by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. How did Brahms remember to cue the horns?
. Box offices get busy, Lars Vogt leaves us at 51, Putin’s war threatens future of Russian classical music
. Almanac: visiting Cleveland to compete in the Casadesus Competition (forerunner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition)
. The European Orchestra Bowl Review: Who would win?
TODAY’S EVENTS:
At 7:00 pm in Fynes Hall at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Dr. Laurie McManus of Shenandoah University will discuss Brahms’ German Requiem, the composer’s famous setting of the Lutheran mass for the dead. The Riemenschneider Bach Institute’s unique orchestra score of the Requiem, with conducting markings in Brahms’ hand, will also be on display. The event is free.
R.I.P. PIANIST LARS VOGT, 51:
From the BBC Music Magazine
The leading pianist and conductor Lars Vogt has died at the age of 51, after being diagnosed with cancer in early 2021. The much-admired German musician had been speaking positively about his plans for the future, which included recordings and concerts. But his condition worsened suddenly over the weekend.
Vogt was open about living with his disease, sharing his experiences in various media outlets and on his Twitter feed. He had continued to perform throughout his treatment. In a recent interview for BBC Music Magazine (for our forthcoming November issue), he commented: ‘Everybody has to find their own way. Some would maybe feel they need to keep it private. But for me it was clear from the beginning that it’s part of my life now and I wanted people to be able to talk openly about it. Keeping normal contact was very important to me.’
NEWS BRIEFS:
Tickets for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra’s 22-23 season at the Maltz Performing Arts Center are now on sale. Click here for more information.
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra has announced its 13th season. Click here for information, and Cleveland Chamber Choir has announced their new season. Click here for more information. The two organizations are performing together in the fall.
Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project is now accepting applications for the 2023 RE:Sound Festival of New Music. Click here for more information.
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced their Family Concert Series. Click here to find out more.
INTERESTING READ:
Foreign Policy has published an article detailing how Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is endangering the whole tradition of Russian classical music. Relating the story of Van Cliburn’s triumph at the inaugural Tchaikovsky competition in 1958, Elisabeth Brau writes, The competition had been launched to demonstrate Soviet musical superiority, the pinnacle of the country’s extremely ambitious music education system. This ambition put Richter and the other judges in a bind when they decided that Cliburn had delivered the best performance. They nervously asked the Kremlin how to proceed and received word that it was fine to award him the top prize.
Today, such musical excellence and exchange are unthinkable. “Today, the situation is worse than during Soviet times,” [an] artist manager said. “The country isn’t just losing artists; it’s losing the entire musical exchange with the West. Today, Russia is like a hidden place. Nobody goes there, nothing comes out from there.” And the isolation is here to stay.
On tour in Europe with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Post-Gazette music critic Jeremy Reynolds imagines a head-to-head contest with two other American orchestras now strutting their stuff in concert halls across the Pond. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Cleveland — if this were a sporting event, who might end up on top? And who might end up signing Mr. Reynolds’ next paycheck?
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Stephanie Manning
Up until 1995, the Cleveland International Piano Competition was known by a different name. When pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet arrived in Cleveland in 1979, it was to participate in the Casadesus Competition. The French musician, born on this day in 1961, won Second Prize that year, and has since gone on to international success (pictured here with The Cleveland Orchestra, photo by Roger Mastroianni).
Thibaudet’s visit to Cleveland marked his first time in the United States — and the city left a lasting impression on him. In our 2018 interview, the pianist recounted a memory of telling a local taxi driver that he was a musician. “He almost stopped his cab and he turned around and said, ‘Sir, do you know that in Cleveland we have the best orchestra in the world?’ I said yes, I know.
“It was amazing to have that pride from a taxi driver,” he added. “Usually they talk about the baseball team, but he was so proud of his orchestra. And I’ve never seen that anywhere else.”
Thibaudet is a long-time collaborator with the Cleveland Orchestra — his most recent appearance was in December 2019, when he performed Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Egyptian”) with conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.
In addition to concert appearances, he also recorded multiple albums with the Orchestra in the 1990s, primarily of works by Rachmaninov. Listen to his performance of the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy here.
It was also in the 1990s when the pianist began to branch out into recording film scores. Over the years, he has contributed to movies like Pride and Prejudice (2005), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), and Atonement (2007).
The soundtrack to the latter, composed by Dario Marinelli, went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score. Listen to the album (pictured), which also features cellist Caroline Dale, on YouTube.
“The good composers of soundtracks, I admire them as much as I do classical composers. I don’t make a difference between them — a composer is a composer,” Thibaudet told the Los Angeles Times in 2012. “The movies are the opera of modern times. Had there been movies back when, Puccini and Wagner would have certainly written film scores.”