2011

2011 was a busy year for me. My "day job" kept me extremely busy. I probably travelled somewhat less than usual so my musical experiences were more Swiss-based.

This being said, there were no shortage of events that left a big impression on me: the Leipzig Gewandhaus sound is a marvel and they were right at home on their Beethoven Mendelssohn program. I also could hear some great pianists: the young Kit Armstrong, a major unique personality, Leif Ove Andsnes who couples cristalline precision with architecural feeling and then François-René Duchable out of his self-inflicted retirement and communicating so deeply with the audience.

On a different level, I did two trips (one hour drive ...) to Lausanne to hear the Chamber Orchestra for contemporary music under Pascal Rophé and a remarkable 3 last Mozart Symphonies under Bertrand de Billy. The orchestra may be less distinguished than the OSR but both evenings were fascinating.

My Operatic highlight was a concert performance in Salzburg of Tchaikowsky Iolantha in Salzbourg where the level of singing was just amazing and yes, Anna Netrebko is a fantastic artist but so were the others and all of them.

My wife and I tend to notice that the average age of concert goers seems to increase but this reflects more the fact that Europe is an aging continent. The next music director of the OSR is 75 (Neeme Järvi) and is older than the current one, Marek Janowski ... but then age is having a different meaning these days and being 50 is not so old ...

Books ?

As a habit, I am preparing my end of year book reading retreat ... as well as contributing to Amazon's end of year revenue spike.

I have ordered a few books on (and in the case of Muti by) conductors. One is about George Szell, another one is by Leonard Bernstein personal assistant. Others which have not reached me are Muti's autobiagraphy as well as probably another book on why we will never understand the genius of Carlos Kleiber.

While I will keep reading about music (and write here and in Concertonet), I have to say that these biographies are a difficult genre as they often if not always fail to capture the maturation process of musicians. They relate with details successes and glory but what make artists become who they are remains a mystery.

Maybe the one that comes closest is John Adams's autobiography and the pages in which he explains the blending of style that he internalised and which helped him develop his voice. Similarly, vocal artists would not be surprised to read on Renée Fleeming talk so much about vocal technique on her book.

So happy reading for those looking for suggestions and let me know what you are reading.

Maurizio Pollini's EMI recordings of Chopin studies

I read Peter Andry's memoirs after hearing about them on Bob Shingleton's excellent blog. This EMI producer can be credited to have overseen some of the label greatest successes (which may be a thing of the past but this is another topic).

One of the side stories he tells was EMI's decision to sever relations with Maurizo Pollini. EMI had signed the Italian pianist after his success at the Chopin piano competition in 1961. He went on to record Chopin's first concerto, a reading that is just marvellous, a recital of various pieces but left this recording in the vault of EMI waiting, I am assuming, that copyright laws would allow for it to be reissued.

The booklet is unapologetic on the fact that EMI and Pollini could not find common ground. They acknowledge that not continuing with him was a huge mistake, financially as well as artistically but hint at the pianist being in a state of doubt which did not allowed him to complete this project.

We all know that Pollini signed with DG after, that the studies was one of his first recordings with them and remains simply unsurpassed, the pianist not only able to master the momnumental challenges of the work but much more importantly, able to bring aristocratic phrasing and poetic feeling., being the Pollini that we have all learned to love in the concert hall.

I have just heard the EMI set only once but wanted to stress out the following: playing is amazing but the subsequent set bring out playing similar to what I have experienced from Pollini in the concert hall when he has played these works as regular encores. I am aware that citical acclaim in various newspapers has been stellar so I may end up in a minority of those maintaining allegiance to the classic set.

Probably here the real issue remains on the vailidity of such documents. On the one hand, studio recordings benefit from the artists approval buton the other hand, we know of many cases where they can be revealing. Pollini is not a pianist who has made many interviews so we may never hear what he feels on this set.

Pollini was the pianist that my generation looked upon when we were discovering music. I remember foundly hearing for the first time the great masterworks when he came to play them. I am a huge fan and was keen on hearing this document. However, this remains a document of an artist who knew what he was doing when he did not accepted this set to be published.

Some news

Lots of work for this end of year. This blog is neglected. I have some unfinished posts which I will finish after the end of year. In the meantime, Beckmesser's rants is mentioned as part of the Independant Views in the Big List of Classical Music Blogs whom I encourage you to visit.

For French readers, I have been my usual busy for Concertonet covering the Geneva season. I celebrated Zubin Mehta's classical program, really disliked Fazil Say's gimmicks (next to whom Lang Lang is restraint made artits...) ...

I also left Geneva to go to Boston where I enjoyed Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's artistery. Lausanne is a solid hour away from Geneva but I went to hear the Orchestre de Chambre under Pascal Rophé play an exciting modern music program with a percussion concerto by Swiss Composer Darbellay and Honegger 5th Symphony, also Swiss. I will return tomorrow for a more mainstream program with Mozart's three last Symphonies under no less than Bertrand de Billy.

"Tragic" and fascinating Documentary on Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on Arte

The French-German cultural TV station Arte showed last week a fascinating documentary on Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. It may still be available on their site so I would recommend it.

I heard her last recital in Paris back in 1976 and yes her voice was just unique.

In this documentary emerges an artist always in pain never in peace and never happy. Her famous outbursts during masterclasses are those she may have had with herself although to be fair, the two singers she had to work with should not have been put in front of her.

I was not aware of her negative reaction towards Karajan. Maybe what she felt was that by redoing many of the works he had done with her, he was not paying her the respects she would have expected. The Rosenkavalier excerpt was just stunning and for all her artistry, Tomowa-Sintow could never achieve anything like this but then who could ?

Was this excerpt moving ? Thinking about it, probably not but the work on words, colours, projection was of such intensity. In a way, she always sang for herself and probably for her husband but was not a communicator like many of her peers. To make a parallel, I remember eating at a famous restaurant where the chef had the habit of visiting all of his clients. When he would come, he would never ask the question: "Are you enjoying your meal ?", he said "do you appreciate it ?", ie, my meals are really good but can you really appreciate it ? This was Schwarzkopf ...

François-René Duchable

I was yesterday at Victoria Hall to hear the "Orchestre de Ribaupierre" play Brahms Piano Concerto, the soloist in the first being the French pianist François-René Duchable.

International readers may not have heard of him but worked with Artur Rubinstein, played Bartok's third Piano Concerto with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in Salzbourg (I still have the tapes and they are just superb), developed a career then but decided to stop playing in mainstream concert performances in 2003. He actually dropped his piano in a lake ...

He lives near Annecy and performs very rarely at small events. He is recognizable with a trademark red shirt. In fact, I could not believe that I would have a chance to hear him since 2003 and until I saw him on stage was not even sure he was going to be there.

It is difficult to know exactly what prompted him to stop from playing. There are some artists who keep performing probably because they just need it: Gergiev, Barenboim, Domingo, Levine before his health problems ... For others, the act of performing must be a big challenge, physical as well as emotional as well as a deeply unsatisfying one.

Playing with a sympathetic but second-rate orchestra must be a way to relieve from the stress of appearing. Playing rarely must also ensure that routine does not come in. But when he played, it just spoke with eloquence and freshness. Five minutes of Duchable have more content than five hours of Lang Lang ...

Sweet new year