Down the years I have been mystified about the take on certain conductors.
Why did Vernon Handley never get that Knighthood he so richly deserved?
Why does the late, glorious Wyn Morris never get a mention anywhere?
How does a huge talent such as Barry Wordsworth slip by unnoticed?
Ondrej Lenard - I have too many marvellous Lenard performances to list!!
And why did this happen to Sinopoli?
From the Evening Standard 11th Feb 2004 :-
".....Twice in as many years, I have seen a music director run out of town. The first was Giuseppe Sinopoli, who arrived at the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1984, with an 80-disc Deutsche Grammophon contract and a winning smile. Intelligent and affable (he held a medical doctorate and medals in archaeology), Sinopoli was a capable opera conductor who had yet to prove himself in the unsparing light of concert sound.
The cerebral Italian spent rehearsals waffling on about the neuroses of Mahler and Schumann when all the band wanted to know was whether he wanted them to play louder or softer. The reviews were so awful that some critics refused to attend another concert and guest conductors backed off. In 1994, the orchestra dropped Sinopoli. He died, poor chap, three years ago, aged 55, while conducting Aida in Berlin.
I once suggested that the Philharmonia had split on his merits, only to receive a correction from the chairman who insisted that no more than five players ever thought he was any good. The rest put up with him for the record deal. In Sinopoli's case, the verdict of musicians and critics was pretty much unanimous. "
Why did Vernon Handley never get that Knighthood he so richly deserved?
Why does the late, glorious Wyn Morris never get a mention anywhere?
How does a huge talent such as Barry Wordsworth slip by unnoticed?
Ondrej Lenard - I have too many marvellous Lenard performances to list!!
And why did this happen to Sinopoli?
From the Evening Standard 11th Feb 2004 :-
".....Twice in as many years, I have seen a music director run out of town. The first was Giuseppe Sinopoli, who arrived at the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1984, with an 80-disc Deutsche Grammophon contract and a winning smile. Intelligent and affable (he held a medical doctorate and medals in archaeology), Sinopoli was a capable opera conductor who had yet to prove himself in the unsparing light of concert sound.
The cerebral Italian spent rehearsals waffling on about the neuroses of Mahler and Schumann when all the band wanted to know was whether he wanted them to play louder or softer. The reviews were so awful that some critics refused to attend another concert and guest conductors backed off. In 1994, the orchestra dropped Sinopoli. He died, poor chap, three years ago, aged 55, while conducting Aida in Berlin.
I once suggested that the Philharmonia had split on his merits, only to receive a correction from the chairman who insisted that no more than five players ever thought he was any good. The rest put up with him for the record deal. In Sinopoli's case, the verdict of musicians and critics was pretty much unanimous. "
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