Going back to the whole issue of the order of the middle movements, at least from this side of the pond this season, I know of only 3 USA performances of Mahler 6 this season:
1. End of September/start of October 2010, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, where he does Andante-Scherzo, per the program notes:
From looking at the New York Phil's archive, the prior performance in 2005 with Maazel also had "Scherzo-Andante". Presumably when Maazel does his cycle with the Philharmonia later this year in April, he'll also do "Andante-Scherzo" then.
2. Earlier this month in Saint Louis, with Semyon Bychkov and the Saint Louis Symphony, where there's a curious "disconnect", in that the orchestra's on-line program note says "Andante-Scherzo":
However, in the actual performance, according to the local review, Bychkov changed his mind and did "Scherzo-Andante":
The critic also has a interestingly snarky opening:
Interesting also that the prior performance by the Saint Louis orchestra was 13 years earlier almost to the day, with FWM (time for "Frankly Worse-than-Most" quips if you're inclined).
3. The San Francisco Symphony has Mahler 6 on their docket for this coming May:
I haven't actually heard their self-produced issue from the concerts in mid-September 2001, although one can but imagine what was going through their heads as they were performing the work at the time, since obviously the program was set long before September 2001.
On to much lighter and more speculative matters (since I may have unwittingly caused a mild wind-up about JB and the BBC SO), one wonders if the powers-that-be might try to persuade JB to stay for one more season, perhaps with a reduced load because of his pending new (old) post with the Czech Philharmonic, to ensure a smooth transition to the next chief conductor without a gap between podium leaders. After the 2-season gap between Slatkin and JB, I'm sure that the management don't want to repeat that kind of rudderless interregnum, even if JB leaves the orchestra in better shape than Slatkin did and the orchestra will continue to attract a strong rostrum of conductors.
From looking at the list for the 2011-2012 season, would people consider David Robertson a possible candidate? Or perhaps his soon-to-finish 6-year stint as principal guest conductor of the BBC SO might convince some people otherwise
. I've heard rumblings from an opera orchestra friend that Robertson might be starting to wear thin with the Saint Louis musicians. Of course, it would rather eerie if Robertson were to get the post, since he has Slatkin's old orchestra in Saint Louis. To add to "small world" ironies, Slatkin is taking over Robertson's old Lyon orchestra this fall. On the surface, Robertson's long experience with contemporary music with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, as well as the BBC SO, might make him a good fit.
On the 2011-2012 schedule, the Finns are well represented, with Oramo, Saraste, and Storgårds on the schedule. Going outside of that list, would Susanna Mälkki be a possible dark horse candidate? One wonders maybe if Martyn Brabbins might be a possibility, although in his whole career, I've never actually known him to hold a full chief conductorship of an orchestra. One wonders.
1. End of September/start of October 2010, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, where he does Andante-Scherzo, per the program notes:
From looking at the New York Phil's archive, the prior performance in 2005 with Maazel also had "Scherzo-Andante". Presumably when Maazel does his cycle with the Philharmonia later this year in April, he'll also do "Andante-Scherzo" then.
2. Earlier this month in Saint Louis, with Semyon Bychkov and the Saint Louis Symphony, where there's a curious "disconnect", in that the orchestra's on-line program note says "Andante-Scherzo":
However, in the actual performance, according to the local review, Bychkov changed his mind and did "Scherzo-Andante":
"Bychkov chose — after the program went to press — to revert to Mahler's original order in playing the middle movements, reversing the second (Andante moderato) and third (Scherzo: Wuchtig.)"
"It's not often that people walk into Powell Symphony Hall to find the stage dominated visually by an 8-foot-tall wooden box, with a hammer the size of a pushbroom lying atop it."
3. The San Francisco Symphony has Mahler 6 on their docket for this coming May:
I haven't actually heard their self-produced issue from the concerts in mid-September 2001, although one can but imagine what was going through their heads as they were performing the work at the time, since obviously the program was set long before September 2001.
On to much lighter and more speculative matters (since I may have unwittingly caused a mild wind-up about JB and the BBC SO), one wonders if the powers-that-be might try to persuade JB to stay for one more season, perhaps with a reduced load because of his pending new (old) post with the Czech Philharmonic, to ensure a smooth transition to the next chief conductor without a gap between podium leaders. After the 2-season gap between Slatkin and JB, I'm sure that the management don't want to repeat that kind of rudderless interregnum, even if JB leaves the orchestra in better shape than Slatkin did and the orchestra will continue to attract a strong rostrum of conductors.
From looking at the list for the 2011-2012 season, would people consider David Robertson a possible candidate? Or perhaps his soon-to-finish 6-year stint as principal guest conductor of the BBC SO might convince some people otherwise
. I've heard rumblings from an opera orchestra friend that Robertson might be starting to wear thin with the Saint Louis musicians. Of course, it would rather eerie if Robertson were to get the post, since he has Slatkin's old orchestra in Saint Louis. To add to "small world" ironies, Slatkin is taking over Robertson's old Lyon orchestra this fall. On the surface, Robertson's long experience with contemporary music with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, as well as the BBC SO, might make him a good fit. On the 2011-2012 schedule, the Finns are well represented, with Oramo, Saraste, and Storgårds on the schedule. Going outside of that list, would Susanna Mälkki be a possible dark horse candidate? One wonders maybe if Martyn Brabbins might be a possibility, although in his whole career, I've never actually known him to hold a full chief conductorship of an orchestra. One wonders.
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