Kent Nagano

[Conchis]

I'd be interested in hearing forum members' opinions of this conductor.

He first came to my attention when he took over the Halle in the early 90s. The orchestra paid him a huge salary, despite the fact that he was little-known at the time. I always thought this Uber-Californian was a strange fit for a rainy Lancashire town but he looked great on the Halle posters.

A member of the violin section told me she found his music-making 'somewhat cold'. As I never heard him conduct the Halle, I can't comment.

Over the weekend, I heard him conduct Die Zauberflote and Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Hamburg Staatsoper. Good, if not revelatory, readings.

[Bryn]

He, his wife and sister in law are all fine musicians. My first encounter with his conducting was of Frank Zappa's works intended for orchestra. This was with the LSO. Zappa was most unhappy with the work ethic of the brass section but got on well with Kent.

I then heard Nagano conduct the Hallé in Messiaen's Un Sourire. He has a great affinity with Messiaen's music. His Eclairs sur l'au-dela with the LSO remains for me the finest I have heard. Then there are his commercial recordings of several other Messiaen works. Not sure about his standard repertoire work, however. I have not heard him in Beethoven, Mozart or Haydn, as far as I can recall.

[pastoralguy]

Didn't he drive the Hallé to near bankruptcy? In fact, iirc, there was some doubt as to whether the Orchestra could survive. If that's true, then it's not much of a legacy to leave, imho.

[Richard Barrett]

My first encounter with his conducting was of Frank Zappa's works intended for orchestra.

I saw him for the first time at that concert too. Maybe not the kid of repertoire to judge a conductor on... but his Messiaen recordings are indeed excellent I think. I didn't otherwise pay much attention to his work with the DSO Berlin, although I was living there at the time, because I don't like that orchestra very much.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Didn't he drive the Hallé to near bankruptcy? In fact, iirc, there was some doubt as to whether the Orchestra could survive. If that's true, then it's not much of a legacy to leave, imho.

Isn't it more a case that he charged his fees and the Hallé management chose to gamble inadequate funding in order to attract the "starriest" name that they could "afford" in the hope that he would attract larger audiences? If so, the blame for the resulting financial mess isn't down to Nagano; it's the fault of whoever thought they could spend money they didn't really have.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nagano's Messiaen recordings are terrific; perhaps more surprising (although I don't really know why, other than it's repertoire he's not exactly "associated" with) is his wonderful DSO coupling of Brahms #4 with the Schoenberg Orchestral Variations.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symphony-Schoenberg-Variations-Op-31/dp/B00P2U7D44

(An earlier version, costing less "Used" here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symphony-No-Schoenberg-Variations/dp/B000HXDRZA

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I didn't otherwise pay much attention to his work with the DSO Berlin, although I was living there at the time, because I don't like that orchestra very much.

Hmm ... Brahms, Schoenberg, DSO; you're going to love the recording in #6!

[edashtav]

I then heard Nagano conduct the Hallé in Messiaen's Un Sourire. He has a great affinity with Messiaen's music. His Eclairs sur l'au-dela with the LSO remains for me the finest I have heard. Then there are his commercial recordings of several other Messiaen works. Not sure about his standard repertoire work, however. I have not heard him in Beethoven, Mozart or Haydn, as far as I can recall.

I agree that he's wonderful in Messaien and Schreker. He's a little like Jurowski at the LPO: rescuing neglected works that have a strong appeal to a minority audience and frequently need extra orchestral personnel and, I presume, extra rehearsal time. Kent conquers complexity, I suspect that he's easily bored.

The Classical Iconoclast has written of a Nagano performance of Messaien's La Transfiguration:

This concert was also a reminder of just how much Messiaen has influenced conducting practice. Music like this cannot afford to be handled without precision and clarity of purpose. Muddy performance dims the light infused detail. Like so many others who worked with Messiaen (Boulez, Myun-whun Chung, Benjamin) Nagano’s conducting persona has been defined by a clear sense of how music works on its own terms. There’s no need for extraneous flashiness. It’s all in the music for those who can find it.

[vinteuil]

.

... he did good work in Lyon. I particularly like his Salomé (in French) and his Damnation de Faust.

.

[cloughie]

My recordings by him show he has not done much wrong - good on French music, particularly Ravel, his Songs of Auvergne with Dawn Upshaw and also some good Stravinsky. Not heard his more recent stuff with OSM and R St with Gothenburg SO but would be interested to know if others have tried - Has Alps added the Alp Sym to his tally?

[pastoralguy]

Isn't it more a case that he charged his fees and the Hallé management chose to gamble inadequate funding in order to attract the "starriest" name that they could "afford" in the hope that he would attract larger audiences? If so, the blame for the resulting financial mess isn't down to Nagano; it's the fault of whoever thought they could spend money they didn't really have.

Thank you for clarifying that, ferney. I had heard contemporary reports that Nagano had insisted on unaffordable repertoire that were box office poison which had caused a downward spiral of attendance. From what you write, it sounds like the Orchestr's management were unable to stand up to him and simply say NO!

I also remember reports that the Hallé had been required to sell assets in order to make ends meet.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thank you for clarifying that, ferney. I had heard contemporary reports that Nagano had insisted on unaffordable repertoire that were box office poison which had caused a downward spiral of attendance. From what you write, it sounds like the Orchestr's management were unable to stand up to him and simply say NO!

I think that this is the case, yes. (Changing attitudes in the UK to public funding of the Arts at that time didn't help, of course. Nagano's subsequent orchestral posts haven't been with any ensemble with a higher international "profile" than the Hallé's, but he's continued to programme the same sort of repertoire and demand the same sorts of fees without detriment to those orchestras' finances.)

I also remember reports that the Hallé had been required to sell assets in order to make ends meet.

Yes - it was an "ongoing story" on many editions of Music Matters many years ago (so many, it may even have still been Music Weekly at that time) that pianos and other orchestra-owned instruments had to be sold to help meet the financial deficit. A very sad period in the orchestra's history.

[Once Was 4]

Again, as in another post I have just made to this forum, there was much more to it than that. I have had colleagues, whom I trust, who worked in the Halle at that time and the stories that they tell are pretty unpleasant and reflect badly on this particular 'stick'.

But, there again, an ex (now deceased) Halle horn player once said to me "show me a conductor who is a thoroughly nice individual with absolutely no 'side' and you have shown me a bad conductor". If you can enjoy the results that they produced leave it at that. Is there anything finer than a Furtwangler performance? Was Furtwangler a fine man?

[Conchis]

Again, as in another post I have just made to this forum, there was much more to it than that. I have had colleagues, whom I trust, who worked in the Halle at that time and the stories that they tell are pretty unpleasant and reflect badly on this particular 'stick'.

But, there again, an ex (now deceased) Halle horn player once said to me "show me a conductor who is a thoroughly nice individual with absolutely no 'side' and you have shown me a bad conductor". If you can enjoy the results that they produced leave it at that. Is there anything finer than a Furtwangler performance? Was Furtwangler a fine man?

I read that, during the Nagano era, the Halle management, when budgeting for a projected concert performance of Tosca, forget to factor in singers' fees.......!

I can't comment on Nagano as a personality, but he's evidently not priced himself out of the market-place or he wouldn't still have a career.

As to Furtwangler being a fine man.....I've read that his greatest vice was his vanity and that it was this that caused him most of his problems vis a vis the Nazis (and his concerns about 'that man K' breathing down his neck). Dare I say it, this is a vice quite common in conductors?