They were never much in fond of Mahlers music as they suffered when Mahler was the excentric director of the Vienna Opera. So Mahler did not get much resonance there later during the twenties & thirties. Off course, Mahler could not be played between 1938 & 1945. But quite young Leonard Bernstein was one of the few conductors who even conducted orchestras in the "Hauptstadt der Bewegung" (capital of the movement) Munich 1947, no matter of his jewish decend & a lot of ex-nazis still around & not denazificated (put on military trial & classified according to their involvement with the nazi movement). Later he moved on to Vienna & conducted the VPO. He was not their conductor, as they do not have a special principal conductor nor a music director as an independent institution hiring their soloists & guest conductors. Even there, Bernstein found a lot of resistance still against Mahler, but hew convinced the VPO with his way to interpret Mahlers music. What kind of wonderful concerts & recordings did they make together. It was a great symbiosis between genius Leonard Bernstein & the wonderful orchestra.
One short episode: Some members had another gig & sneeked away from a rehearsal, letting a colleague do the duty instead. So Bernstein asked the orchestra president why they did so. The then president answered: "Well Maestro, all members want to participate on this production with you !!" - Bernstein: "I knew, you were all ganefs (or ganevs - should consult a yiddishj dictionary) !". He knew, all loved him. You can see that on the videos. I was so fortunate, to participate on one of their tours to the USA. That time back in November 1979 in D.C. at the JFK Center. We did some parts of Tristan, but concertante. He conducted one of the stage horn rehearsals. But when he finished, he said:"Well, Wagner mst have been a so great f...er, because he wrote so great f...ing music !" And during the Figaro intermission, where I played 1st, he came back stage to talk with Dr.Karl Boehm, who conducted. Bernstein wore a tuxedo but with a red-white-red zebra T-shirt. I was just standing nearby. L.B.:" Herr Doctor, this was the most beautiful Figaro in my whole life !" and Karl Boehm responded: "Did you notice, that I could do it without jumping !" (L.B. used to jump once a while when conducting), and lifted his left leg. ============================================================ =================================================== -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 2:50 PM To: The Horn List Subject: [Hornlist] Bernstein in Vienna Importance: High Looking for some knowledgeable comments on Lenard Bernstein and the VPO. Public TV in Dallas ran a program on Bernstein including his time as conductor of the VPO. According to the program when Bernstein tried to introduce Mahler to the VPO he met with a lot of resistance from its members and spent a lot of time convincing them it was music worthy of the VPO. Is that an accurate portrayal of the post WWII VPO? _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
