Word: karajan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...long, the myth that great age is required for great musicmaking has been accepted uncritically by audiences, performers and boards of directors alike. Now, with the surprising appointment of Claudio Abbado, 56, to succeed the late Herbert von Karajan at the august Berlin Philharmonic, and the even more unexpected engagement of Finland's Esa-Pekka Salonen, 31, to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic, two new generations are finally laying claim to the world's great orchestras. Coming shortly after the selection of Myung-Whun Chung, 36, to lead the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, the appointments indicate a fresh...
...deny that the choices are sound ones. Abbado is a conductor of great range, equally at home, as Karajan was, in opera and symphonic music. His repertoire, however, is wider than Karajan's largely meat-and-potatoes Central European diet. "Musical history does not end with Puccini," Abbado declared after his election by the self-governing orchestra. Salonen, whose photogenic, blond good looks are sure to be an asset in image-conscious Los Angeles, is even more adventurous. "The Salonen appointment in Los Angeles indicates an orchestra possibly trying to change the image of what an orchestra might be about...
...reason that Karajan, Karl Bohm, Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Georg Solti and the other gerontocrats who dominated the musical scene after World War II were able to last so long was that there was simply no seasoned competition: the conflict killed off a whole generation of Europeans and some Americans, from whose ranks their successors might ordinarily have emerged. Partly as a result, the repertoire stagnated as Karajan and his contemporaries grew increasingly out of touch...
...matter who gets the job in Berlin, Karajan's successor will almost certainly not be offered the life appointment that Karajan enjoyed, although the new man will be expected to maintain the Philharmonic's highly lucrative recording income -- another factor that favors Levine. The New York Philharmonic, for its part, has suffered under Mehta's indifferent performances and low appeal to record buyers. It needs a conductor with fire in the belly like Bernstein; if Billy Martin can be hired by the Yankees five times, can't Lenny come back once? Los Angeles, where the orchestra plays second fiddle...
...Karajan and Previn step down, and another spin of the musical merry-go-round begins as the usual suspects are rounded up to fill their posts in Berlin and Los Angeles...