Now Headlining at Lincoln Center: Van Biesen!

New York Philharmonic appoints Executive Director.
by Paul Pelkonen

Contrary to rumor, this is NOT the new logo of the NY Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic announced today that Matthew VanBiesen will be the orchestra's new Executive Director, replacing outgoing Zarin Mehta. Mr. Mehta held the post for 12 years.

Matthew Van Biesen is the new
Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic.

"This is one of the greatest orchestras in the world," Mr. Van Biesen said in a prepared statement. "Its history is legendary, the musicians unsurpassed, and its evolution under the artistic leadership of music director Alan Gilbert, truly visionary."

Mr. Van Biesen will start as Executive Director Designate. He will work with Mr. Mehta in a transitional period for the remainder of this season, assuming the job full-time for the 2012-2013 season. The Executive Director is one of three key positions that run the Philharmonic, along with the Music Director and Artistic Administrator.

The Philharmonic faces a number of challenges in coming seasons. Here's a list:

• an operating deficit of $1 million (according to the Huffington Post.)
• unfunded pension liabilities amounting to $24 million (also in the HuffPo article.)
• a contract renegotiation with the orchestra's musicians. Their  current contract has expired. 
• a full renovation of the aged Avery Fisher Hall, which will hopefully correct the acoustic problems that have plagued the facility since it opened (as Philharmonic Hall) in 1962. The hall has already been stripped out and rebuilt once (in 1973) and further acoustic alterations were made during Kurt Masur's tenure.

"Alan and I have had in-depth conversations about the future," Mr. Van Biesen added. "I feel a deep affinity with his ideas and am eager to collaborate closely with him and the entire organization."

Mr. Gilbert commented: “I have greatly valued the candid discussions I’ve had with Matthew this fall, and am truly impressed with his contemporary, forward-looking ideas about the role this orchestra can play in the cultural life of New York, of  America, and globally. He has the highest respect for the traditions of classical music, and a particularly powerful insight into the lives of musicians, cultivated in part during his years as a French horn player."

Mr. Van Biesen, who hails from St. Louis, MO, played horn in the Lousiana Symphony Orchestra. He comes to New York from Melbourne, Australia, where he has served as executive director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2010. He has also served as general manager of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and sits on the board of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

An Unexpected Wagner Treat

The Met Live in HD Die Walküre on YouTube.
by Paul Pelkonen.

There's that pesky spotlight:
Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund.
Photo by Ken Howard
© 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Christmas continues to roll along. Today is the tenth day. In lieu of ten lords-a-leaping, here's nine Valkyries from the Met.

James Levine is not appearing at the Met this season or the next. But Wagner lovers can take this opportunity (while it's still up) to enjoy this May 14, 2011 performance of Die Walküre, the same footage shown in the opera company's Live in HD broadcast. This was the last performance he conducted at the Met before the start of his current hiatus.

This performance stars Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), Hans-Peter Köning (Hunding), Deborah Voigt (Brunnhilde), Stephanie Blythe (Fricka), Bryn Terfel (Wotan.)

The subtitles are in French, but the price is right.

Some comments as I watch:

This is the first time I've seen any of the broadcast footage of the Ring. (I saw Rheingold twice last year, and Walküre three times in the theater. Up close, the problem of the actors blocking the digital projectors (and having trees and such projected on their bodies) bothers me a lot more than it did in the house.

All footage © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera. 

This is the first time I've seen any of the broadcast footage of the Ring. (I saw Rheingold twice last year, and Walküre three times in the theater. Up close, the problem of the actors blocking the digital projectors (and having trees and such projected on their bodies) bothers me a lot more than it did in the house.

In the hut scene, the blocking (actors at hip height under the walkway, etc.) works better on television or in the movie theater than it did in the house.

Whenever a singer in a spotlight goes near the projection of the ash tree the bark disappears. That doesn't happen with real scenery.

There's a weird background noise in Act I. Is that the noise of the projectors being picked up by the recording equipment? The La bohème snow-fall? And are those creaks and clacks coming from the musicians in the pit or from the Machine itself?

Singers and audio seem slightly out of sync. Weird as it's a film of a live broadcast--probably some sort of carrier delay between mikes and cameras and the truck.

Hans Peter König's Hunding is like a creepy Santa Claus. Not even Macy's--he's dressed by Hot Topic. With tree bark projected on his face.

I understand that the camera pulls back to see Robert Lepage's shadow-plays during the narration but it is worse than it was in the house, taking focus totally off the singers.

Why did everyone get up from the table while Hunding told the story? Oh right. The director seems to care more about the animation than the singers. Maybe we should start calling this the PIXAR Ring.

Hunding's hut looked like IKEA in the theater. On the HD it still looks like IKEA. The Met has a Raymour and Flanigan and a Gracious Home up the street...maybe a nice lamp? A print of the old production? A stuffed Fafner? Something to punctuate the dreariness?

Recordings Review: Breakfast With Carlos

Carlos Kleiber's Beethoven Fifth and Seventh.
By Paul Pelkonen.

A rare conductor: the great Carlos Kleiber at work.

For me, 2012 began with the Vienna Philharmonic. Not at their annual concert in the Musikverein, but in my own Brooklyn living room through a nice pair of 40mm SkullCandy headphones. I've been in a long process of cleaning and organizing my CD collection, sorting through piles of discs that I hadn't had time (for whatever reason) to put back into their proper cases or envelopes.

The benefit of that admitted carelessness on my part was that I found my rarely played copy of Beethoven's Fifth and Seventh Symphonies, featuring the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Carlos Kleiber. This is a legendary pair of recordings, made in 1974 (the Fifth) and 1976 (the Seventh.) My copy came in a boxed set with the rest of Mr. Kleiber's Deutsche Grammophon recordings, all of which fit on only 12 discs. (For the record, the set has three complete operas, a Brahms Fourth, and two Schubert symphonies. Not exactly prolific.)

Who was Carlos Kleiber? He was a German conductor of Austrian birth, and the son of another famous maestro, Erich Kleiber. (The elder Kleiber led the world premiere of Wozzeck. Although the second-generation conductor started strong, holding a post in Stuttgard and appearing frequently in Munich, he became a hushed, mysterious figure. After conducting at Bayreuth, the Vienna State Opera, and several times at the Met, he gradually withdrew from the spotlight. 

In 1989, Mr. Kleiber turned down the covered position of Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic after Herbert von Karajan died. In his later years, performances were less frequent, and he made only a handful of official recordings, all for Deutsche Grammophon. 

So is this Beethoven really that good? Does it deserve that legendary status?

Yes, it is, and it does. On these recordings, the sound qualities that have made the Vienna Philharmonic one of the world's greatest orchestra leap forth with great clarity and purpose, as the players respond willingly to his baton. The unique instruments of the VPO, particularly the oboes, horns and timpani have a more eloquent, conversational quality, giving a period-performance sheen to these readings long before conductors and record companies popularized the idea of using so-called "original instruments."

These qualities are best heard in the Viennese oboes, which are wider and have a slightly different, more conversational tone quality than the more commonly used French instruments. Conversely, the Viennese horns have a narrower bore and a unique valve system that makes these instruments sound with a dark, rich sonority that is this orchestra's trademark. This horn tone is especially clear in the finale to the Fifth, when the instruments lead the composer's triumph over adversity.

The strings seem to breathe the opening of the second movement, leading up to a huge series of repeated climaxes. The third movement, with its ostinato  and funeral march, builds up to hard timpani strikes and an exuberant celebration in sound from the brass choir, answered by the low strings. The whole ensemble joins in a hymn of man overcoming fate. 

The Seventh is equally powerful, its introduction gathering momentum, taking a huge breath before the orchestra starts what Wagner called the "apotheosis of the dance." These wild celebrations shimmer and whirl in a Dionysian frenzy, releasing pent-up tension in the strings and horns. The famous slow movement, with its insistent ostinato drives forward with inexorable power, building to further celebrations in the last two movements.

Mr. Kleiber's contribution is not any special trick of rubato or tempo changes. In fact his conducting  is fairly consistent with other maestros. But what he is skilled at is building, maintaining and releasing orchestral momentum, and forging the sections of the orchestra into cohesive units of sound. This quality comes out in the woodwind-playing and the strings. The conductor brings the flute, oboes and clarinets together to create a massive sound that recalls a fine pipe-organ in its simple majesty.

If you've never heard these recordings, do yourself a favor. Their reputation is deserved.

Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

Dropping the Ball for 2012

Happy New Year from Superconductor.

The Times Square ball, with unidentified man in fedora.
Photo from the New York Public Library.

By Paul Pelkonen.

Yes, here it is, the annual Superconductor New Year's post, written in my Brooklyn sidewalk window-seat at 8am as the sun comes up over the east side of Sunset Park and the annual Honeymooners marathon plays in the background.

2011 was a banner year for Superconductor. Almost 500 posts--150 of them live reviews of performances. Our news coverage and news gathering expanded. Relations improved with arts organizations, record labels, and opera companies, both in and outside of New York. That's all well and good.

But the biggest improvement was from you, the reader--who discovered a high-speed version of classical music coverage, decided you liked my writing, and stayed.

Thanks!

For 2012, I resolve to keep bringing you the same, or better level of music coverage, from the concerts of the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra to operas viewed from a high perch in the Family Circle of the Metropolitan Opera. (Look for me on Monday nights--that's when I have my subscription.)

There are more Recordings Reviews and DVD Reviews planned, along with features that you all seem to like: the Short List, the Metropolitan Opera Preview, the Gift Guide, and (provided we don't get hit by an asteroid on December 21) the Year in Reviews. (For the record, I think the Mayan prophecy stuff is a bunch of humbug.)

Humbug, I tell you. Humbug!

This year, I'd like to start doing more interviews and features on the blog page. There is also the possibility of multi-media expansion if I ever figure out the technology. An online radio station? A podcast? The presidency of EMI Classics? (That last one looks doubtful.)

Finally, I also resolve (as I have done each year for the last three years: 

• to make every effort to continue running a daily publication.
• to be visible on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and elsewhere.
• to keep the coverage real, honest, and objective, with the exception of the occasional excursions into comedy writing.
• to continue to make those excursions. Readers seem to like them. 
• to hear, see, and write about as much music as possible.
• to make this the best classical music blog that I can create with two hands.

See you out there.

Paul Pelkonen.

Editor, Superconductor.