Posts Tagged ‘Lorin Maazel’

MPhil Vacuum: Maazel Out

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: June 12, 2014 MUNICH — Lorin Maazel, 84, has quit the post of Chefdirigent of the Munich Philharmonic, according to a statement this morning by this city’s Kulturreferat, the government entity responsible for the orchestra. Reasons of health were cited. The news follows several weeks of concert cancellations by the American […]

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Honeck Honors Strauss

Friday, April 11th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: April 11, 2014 MUNICH — Watching Manfred Honeck lead the Munich Philharmonic in Strauss last Sunday (April 6), a question came to mind. Why isn’t this the man replacing Lorin Maazel next year? With refreshing conviction and broad arm gestures à la Carlos Kleiber, Honeck drew polished performances from the orchestra […]

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Gergiev, Munich’s Mistake

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: April 9, 2014 MUNICH — Not a week goes by here now without media mention of Valery Gergiev. The musical friend of Vladimir Putin and, more to the point, high-profile employee-to-be of the City of Munich inspires comment even in modest suburban newspapers. Many want his alarmingly long contract (2015–20) shredded. […]

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Modern Treats, and Andsnes

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 6, 2013 MUNICH — The 1909 candy-box essays by Schönberg and Webern, Fünf Orchesterstücke and Sechs Stücke, can pass by gratuitously in uncommitted hands. Not so yesterday (Oct. 5) in a Munich Philharmonic program pairing them with Beethoven concertos. Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen, calm and assured, drew incisive, expressive […]

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Blomstedt Blessings

Sunday, February 17th, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 17, 2013 MUNICH — There is a genteel inscrutability about Herbert Blomstedt. Authoritative, tall and silver-haired, he has never cut the profile of a star. But the gaze is probing. Musicians play well for him perhaps out of a sense of being acutely monitored. Two years ago Bayerischer Rundfunk hired […]

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Maazel: ’Twas Always Thus

Friday, February 1st, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 1, 2013 MUNICH — In a statement issued today here, Lorin Maazel shed light on the brevity of his tenure as Chefdirigent of the Munich Philharmonic: “I congratulate Valery Gergiev on his appointment as principal conductor … starting the 2015–16 season. I am honored to have been serving as the […]

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Jansons! Petrenko! Gergiev!

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 23, 2013 MUNICH — With the city council’s blessing today of Valery Gergiev’s hire as the next Chefdirigent of the Munich Philharmonic, all three of the Bavarian capital’s globally renowned orchestras will be in Soviet-born hands by late 2015. This September, 40-year-old Kirill Petrenko of Omsk, Siberia, finally takes over […]

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Season of Concessions

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 11, 2012 MUNICH — Arts groups here present a restrained 2012–13 season facing pros and cons not always aligned with those in America. Funding, for instance, holds steady: city and state (Bavaria) play their part, as do local corporations Siemens, BMW, Audi, Allianz and Linde. Excellent pools of musicians, instrumental […]

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