the cast is made up of some of Oper Frankfurt's very best singers.

Brenda Rae is wiltingly beautiful as Donna Anna, Martin Mitterrutzner a sweet, light-toned Ottavio and Juanita Lascarro an excitable Donna Elvira.

Simon Bailey's Leporello is fresh and sure-footed, Björn Bürger a powerful, but amiable Masetto and Grazia Doronzio a touching, girlish Zerlina.

Robert Lloyd was an imposing, if sometimes rather ragged-sounding Commendatore.

Frankfurt's GMD Sebastian Weigle drew sensitive and alert playing from the house orchestra, even if they sometimes lacked real Mozartian fizz and sparkle.

Loy must be one of the busiest opera directors around today and his critics like to accuse him of being lazy and formulaic.

But at his best, his stagings can be intelligent and psychologically probing, requiring multiple viewings to catch all the subtleties.

This Don Giovanni, tailor-made as it is for Gerhaher, must be one of the most engaging and compelling of Loy's productions I've seen. 　
　　
Hugely recommended.


Photos copyright of Monika Rittershaus, made available by Oper Frankfurt.
　

hr-Sinfonieorchester, Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Grosser Saal, Alte Oper, February 7th, 2014

Andrés Orozco-Estrada doesn't officially take over as chief conductor of the hr-Sinfonieorchester -- or the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra as it is known in English -- until next season.

But if this concert is anything to go by, the new era under the 36-year-old Colombian is going to be very exciting.

Billed as a "musical visiting card" by Frankfurt Radio, the programme for the orchestra's regular subscription series concert in the city's Alte Oper was impressively eclectic, as if Orozco-Estrada was keen to show off his versatility and wide repertoire: Haydn's 59th Symphony, Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto with Arabella Steinbacher as soloist, a world premiere of a brand new work entitled Tagebuch by Friedrich Cerha and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.

Aside from the Rachmaninov suite, neither of other two established works are exactly standard concert hall fare.
Haydn's Fire Symphony is not one of his better known and Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto is less familiar and much less frequently performed than his Second.

It was clear from the first bar of the Haydn that we were in for an exciting evening.

Orozco-Estrada is no period instrument specialist, but with valveless horns and minimal use of vibrato by the strings, this was a modern orchestra with modern turning fully embracing historically informed performance practices with sharp dynamics, pert articulation and bright and brisk tempi.

The Prokofiev with its much larger orchestra was equally flawless and Arabella Steinbacher impressed with her lithe, athletic tone and assured technical command.
As an encore, she played the first movement of Eugène Ysaÿe's Second Solo Sonata.

Cerha's Tagebuch for orchestra was commissioned by Frankfurt Radio and was composed in 2012.
It comprises eight miniature sketches of contrasting character and lasts just 16 minutes in total.
The orchestration is luminous, the musical argument lucid and the pieces shimmer with spontaneity.

Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances showed just what a fine ensemble the hr-Sinfonieorchester has turned into in its years under Paavo Järvi.
The string sound in particular has taken on a deeper bloom and richer sheen than before and the woodwind are immaculate and the brass top-notch, too.

This was a taut and muscular reading of Rachmaninov's late masterpiece that really packed a punch, the massive orchestral forces coiled like a spring.

While Paavo Järvi cut a very cool figure on the podium, using only the very minimum of gestures, Orozco-Estrada is much more expressive, almost dancing as he coaxes the sound out he wants out of the orchestra.

Järvi's departure from Frankurt after just seven years was a major loss to the city's classical music scene -- even if he will return regularly as Conductor Laureate.
But the hr-Sinfonieorchester appears to have found a more than worthy successor in Orozco-Estrada --  as long as he doesn't overstretch himself with his commitments as chief conductor of the Houston Symphony and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic.

The Kurt Weill Festival's Tweetfonie

The classical music world has fallen in love with Twitter.
Singers, musicians, opera houses, concert halls, not to mention fans, critics, journalists, musicologists are all embracing social networks with a passion and enthusiasm that really does give the lie to those who say classical music and opera is dead or dying or that it's elitist or snobbish or out of touch with the modern world.

Well, the annual Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, which runs this year from February 22 until March 9, has come up with yet another idea to woo musically-inclined Tweeps.

They're calling it a "Tweetfonie" and are inviting anyone who fancies themselves as a composer to come up with a good tune (or should it be called a"twune"?) and then tweet it to be arranged for a symphony orchestra in the blink of an eye.

The score and parts are then emailed and printed out for the Anhaltische Philharmonic Dessau and its chief conductor Antony Hermus who will be assembled in Dessau's Bauhaus and will perform the pieces live on March 3 within just 10 minutes of receiving them.

How can you tweet a melody?

Well, the organisers are putting up a special website -- www.tweetfonie.de -- on which the budding Mozarts can compose their tune using an on-screen keyboard.
The melody is then automatically converted into a tweet of 140 characters and sent to a special "Tweetfonie Call Centre" in the Bauhaus.

The best and most original "twunes" are filtered out and sent to professional composers and arrangers in Berlin, Paris and New York, who have an hour to compose a short piece of up to one minute around them.

The arrangement is then mailed in PDF form back to the Tweetfonie Call Centre where the score and parts are printed out and handed out to the waiting orchestra and conductor.

The performances are then recorded in both audio and video, posted on www.tweetfonie.de and sent via link to the Tweeps who composed them.

If all that sounds complicated, the budding composers have a few days to practice on the system.
www.tweetfonie.de goes live on February 28, but the composers can only tweet their twunes for real from March 2.

The live concert of the best of them then takes place in the Bauhaus on March 3.

The scoring of the final pieces is as follows:

2(+picc).2(+cor. angl).2(+sax).2. – 2.2.2.1.– tmp+2perc(no mallets), hp, pf 

– strings 8--‐6--‐4--‐3--‐2.

 

Here's the link to the full programme of this year's Kurt Weill Festival:

 

http://www.kurt-weill.de/pages_en/kwf_2_0_0_0.html