Jaap van Zweden new New York Philharmonic MD

[ChrisH]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-taps-jaap-van-zweden-as-its-next-maestro.html?_r=0

[barry guerrero]

He's in for a rough ride. After having such genial conductors as Masur, Maazel and Alan Gilbert, the NYPO isn't likely to take too kindly to someone so intense when they're having to move about town until Lincoln Center gets its second makeover. Frankly, I was wishing that Muti would leave and van Zweden would get Chicago. Anyway, I hope I'm wrong about this.

[ChrisH]

I'm not really sure how much Gilbert was loved by the orchestra. Pretty divisive is what I have heard from some old high school friends who are heavily involved in music making at Lincoln Center. 

Hopefully they can also figure out the first trumpet situation. Legendary shoes to fill.

[AZContrabassoon]

I've been following these developments in NY. From my perspective, it comes down to this: who the heck is out there these days? There are a lot, and I mean a large amount, of conductors out there who have phenomenal skills with a baton. But let's face it: the Golden Age of Conductors is over and has been for some time. For me, the death of Solti was the end. Since then, it's just been downhill. Go back a generation or two and think of the great maestros working. In the US alone we had Munch, Monteux, Szell, Ormandy, Reiner, Bernstein, Steinberg, Paray, Dorati, and many more. Ok, so maybe Jaap can't measure up to that lofty standard. Who can, who's available and under age 80? So -- we must take a risk on younger conductors and hope that they blossom into something resembling the great conductors of yesteryear. I'm not sure they ever can. Those great conductors grew up in a mostly European system that is long gone. You know, spending years in the opera house, learning the craft from a master. And I'm not sure it even matters. There are a lot of minor conductors who make absolutely splendid recordings. The lineup on CPO is quite comforting. And yet, as one who has heard, live, many of the great conductors of the latter half of the 20th century, when they are on top of their game, they do bring something amazing and special to a concert. I do fear though that there are too many conductors who have been promoted to positions that they really aren't qualified for. Conducting is more than just waving a stick and there are a lot of frauds out there whose depth of knowledge about music is frightening. But heck, if they're cute enough and young enough - what the heck, give them the job!

[barry guerrero]

As Mahler HIMSELF said in an interview in N.Y. in 1909 or '10, "a conductor is little more than a necessary evil".

 

[akiralx]

He's in for a rough ride. After having such genial conductors as Masur, Maazel and Alan Gilbert, the NYPO isn't likely to take too kindly to someone so intense when they're having to move about town until Lincoln Center gets its second makeover. Frankly, I was wishing that Muti would leave and van Zweden would get Chicago. Anyway, I hope I'm wrong about this.

I agree. I think he is in for a rough time, but was Maazel really genial?

[Ben]

He's in for a rough ride. After having such genial conductors as Masur, Maazel and Alan Gilbert, the NYPO isn't likely to take too kindly to someone so intense when they're having to move about town until Lincoln Center gets its second makeover. Frankly, I was wishing that Muti would leave and van Zweden would get Chicago. Anyway, I hope I'm wrong about this.

I agree. I think he is in for a rough time, but was Maazel really genial?

Genial in the sense that he, and the others, weren't monsters to play under. From most accounts, Maazel was a fairly cool, detached character. I don't know too much about what Masur's temperament was like. Always seemed a bit stodgy, like many of his recordings.

The NYPO has had an interesting string of music directors, really dating to Mehta. None of them, to me personally, has ever seemed like the right fit. That orchestra, and having it fit in in the arts/culture scene in NYC, seems to be the most difficult to manage in the U.S. Others might feel differently.

[barry guerrero]

In his later years, yes. Orchestras loved Maazel because he was so thoroughly prepared for every work and his beat was so clear. He had photographic memory and perfect pitch. In short, he had the tools for the job.