Mahler Fan With Baton Cues Unrest in the Ranks

NY Times ^ | 12/17/08 | DANIEL J. WAKIN

[Borges]

Gilbert E. Kaplan, a wealthy businessman with an obsession for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”), has made a name conducting the piece around the world, earning the hearty approval of orchestra managers, audiences and many critics. ..............................................

On Monday a trombonist in the orchestra, David Finlayson, laid out a sprawling indictment against Mr. Kaplan on his blog(davidfinlayson.typepad.com/fin_notes). It was an unusually public airing of complaints in a profession notorious for excoriating conductors in private.

“My colleagues and I gave what we could to this rudderless performance but the evening proved to be nothing more than a simplistic reading of a very wonderful piece of music,” he wrote. Mr. Kaplan acknowledged in rehearsal that he was incapable of keeping a steady beat, Mr. Finlayson added. Despite being a self-professed expert on the piece, Mr. Kaplan ignored Mahler’s “blizzard” of directions, Mr. Finlayson wrote.

He called Mr. Kaplan’s music career a “woefully sad farce” built on the complicity of orchestra managements and a willingness to donate money. “We can rely only on ourselves to stand firm against any attempts to promote this imposter,” Mr. Finlayson added.

[Borges]

Classical Music PING

[WayneS]

I think Mr. Finlayson should stop holding back. He needs to tell us what he REALLY thinks!

[JusPasenThru]

Sometimes you’re the slidder, and sometimes you’re the whole trombone.

[Flycatcher]

“He wasn’t able to really show much, other than being the traffic cop."

Makes you wonder what Mr. Kaplan would do with "Symphony Of A Thousand."

[Syberyenta]

“Mr. Latzky said that Mr. Kaplan had given $10,000 to $12,500 a year for the last seven or eight years to the orchestra’s annual fund but that those contributions were unrelated to his appearance.”

Uh huh.

[Unlikely Hero]

Maybe St. Anthony can teach him to say hi to the fishes when he’s sleeping with them

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Speaking trombonic truth to financial power.

[Publius]

I've heard Kaplan conduct Mahler's Second Symphony. Technically, it was all right with the notes in the right places, but musically it didn't hold together. That's not a crime because I've heard great Mahler conductors like Simon Rattle make a mess of the Second.

As a conductor, Kaplan falls into the category of a traffic director, not a musician.

[Publius]

Maybe St. Anthony can teach him to say hi to the fishes when he’s sleeping with them

LOL. That is the best "in" joke I've ever heard concerning the Mahler Second. Kudos!

[Unlikely Hero]

You’re too kind. It’s a bit of a stretch. :)

[Emperor Palpatine]

So what if he ignored some of the composer's directions?

In performing his own works Sergei Rachmaninoff often totally ignored the very directions regarding tempo, dynamics, and pedaling that he originally put into his scores. Often when one writes a piece of music, especially a large-scope one, there are some things that either just don't work as intended or can be left up to a performer's, (or in this case conductor's), discretion.

Listen to Herbert von Karajan's Wagner recordings. HvK's legendary kid-glove treatments totally ignore the dynamic and rhythmic thrusts Wagner called for. Likewise in the "Carmen" recording under Georg Solti, only in that case Solti thunders through Bizet's delicate and suave score like it was ""Die Walküre". However both approaches are valid.

Besides, if orchestral musicians didn't b*tch about the maestro du jour, they'd have to find a hobby.

[PurpleMan]

What do you call a trombonist with a beeper?
An optimist.

What’s the difference between a frog driving a car and a trombonist driving a car?
The frog may be on his way to a gig.

What kind of calender does a trombonist use for his gigs?
Year-at-a-Glance

and on, and on, and on....

[Emperor Palpatine]

Sir Thomas Beecham became a great conductor due to his inherited wealth. When a young man he wished to be a maestro, so he hired his own orchestra and worked like mad until he developed into a fine one later in his life.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Arturo Toscanini refused to conduct anything by Mahler his entire life. Once he was asked why.....Maestro Toscanini’s answer was “Oh, he was a sick boy.”

When Rachmaninoff first toured America in 1909 he played his, (then brand new), mighty Third Piano Concerto with the New York Symphony under Gustav Mahler. Rachmaninoff wrote that the care Mahler gave to the difficult orchestral accompaniment in rehearsal was astounding to him and he thought Mahler was one of the greatest conductors he had ever worked with, and he himself was no slouch as a conductor.

I would love to get into a time machine and go back to hear that performance myself. I bet they shook the rafters.

[Borges]

Or to be at the premiere of the Liszt E flat piano concerto with Berlioz conducting and the composer at the piano...

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[onedoug]

“And, oh, his pancakes....”

[Badeye]

Ooooo, music fight!

(chuckle)

[Sans-Culotte]

I held off listening to Kaplan's version of the Mahler 2 for a long time. The 2nd is one of my top 5 favorites, and I have many recordings of it, and my attitude about Kaplan was much like the snippy musician in the article. However, when I got an SACD player, I wanted an SACD version of the Mahler 2nd, and I picked up the Kaplan Vienna Philharmonic recording beacuse I'd heard it had great sonics. I have to say, I quite enjoy the recording, and it is one of my most frequently played versions. Also, the notes Kaplan provides in the booklet walk you through every part of the symphony.

Reviewer David Hurwitz at Classics Today gave the Kaplan Vienna Phil recording of the 2nd a score of 8/8 (out of 10/10 for artistic quality/sound quality). Dave had this to say about the "Kaplan controversy" in the review, and I think it is apt:

"Now let's deal with the Kaplan thing. His story is well known: a rich guy with a Mahler fixation learns the Second Symphony so that he can fulfill his dream of conducting it, buys himself an orchestra or two for this purpose, and along the way becomes a noted authority on the subject. You can still hear people sneer at Kaplan for pretending to be a "real" conductor, largely out of jealousy I suppose. The bottom line is that conductors aren't born; they are trained, just as Kaplan was, and he has as much right, experience, knowledge, and talent to play this music as anyone else. How and why he acquired his training is irrelevant; the only thing that matters is the results that he obtains."