Posts Tagged ‘Munich Philharmonic’

Five More Years

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 21, 2018 MUNICH — Putting box-office steadiness ahead of artistic achievement, the city council here voted this morning to extend by five years Valery Gergiev’s contract as Chefdirigent of the civically run Munich Philharmonic, as requested by the orchestra’s managers. The move doubles the Russian’s tenure, to encompass the seasons […]

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MPhil Bosses Want Continuity

Wednesday, January 31st, 2018

By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 31, 2018 MUNICH — Contrary to a London blog report yesterday, nothing has been “locked down” with regard to a contract extension for Valery Gergiev at the Munich Philharmonic, though things are indeed moving in that direction, for practical more than artistic reasons. What has happened is that Hans-Georg Küppers, […]

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Bruckner’s First, Twice

Sunday, September 24th, 2017

By ANDREW POWELL Published: September 24, 2017 MUNICH — He had to abandon his Munich Philharmonic cycle, a cosmic Fifth being one of its relics, but Christian Thielemann’s Dresden cycle* of the numbered Bruckner symphonies has progressed smoothly to near completion, and with video. Oddly parts of it have been filmed here at the Gasteig […]

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MPhil Asserts Bruckner Legacy

Thursday, July 6th, 2017

By ANDREW POWELL Published: July 6, 2017 MUNICH — Under the incongruous stewardship of Valery Gergiev, the Munich Philharmonic intends to stress its Bruckner credentials the next three Septembers with filmed visits to the Stiftsbasilika St Florian. There, where the composer worked and rests, just south of Linz, the MPhil will record for DVD his […]

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Flitting Thru Prokofiev

Wednesday, November 30th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: November 30, 2016 MUNICH — As fluent as Valery Gergiev is in Prokofiev, he had precious little to say with a cycle of the symphonies here this month. Fluency meant wise tempos, a feel for the boldness in the scores’ structures, a facility in cuing the two orchestras on duty. It […]

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Concert Price Check

Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: September 3, 2016 MUNICH — Visiting orchestras cost more for concertgoers. But why exactly? Several factors govern ticket prices on tours, often mitigating each other, and all have a bearing this month as three orchestras from this city hit the road: — Bavarian State Orchestra (BStO) with Kirill Petrenko, general music […]

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MPhil Launches Own Label

Monday, July 18th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: July 18, 2016 MUNICH — Late to an unprofitable game, the Munich Philharmonic on Friday announced a new recording label of its own, “MPhil,” in partnership with Warner Classics. Its purpose? To broaden the audience. Content will be sourced live, mainly from concerts at the orchestra’s Gasteig home. But archive releases […]

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Trifonov’s Rach 3 Cocktail

Wednesday, December 30th, 2015

By ANDREW POWELL Published: December 30, 2015 MUNICH — The first-movement cadenza exploded out of its context in Daniil Trifonov’s novel reading here Dec. 14 of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. This meant, among other compromises, a slight suppression of everything that preceded it, including the 130-measure development. Trifonov understated the folksy first subject and sped […]

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Maestro, 62, Outruns Players

Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

By ANDREW POWELL Published: November 22, 2015 MUNICH — At five o’clock last Sunday afternoon, Munich time, three Mariinsky Orchestras began to play. Two of them launched into Pikovaya dama and Die Zauberflöte at the Mariinsky complex in St Petersburg. The third, here at the Gasteig, opened the accompaniment to a witty Shchedrin vocalise. Such […]

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MPhil: €24,200 for Refugees

Monday, October 5th, 2015

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 5, 2015 MUNICH — Members of the Munich Philharmonic, positioned as the “orchestra of the city,” have privately raised money for work and supplies in the refugee crisis here. Together with colleagues at the Philharmonischer Chor München, their management teams, and new MPhil chief conductor Valery Gergiev, the musicians amassed […]

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