Worst of 2012, if I may ??

My reviews are available in www.concertonet.com. I have to pay tribute to the staff at Concertonet to offer freedom in writing, to regularly check if our facts are validated (No Lebrechtism here) and to maintain a site which at more than 25 thousands readers worldwide must be among the most read musical magazines on the web.

I would therefore let a curious reader see the cases where I was unhappy but wanted to tell a story which I did not mentioned in Concertonet. The Swiss Romande Orchestra's former music director Marek Janowski has regularly played Bruckner and has recorded on Pentatone a cycle which has been receiving glowing reviews.

He played his last concert on November 10 of this year with Bruckner's 4th Symphony in a private concert for the United Nations. I attended as a guest. This was the worst audience I ever experienced. Coughing, page turning, people talking, ..., all was there. At the beginning of the Scherzo, I asked a couple to stop behaving so badly and take example on my 14 years old son who was showing respect and politeness to audience and musicians alike.

This is not typical of the usual Victoria Hall audience. This may be typical of UN guests.

This is really a shame because the concert really began well. In such conditions (and I could see players glancing angrily at the audience more than a few times), the performance lost focus and even the usually strong instrumental level left to be desired.

I feel really bad because Janowski's last concert should have been a case for celebration. He improved the level of the orchestra and expanded their repertory. The CDs he did with the orchestra will stay, not only the Bruckner but also the Bartok violin concertos with Arabella Steinbacher as well as a French program of rare works fom Chausson, D'Indy and Saint-Saëns.

But a good concert means good works, good musicians and a good audience. The latter was really not  there on this occasion?

Movements in Geneva 3

I was last week in Paris where several friends discussed the recent events in Geneva. A quick summary of the OSR Press Conference is included in my review of Janowski's concert here.

In addition, let me add a few points in no particular order from the conference:

• 11 new players are in the orchestra which received more than 100 times the number of applicants
• All concerts are more than 95% booked hence the move to double the concerts in Geneva next season (please note that although the box-office indicates that they are often full, there are often empty seats in the higher sections ?)
• The orchestra can be proud of being of the happy few with regular recording engagements, the last CD produced was Bruckner's 5th Symphony.
• Compared to several other orchestras, the next season is fairly versatile with original works being played (Martinu, rare Strauss and Bruch, ...)
• Sibelius' s 5th was presented as a rarety ... This is a major major work by a major major composer !
• Martinu's second violin concerto will also be performed by Frank-Peter Zimemrman. It is a masterpiece. if you do not know it, this is a highly recommended work.
• Marek Janowski said that he was only confortable conducting Mahler's second and third Symphonies but not so for the others which he let to other conductors.
• Another look at the program shows that the orchestra is reinviting musicians whom they developed a rapport with, which is a very good way to deepen a relation and get good results.
• The OSR will team up with the Tonhalle to play Schoenberg's Gurrelieder in Luzern and Montreux. When asked why not Geneva, S Roger said that if this work were to be performed in Victoria Hall, musicians would be on the hall and audience could only be accomodated on stage
• The weight of the musicians for the selection of their new director has been increased (although to be fair, the precise selection process was not 100% clear ...)

All in all, the team emerged as competent and inspired confidence.

Movements in Geneva 2

More details could be available tomorrow but it seems that Bertrand de Billy will not be the next Chief Conductor of the OSR. He would have asked to be able to decide on which conductors to invite both at the OSR and for the Grand Théâtre, a condition which was refused given that both institutions are keen to preserve their independence although the same orchestra operates there.

We should know more tomorrow and I personally willbe hearing them Friday the 12th of February under N Järvi who will conduct Shostakovitch's 10th Symphony.

Movements in Geneva

Geneva's main newspaper Le Temps has announced that Marek Janowski has decided to shorten his tenure at the Swiss Romande Orchestra and will step down in 2012. Bertrand de Billy is already mentioned as a potential replacement whose appointment could be confirmed next week.

de Billy is a major talent which I have only heard in the Opera House, either in Salzburg for a swift and lively Zauberflöte as well as in London for a solid Carmen.There are worse possible choices for the OSR.

At the press conference done last yearby the orchestra to present the new season, there were a number of comments which hinted at Janowski's disconfort of having the orchestra spread between the Opera house (which does not have a musical director) and the concert hall.

There are a number of orchestras that hold both duties as in Vienna or in Leipzig. However, these are ensembles with bigger headcount which have enough principals to be able to perform in multiple places while maintaining a consistent level. They also benefit from halls with better acoustics than the Victoria Hall.

In the case of the OSR, Janowski brought a certain discipline and rigour which definitely helped the orchestra coherence and overall level to go up. In the right works like in Mendelssohn's Elias, his long-lined approach paid superb dividends and the performance was first-rate. His sudden departure feels like a blow to the musicians and the coming months could feel tense.

I will keep you posted as news follow.