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Uh-oh - I owe Isaac Stern an apology

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Posted on July 27, 2014 at 21:36:21
Chris from Lafayette
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 I had a gig earlier today accompanying a flutist (one of the many fine babe flute players we have in our area!) for a local competition. So I get there and they're giving out programs for this competition, and on the very first page is this full-sized photo of. . . Yefim Bronfman, the patron of the competition! (As you may remember, Bronfman was a beneficiary of Stern's favors in getting his career up and running.)

Playing the last movement of the Flute Concerto in D, Op. 283, by Carl Reinecke, my gal got first prize - I have no idea what she won, but apparently, we have Yefim Bronfman to thank for it! ;-)

 

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RE: Uh-oh - I owe Isaac Stern an apology, posted on July 28, 2014 at 06:36:51
Travis
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 Maybe a roll in the hay with Yefim.

Lucky girl!


"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok

 

RE: Uh-oh - I owe Isaac Stern an apology, posted on July 28, 2014 at 07:50:53
D Harvey
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 I saw Bronfman play the Beethoven PC3 with Detroit recently.

Not bad at all....but not sure any of this merits an apology to Stern.
dh

 

Apart from Stern ....., posted on July 28, 2014 at 08:08:12
Amphissa
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 How wonderful that a composer like Reinecke penned the winning piece. Of course, chamber music is not quite so orthodox as the concert stage, so music by composers like Reinecke and other "forgotten" composers get played more often.

It's unfortunate that most music lovers have never heard orchestral music by Reinecke (or any other neglected composers). Reinecke's output was uneven, but his 3rd Symphony, his 3rd Piano Concerto, and his Violin Concerto are all worth hearing.

I've heard Bronfman in concert several times and have some of his CDs. Stern chose a talented pianist to support. It's unfortunate that Bronfman has stuck entirely to warhorse composers his entire career.

Stern was always very supportive of classical music in Israel and was the patriarch of Jewish musicians in the U.S., including violinists Perlman, Mintz and Zucherman. But he wasn't exactly the "Godfather" of the musical "kosher nostra" that many accused him of -- he also was supportive of YoYo Ma and Cho Liang Lin. But he certainly did have some successful proteges.

I've never been especially impressed by Stern as a musician, although some of his recordings of chamber music are quite good. But I think it is true of many who achieve wealth and power, they are damned if they don't support other people and causes, and damned if they do.


"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)

 

Nobody has a problem with musicians' supporting favorites--it's the sabotage that is despicable, posted on July 28, 2014 at 08:34:16
John Marks
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 I don't know anyone who begrudges successful musicians who take opportunities to help in an entirely positive way young musicians--even when the young musician might not be as good as the old person thinks.

The problems come from two different scenarios: One, the older musician's conditioning help on sexual favors, or even emotional burdens. What young woman with a life to lead of her own wants to endure maudlin marathon phone calls from a career patron? (Not only musicians can fall into that; wealthy "angels" of both genders can too.)

Two, when the big shot musician crosses the line and decides to "help" his protégé by destroying the careers of perceived competitors. There is no shortage of evidence, over decades, that Stern was addicted to that precise behavior.

The fact that Stern helped one French cellist of Asian ethnicity who became world-famous hardly refutes the many other episodes, and I also think that Mr. Ma has such a winning personality and drive and focus that he would have ended up in the same position of eminence had Stern ignored him.

But equally true is that very few people would (IMHO) know of Mr. Ma had Stern set out to destroy him and to get managements and orchestras and presenters to refuse to engage him, and had Stern steered to work to someone else.

JM

 

Yes - I was kind of surprised that she won with the Reinecke Concerto too, posted on July 28, 2014 at 09:48:02
Chris from Lafayette
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 Although I had never played his Flute Concerto before yesterday, Reinecke is a bit of a staple composer for flute players. As I'm sure you know, he also wrote a Flute Sonata, subtitled "Ondine", that I've run into a few times previously - it's got a very showy piano part! Reinecke was probably one of those composers who was too prolific for his own good - as the Op. 283 for the Flute Concerto may indicate!

 

RE: Yes - I was kind of surprised that she won with the Reinecke Concerto too, posted on July 28, 2014 at 10:57:16
rbolaw
 I far prefer the Ondine sonata to the concerto, and I think it's a far more popular part of the flute repertoire as well. But the concerto is worthwhile too, and I'm very glad to have both. There really weren't any great masterpieces composed for the flute between Schubert's Introduction and Variations on a Theme from Die Schone Mullerin of 1824, and Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun of 1894.

One more observation on Isaac Stern: Unlike Heifetz and Milstein before him and Michael Rabin, Itzhak Perlman and many others after him, and unlike Yuja Wang whom we just discussed here at length, though he was recognized as a fine violinist in his 20s, he wasn't hyped as a Superstar Young Sensation early on. His prestige as a violinist only began to mushroom when he began to become powerful in middle age, thanks partly to marrying someone with good connections with the wealthy. Ironically, imho his playing began to slip at the same time, perhaps due to too many business meetings and parties. And other distractions.

Had he died in his 30s, like Rabin, Ossy Renardy or Ginette Neveu, today he'd be probably lauded by the connoisseurs as an underappreciated master.

 

Except in International Competitions, posted on July 28, 2014 at 12:43:06
andy evans
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 In the same day I got two broadcasts that reminded me of this. The first was a performance of Chopin's Mazurka 17/4 on my car radio which was so comprehensively awful I didn't believe it, and so I had to look it up when I got home. I found it was a past winner of an International Competition. His teacher was a well-known competition committee member.

Later an interview with Julian Lloyd-Webber the cellist where he recommended that musicians avoid international competitions because the results are rigged in favour of students of the committee members. This is something I've also heard privately from one or two competition entrants. He exempted the BBC Young Musician because it's multi-instrumentalist, which he saw as diluting the possibility of rigging the result. Sour grapes in his case - both he and Mischa Maisky were eliminated in the first round of one competition.

I know Marta Argerich resigned indignantly when Pogo was knocked out - presumably she smelled a rat.

 

We know who's to blame, posted on July 28, 2014 at 14:13:59
Amphissa
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 No doubt it was your piano part that subconsciously amazed and seduced the judges into awarding that prize to her.

Indeed, Reinecke's oeuvre made up in quantity what it lacked in quality and he is not counted among the top tier of neglected composers. Still, he was one of the great pianists of his era and his piano music is among his best work. His piano sonatas and concerto for two pianos are notable. And his 1st piano concerto in F sharp minor was in the core repertoire many years, very popular with both audiences and performers.

Today, he is better known as a pedagogue of considerable merit, with many students who were quite successful, including Grieg, Janacek, Franck, Stanford, Bruch, Albeniz, and Svendsen among many others.

BTW -- not wishing to be pedantic, I believe Reinecke's Flute Sonata was titled "Undine", inspired by Fouque's exceptionally popular fairy tale novella by that title.

For a bit of fun,try his "Kindersymphonie for piano, two violins and ‘cello with nightingale, cuckoo, toy trumpet, drum, ratchet, bell tree, glass bell and tea tray." Probably among the seminal inspirations for PDQ Bach.


"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)

 

Exactly., posted on July 28, 2014 at 16:00:39
D Harvey
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 My wife and I were both horrified by the stories about Stern recounted by so many people. Such active pursuit of all-out sabotage is unforgivable, IMO.

dh

 

Not at all unusual....., posted on July 28, 2014 at 16:12:26
D Harvey
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 ...to hear such stories. Same thing often goes for jazz competitions. It's unfortunate, but it's reality.

That's still different from showing up at a guy's gig just to wrestle away his recording contract before bows have even been taken. Or trying to get people deported. I could go on.....

dh

 

Bronfman isn't just playing warhorses, posted on July 28, 2014 at 17:55:07
pbarach
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 He's played and recorded Lindberg's Concerto #2, and he has premiered a concerto by Widmann. He got a piano gtrio by Dalbavie commissioned for him. I think his recordings of Beethoven Concertos 1-4 make them sound new, if not contemporary. He's an imaginative musician whom I like hearing in whatever he does.

 

his feet still stink, posted on July 28, 2014 at 18:37:30
Penguin
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 and he had dog breath...

Because i hear it over the interwebs.. but apologies are niceties :)


dee
;-D




True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

quote by Kurt Vonnegut

 

Amen re: contracts and deportations!, posted on July 28, 2014 at 18:45:51
John Marks
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 Rot in Hell, O excretory bodypart!

Not you, of course.

JM

 

D'oh! - "Undine" - You're right [nt] ;-), posted on July 28, 2014 at 21:53:23
Chris from Lafayette
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RE: Bronfman isn't just playing warhorses, posted on July 29, 2014 at 07:02:50
Amphissa
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Yes, you are right. He recorded Lindberg's concerto, which is not and never will be a warhorse.

I'm sure you know that was not what I was talking about.

"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)

 

Yes -- but I've seen it spelled both ways, posted on July 29, 2014 at 09:32:52
rbolaw
 The older I get, the more I seem to adopt spelling errors once I've seen them in print. ;(

 

RE: Bronfman isn't just playing warhorses, posted on July 29, 2014 at 14:51:36
pbarach
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 You wrote that you were sure I knew what you were talking about. Since what you wrote was a categorical assertion that Bronfman only played warhorses ("It's unfortunate that Bronfman has stuck entirely to warhorse composers his entire career"), my citation of two contemporary pieces that he has championed shows that "entirely" is an overgeneralization. So I GENERALLY knew what you were talking about and agree with you (e.g., a lot of Beethoven, Prok, and Rach in his repertoire), but your statement was ENTIRELY wrong.

 

RE: Bronfman isn't just playing warhorses, posted on July 30, 2014 at 08:03:56
Amphissa
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 You are ENTIRELY correct. Bronfman has indeed played a couple of modernist pieces.

I can tell that it's really important for you to inform me that Bronfman actually played a couple of modernist pieces.

I can tell that it's also really important for you to comment on my use of words and display your incredible facility with the English language. How ... hmmm ... meticulous .... you are!

If you are not a lawyer, well bless your heart, you missed your calling.

Now, I'm fixin to listen to some music that ain't warhorses. Since I've been posting on this board for more than a decade, I think most people will know what I mean by that.



"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)

 

Apparently they smell almost as bad now as when he was alive..., posted on July 30, 2014 at 11:13:27
musetap
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 ditto for the breath.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

That might be a bit strong, John., posted on July 30, 2014 at 13:46:27
rbolaw
 As I mentioned in the earlier thread, artists who work hard to bolster their own reputations often pay the price in death, when no one is as willing to champion their cause as they were themselves, and their reputations plummet lower than if they had done less self-promoting in the first place. Isaac Stern is a classic example.

At the opposition extreme is American author Herman Melville, a non-self promoter pretty much forgotten by the time of his death in 1891, but effectively championed in the 20th century, including by his own granddaughter Eleanor Melville Metcalf. Look at him now -- everyone knows about Captain Ahab and the whale. So Stern has his just punishment.

 

get your terms right, posted on July 30, 2014 at 14:06:48
pbarach
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 Amphissa wrote: "You are ENTIRELY correct. Bronfman has indeed played a couple of modernist pieces."

He's played more than a couple. "Modernism" generally refers to an artistic movement at the start of the 20th century through about 1930, which would include Debussy, Prokofiev, pre-neoclassical Stravinsky, Schoenberg and others. Not Rachmaninoff, whose style is probably best labelled as Romanticism.

Music written recently is generally called "contemporary" or can be subsumed under the label "postmodernism" (a broader time period). Bronfman has played a couple of contemporary pieces but many modernist pieces.

I'm ignoring all of the snarkiness you introduced into this discussion by insisting that somehow I knew what you were talking about.

 

Besides Melville. . . , posted on July 30, 2014 at 21:50:49
Chris from Lafayette
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 . . . there's Ernest Chausson, another member in good standing of the "non-promoters' club". My understanding is that Chausson was wealthy, and he felt that that circumstance gave him an unfair advantage over other composers. So he actually suppressed performances of his own music during his lifetime, feeling that if his works were really any good, they would somehow get rediscovered and survive after his death! (In this respect, he seems to be the opposite of our own Gordon Getty! But don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Getty is keeping companies like Pentatone afloat - and the number of Getty releases on this label doesn't seem all that bad!)

 

Plus, Chausson died young, posted on July 31, 2014 at 13:30:31
rbolaw
 which usually helps in the posthumous reputation department.

 

. . . in a bicycle accident! [nt], posted on July 31, 2014 at 16:08:26
Chris from Lafayette
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