Margalit Fox breaks the bad news at the NY Times. He made a handful of fine recordings of virtuoso repertoire for RCA and a few independent labels. I met the affable, easygoing Fodor on a number of occasions before and during my tenure at BMG. His longstanding battles against chemical dependency were well known in (and outside) the classical music world, and Fox details the usual “cautionary tale” spin that one would expect from his death. And yes, I have to question the role of his early management in the path that his life took.
Maddening Mahler
I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: conductor Valery Gergiev is uneven, arguably the most inconsistent major conductor on the international scene. When he’s at his best, he’s sensational.
And yes, I can understand that Gergiev + Mahler + the London Symphony Orchestra = sold-out venue, in this case Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center this afternoon. The problem is that the formula is not necessarily good for the music itself. And though the LSO played brilliantly for teh most part, Gergiev’s sometimes micromanaged, sometimes messy, and completely erratic way with Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 undermined the work’s fury, made too elegant outbursts of rage in the third movement, and completely missed the Kubler-Ross-like home stretch from grief to acceptance. I’ve seen memorable performances of this work under Maazel (with the Cleveland Orchestra during my college years) and Haitink (with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), but if anything, the present performance made me miss the great Klaus Tennstedt more than ever.
Research tool for musicians collides with property rights
Go read Daniel Wakin’s NY Times article on the Internet Music Score Library Project, which is having completelt predictable travails over intellectual property and copyright issues. IMSLP is an indispensible tool for classical musicians, particularly orchestral players and students tracking down parts, and those crazy obsessives (including yours truly) seeking out obscure music or divergent editions.
What could possibly go wrong?
Robert Spano conducts Berlioz’s mammoth Grande Messe des Morts at Carnegie hall with a world-cklass chamber orchestra. What could possibly go wrong? Check out my review at Classical Source.
A Tactful Panning
I’ve never warmed to Andrea Bocelli’s opera recordings, but I am that rare classical snob who likes his pop and Neapolitan offerings. Zachary Woolfe’s negative review of Bocelli’s MET recital in the NY Times spreads the blame quite properly. Woolfe did not make mention of Bocelli’s management, which has also done an extraordinary job, at least up until now. The talented, likable crooner should sack whoever it was on his team that persuaded him to do a MET recital.
Blanche Moyse, 1909-2011
The NY Times has the obit for a pioneering festival founder and pedagogue.
CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti Gets a Pacemaker
Johannes Somary, 1935-2011
Somary, a specialuist in Baroque and early Classical works, was particularly active in New York and London. He eschewed period instruments and the “historically informed’ interpretive approach when it was on the rise, and made a number of excellent recordings, particularly for Vanguard Classics — many of which are still available. William Grimes’s NY Times obituary is now online.
Emanuel Vardi, 1915-2011
Margalit Fox at the NY Times reports on the passing of the 95-year-old viola pioneer. Is it just me, or do violists tend to be nearly as long-lived on average as conductors?