Kaplan article in Private Eye

[akiralx]

The UK satirical magazine Private Eye has an article on Gilbert Kaplan in its music column, written anonymously by the usual correspondent 'Lunchtime O'Boulez' (a version of the archetypal Fleet Street columnist Lunchtime O'Booze). 

It basically rehashes the recent furore about his NYPO M2 concert, though atttributes the online attacks to more than one person, rather than the one brass player's blog.  The tenet of the article is that he's a rich charlatan churning out subpar performances after making hefty donations to the relevant orchestras.  I've never heard Kaplan live or read a concert review so I'm not sure whether his concerts are well received critically, but is he only booked after opening his chequebook? 

One comment they do include, which I might write in about, is along the lines of that 'years ago he was even allowed to make a recording with the LSO, believe it or not, admittedly on the tiny Conifer label' - while not mentioning the later VPO recording, on the not-so-tiny DG label... which as I mentioned recently here, is 'bloody good'...if not a first choice - agreed?

[john haueisen]

For what it is worth, I have heard Kaplan live, and he produces good results even with less famous orchestras.   Perhaps those jealous of his justly-earned wealth are responsible for the unkind comments.
--John H

[Dave H]

I don't think it makes any difference whether Kaplan "pays to play" or not. He has no pretensions about being a major conductor; his only claim is that he knows how to conduct Mahler's Second Symphony, a task for which he has probably as much specific training as just about any other conductor around. I've also heard several of his Mahler 2 performances, and conceptually they have been very good. And if technically he doesn't always keep everyone perfectly together, he's much better at it than, say, Horenstein and several other full-time professionals I could name.

Dave H