Summer music in Geneva

My article dans Concertonet ici.

Concertonet

K Yamada and the OSR's latest concert review is here (In French).

Concertonet

My interview with Metin Arditi, President of the Swiss Romande Orchestra here in Concertonet

Concertonet

My interview of the new OSR director is here. (in French)

Concertonet

My review of the OSR under C Dutoit with an amazing E Pahud is here.

Joining an orchestra

French speaking readers have the ability to watch on their PC a one hour program of how an orchestra like the OSR auditions new players. This is available http://www.rts.ch/video/emissions/chut/4551035-cor-violons-basson-l-osr-embauche.html.

A few comments, you can see when the audition is in Victoria Hall the famous rehearsal curtain which cuts the hall in half and gives the musicians a feeling of the hall when it is full.

More significantly, it is important to bring in the young great musicians of tomorrow in positions of responsibility so this is so good to see that they are bringing a young player to be part of their concertmeisters.

Last, life is tough for young musicians and we have to respect this indeed.

Concertonet

My review of the last concert of the OSR in Geneva is here. http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=8910.

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?

Hans Werner Henze

Passed away at today.

I attended in Salzbourg the Dress Rehearsal of his opera l'Upupa which has been preserved on DVD. The composer was there, a little stiff but dignified. He said a few words to thank the musicians. The music was fresh and ensembles sparkling like what you find in some of Richard Strauss's works. Well, he might not have liked the comparison but ...

A couple of years ago in Geneva, Janowski conducted his 9th Symphony with the OSR. No doubt there was a clear intention to write such a dark work for his "9" Symphony as if this could help to distance from the Germanic art. But in the end, it was a very Germanic work, full of ambition and attempting to rewrite the entire world in music.

Back in Geneva ...

Behind this is incidentally the place where I park my car every day to reach my office

and if the day was sunnier, you could have seen the water jet from the lake.

These are for the upcoming concert for the start of the season which will include Das Lied von die Erde with P Groves and T Hampson, a review of which will naturally be in Concertonet.

Breaking news: OSR Site hacked

The web site of the Swiss Romande Orchestra has been hacked by the pro-Iranian groupe Ashiyane. The hacker group struck one of the French Socialist leader site as a previous victim.This is to the best of my knowledge the first strike on a classical music site.

I guess the real lesson is not artistic but is that all institutions should ramp up the security on their sites, which is not the case here and that Internet should become a primary vehicle treated very seriously.

Lebrecht has done it again

This is always a surprise but strong and serious musicians do not hung up the phone when UK journalist Norman Lebrecht calls them. He regularly interviews the likes of Gergiev, Dudamel, Barenboim, J Baker, ... and has regular presence and BBC and at the Daily Telegraph.

Yet, whenever one knows about a certain topic, there is little to doubt that Lebrecht very rarely cross checks his facts and always goes for the easy provocative, but ultimately false comment.

Last year, he made negative comments on the Swiss Romande Orchestra (and sneering ones on the Geneva musical life and Switzerland as a whole). My answer was published on an editorial at Concertonet.

He has repeated the same thing on commenting on the sudden departure of the OSR's GM.

Just one example: on this entry, the OSR is described as moribound. How can he say this, nothing in his columns suggest that he has heard them in the last 10 years. The OSR fills its hall with more than 95% capacity. It has several recording contracts. M Janowski is finishing an acclaimed Bruckner cycle, N Jäarvi has recored music by Chabrier and Swiss composer J Raff. P Rophé has recorded contemporary works by W Blank. The OSR has toured in Russia, Italy and Germany ..?

How many orchestras can claim to do this ? If the OSR is moribund, then the list of dead should then be very long.

But Lebrecht knows better ... and everyone who is serious about the state of classical music has no dounts about his laughable prejudiced comments. One could have thought that he would be ashamed and would become more serious ... yet, he keeps crossing the lines of serious journalism again and again.

So, next time, you see a report signed by N Lebrecht. Just remember this must be as serious as the latest reports on movie stars on tabloids and has nothing to do with classical music.

Movements in Geneva ... Last

Beckmesser is happy to let you know (probably before many) that the OSR has appointed the young Japanese conductor Kazuki Yamada as principal guest conductor and that Janowski will be replaced in 2012 by Neeme Järvi.

Neeme Järvi was in Geneva last December for a stunning Chostakovitch 10th Symphony. The OSR played very well for him and delivered more  colorful sound than for me. One Jarvi in Paris, one in Geneva ...

Youth and Experience. Is not this a good way to maintain the dual tradition of the OSR between Ansermet-ish modernism and Janowski's wiseness.

I look forwards to the future.

Very busy ... end of 2nd quarter ... but

• A quick editorial (in French) of Geneva's developments at the OSR
• I recommend "Serving Genius", a biography of Carlo Maria Giulini. It does a great job of describing Giulini's formative years and also analyses well the wonderful conductor musical style. I was not aware that Giulini was born in the Nothern Italy which is so close from Austria. No wonder he was equally at home in Mahler and Verdi. How do we miss such an outstanding musician and how glad am I to have heard him on such great masterpieces.
• Finally, there is a strong interview of John Adams in the Guardian. Recommended and I was not aware he was so found of West Side Story.

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.