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By ANDREW POWELL MUNICH \u2014 With the city council\u2019s blessing today of Valery Gergiev<\/a>\u2019s hire as the next Chefdirigent<\/em> of the Munich Philharmonic<\/a>, all three of the Bavarian capital\u2019s globally renowned orchestras will be in Soviet-born hands by late 2015. This September, 40-year-old Kirill Petrenko<\/a> of Omsk, Siberia, finally takes over the theater-based Bavarian State Orchestra<\/a>; his appointment was announced in 2010. Riga-born Mariss Jansons<\/a>, 70, has been Chefdirigent<\/em> of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra<\/a> since 2003; his present contract is expected to be lengthened, reflecting a collegial tenure. (Munich\u2019s three other professional orchestras, the M\u00fcnchener Kammerorchester<\/a>, the M\u00fcnchner Rundfunk-Orchester<\/a> and the M\u00fcnchner Symphoniker<\/a>, have German conductors.)<\/p>\n The when and who of Gergiev\u2019s appointment, leaked last week by the Abendzeitung<\/a> newspaper, are a surprise. It was only four months ago that Lorin Maazel<\/a> began his leadership of the MPhil. Contrary to one London report, Maazel was never announced as \u201ctemporary\u201d Chefdirigent<\/em>. His main contract covers the period 2012\u201315, and he additionally helped during the sudden gap that followed predecessor Christian Thielemann<\/a>\u2019s deeply lamented exit. It is not clear whether the 82-year-old French-born Pittsburgher would have preferred to retain the position. Anyway, recent Munich concerts led by him have lacked spark.<\/p>\n Moscow-born Gergiev, 59, is another prominent name for Munich but hardly one associated with the Beethoven-Brahms-Bruckner repertory that has defined the MPhil in its finest seasons, under Ferdinand L\u00f6we<\/a> (1908\u201314), Rudolf Kempe<\/a> (1967\u201376) and Thielemann (2004\u201311). He is not known for Mozart or Schubert and is no Mahlerian either. A 2010 Verdi Requiem at the MPhil\u2019s acoustically appalling Gasteig<\/a> home suffered from misshapen phrases and apparent under-rehearsal. Not even a 2011\u201312 Shostakovich cycle, divided between the MPhil and the Mariinsky Orchestra<\/a>, brought consistently probing and satisfactory results. But Gergiev\u2019s finger-wiggling, turn-the-page spontaneity can work wonders in coloristic music or in episodic works, or in passages laden with irony or humor. His Mussorgsky and Prokofiev are unsurpassed, his Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky much admired. The conductor is surprisingly adept, too, in certain scores by Berlioz and Wagner.<\/p>\n Gergiev will relinquish his job as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra<\/a>, it seems, near the time his new duties start, which the Abendzeitung gives as 2015. The MPhil job has an undisclosed contract length; it paid a reported \u20ac800,000 annually during the last Thielemann years.<\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Landeshauptstadt M\u00fcnchen<\/p>\n Related posts:
\nPublished: January 23, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n
\nGergiev, Munich\u2019s Mistake<\/a>
\nBerlin\u2019s Dark Horse<\/a>
\nMPhil Vacuum: Maazel Out<\/a>
\nMaazel: \u2019Twas Always Thus<\/a>
\nGergiev Undissuaded<\/a><\/p>\n