 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keil
Date: 2003-04-24 22:01
Ken Shaw said:
"Welser-Möst has gotten almost universal bad press, both in Cleveland and on tour. The best I've seen is along the lines of "we have to wait for him and the orchestra to get used to each other." But then Dohnányi's press was not much better, Gergiev is getting savaged at the Metropolitan Opera, and the contempt for Maazel in New York is barely concealed.
The Welser-Möst broadcasts and recordings I've heard have been fine, though not striking. In 30 years, he'll probably be an icon."
My question is how ARE the new conductor's doing? Being down south and a broke college student has its drawbacks... i'm interested in hearing how things are going with the new conductor of NYPhil, Cleveland, and soon to be Boston, Philedelphia, Pittsburgh (who has yet to name a succesor that i know of), and the Met (who also has yet to name a succesor which isn't shocking considering Levine isn't going to completely relinquish his duties)?
I'm very much surprised at how America's "Big 5" seem to be getting new leadership all around the same time (minus Chicago). New Eras all around!
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Author: HAT
Date: 2003-04-25 13:14
I have heard the NYPO plenty this year and it is one hell of a great orchestra. Maazel is an incredible conductor who happens to be disliked by certain critics.
In fact, I have heard quite a few major orchestras over the last several years as they come t hrough town and I can't say I have heard any that weren't at least very very good.
As for the Cleveland Orchestra, I didn't hear their NY concerts but a colleague whose opinion I trust assured me that at least the two he saw were on a very high level in d eed.
As an aside, I have yet to hear clarinet playing in any of the orchestras (at least none I can think of right now) that wasn't impressive either.i
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-04-25 13:25
I have heard Maazel conduct in concert on numerous times, and recent radio broadcasts of the NY Phil and his work exeplify the typical excellence of the NY PHilharmonic.
As to Cleveland I think the situation overall is a bit harder to read. I listen to music making for exciting performance, nothing to do really with how good/bad the clarinet section is, unless of course they are dreadful.
Artistically I tend to find the recent records of Cleveland to be something of a let down. I have a pretty vast set of recordings and can honestly say that Welset_Most really is very good. It is really a question of whether or not stylistically the orchestra and him jell.
In fact, I find that the Cleveland orchestra is generally so fine and posished its really hard to tell whether they are pushing the musical boundaries so to speak. I think they are hoping the Welser-Most situation will turn into a long term partnership.
As for Philadelphia this orchestra has Sawalllisch- and his performances are always incredibly musical and very well done. I know here we have another older conductor not unlike Ormandy in many ways. Sawallisch conducts more of an older fashioned repetoire, Beethoven, Wagner and romantic fare, but I have heard no bad performances.
I think Chicago is the orchestra that actually enjoys the best of fine conductors right now, and they sound better than ever.
It takes an orchestra quite a time to adjust to a new artistic director, and the conductor roles in NY and Cleveland are both very different. I think Cleveland is looking at a long-term role from the new guy, where Maazel is probably pretty dispensible if things go bad in NY. I must say the concerts Maazel has done have been superb.
David Dow
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2003-04-26 22:40
How many weeks in a year does the artistic director conduct his orchestra in the US? In Europe it's usually 12-16 weeks.
Is the chief conductor or artistic director always free to pick and choose any repertoire he wants for himself, from French baroque to Islandic contemporary music or do the orchestras ever put up limits for this? What is the custom in the US?
Alphie
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