Post by darkehmen on Jan 23, 2008 23:22:32 GMT 1
The Jan08 issue of Gramophone magazine, which is dedicated to Karajan, includes a fascinating interview with the conductor from 1967, in which he discusses the creation of the Salzburg festival, and answers a number of probing questions about his approach, including why he directs and produces his operas himself.
(In my opinion, that audio interview is the best and perhaps the only reason to get the issue of the magazine, which otherwise has some rather facile and superficial comments about the conductor.)
But anyway, this topic of Karajan's involvement with every aspect of music creation is an important one, and from what I understand, he's sometimes been criticized for doing too much, and more generally, for accruing too much "power" to himself.
Well, here's a video that I think amply illustrates why acquiring that "power" was absolutely necessary (and thank God he had it), and why today, when conductors lack such "power," the results are pretty disastrous.
It's a clip from a mid-1990s British documentary about the Royal Opera House, and it exemplifies the conflict between traditional, reverential opera productions, and the modernist approach.
It begins with a group of opera traditionalists protesting the house's staging of a modern opera that is marked by its dissonant style. Next we get a glimpse of a postmodern production of The Magic Flute (which proves to be an artistic and commercial failure).
Then, in the highlight of the clip, we see a glorious, traditional production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by Bernard Haitink, which is a bona fide triumph, and wildly popular.
The video concludes with a look at the opera house's plans to stage a ridiculous, revisionist version, bordering on self-parody, of Wagner's Ring.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkE81_26c8&fmt=18
Now, Bernard Haitink is/was a pretty significant and respected conductor in his own right. What I find especially pertinent in the clip is how you can see that Haitink is clearly repelled by the modernist pseudo-Ring that the opera house is trying to foist on him. It's clear that the public dislikes this approach too. But in the end...he's powerless to stop it.
First, Haitink has to practically beg to see the set designs. Then, the smart-allecks who created this revisionist Ring don't even deign to show up to the meeting to defend their absurd creation. And ultimately, the opera board is intent on ramming this approach down his throat, talking about "persuading" him to get on board with it.
All the time, Haitink knows that the traditional, reverent Meistersinger approach is more popular and more in tune with his own conception, but Haitink almost seems apologetic about his preference for the timeless style. "Maybe I'm too old fashioned," he says. What does what's in or out of "fashion" have to do with staging a great opera? And this, from a great conductor?
This is what happens when a musical creator doesn't have the power that Karajan had. It leaves the public at the mercy of marginal directors with weird tastes for productions that are antithetical to the spirit in which the works were created.
So compared to this kind of cultural helplessness, give me someone with Karajan's confidence in his own Romantic vision (and the power to execute it) any day...
(In my opinion, that audio interview is the best and perhaps the only reason to get the issue of the magazine, which otherwise has some rather facile and superficial comments about the conductor.)
But anyway, this topic of Karajan's involvement with every aspect of music creation is an important one, and from what I understand, he's sometimes been criticized for doing too much, and more generally, for accruing too much "power" to himself.
Well, here's a video that I think amply illustrates why acquiring that "power" was absolutely necessary (and thank God he had it), and why today, when conductors lack such "power," the results are pretty disastrous.
It's a clip from a mid-1990s British documentary about the Royal Opera House, and it exemplifies the conflict between traditional, reverential opera productions, and the modernist approach.
It begins with a group of opera traditionalists protesting the house's staging of a modern opera that is marked by its dissonant style. Next we get a glimpse of a postmodern production of The Magic Flute (which proves to be an artistic and commercial failure).
Then, in the highlight of the clip, we see a glorious, traditional production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by Bernard Haitink, which is a bona fide triumph, and wildly popular.
The video concludes with a look at the opera house's plans to stage a ridiculous, revisionist version, bordering on self-parody, of Wagner's Ring.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkE81_26c8&fmt=18
Now, Bernard Haitink is/was a pretty significant and respected conductor in his own right. What I find especially pertinent in the clip is how you can see that Haitink is clearly repelled by the modernist pseudo-Ring that the opera house is trying to foist on him. It's clear that the public dislikes this approach too. But in the end...he's powerless to stop it.
First, Haitink has to practically beg to see the set designs. Then, the smart-allecks who created this revisionist Ring don't even deign to show up to the meeting to defend their absurd creation. And ultimately, the opera board is intent on ramming this approach down his throat, talking about "persuading" him to get on board with it.
All the time, Haitink knows that the traditional, reverent Meistersinger approach is more popular and more in tune with his own conception, but Haitink almost seems apologetic about his preference for the timeless style. "Maybe I'm too old fashioned," he says. What does what's in or out of "fashion" have to do with staging a great opera? And this, from a great conductor?
This is what happens when a musical creator doesn't have the power that Karajan had. It leaves the public at the mercy of marginal directors with weird tastes for productions that are antithetical to the spirit in which the works were created.
So compared to this kind of cultural helplessness, give me someone with Karajan's confidence in his own Romantic vision (and the power to execute it) any day...