{ready for the upbea t }
the committee, discussing all of the ways the orchestra could move forward. Es- chenbach is interested in expanding the orchestra’s roles in education and out- reach, in new media and in commercial recording, an endeavor it hasn’t under- taken since 2001. “We found that we really do share a vision,” Regni said. The orchestra will also work with a
whole new roster of stars. Mentoring has been key to Eschenbach’s art; he’s built up a long list of artists whom he has “dis- covered” or championed, and with whom he regularly performs: Fleming; the en- fant-terrible pianist Lang Lang (whose debut Eschenbach led at Ravinia); the controversial pianist and polymath Tzi- mon Barto; the star baritone Matthias Goerne (whom Eschenbach has often accompanied in lieder recitals); and the violinist Jennifer Koh. They love to work with him. “He
has the ability,” Fleming says, “to kind of know what you’re going to do before you do it.” She adds: “There’s no ego that gets in the way. He’s not competing with us. You can relax and just make music.” Axelrod describes asking him about trying new ways of performing a given piece or phrase. “His attitude,” Axelrod says, “is, ‘Why not? Of course. Where are the rules that say you cannot?’ ” Unlike many conductors, Eschen-
bach doesn’t try to mold his proteges in his own image; rather, he takes de- light in their quirks. He may even egg them on too far. “After years of playing with Christoph,” Barto says, “I would push the buttons more and more, and he would always really not censor it but accommodate it.” Eschenbach may also have encouraged the exaggerated physi- cal effusiveness of Lang Lang. “He was cultivating all of Lang Lang’s bad habits and pushing them,” says Andrew Pat- ner, a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and radio station WFMT. After Lang Lang began working with the conduc- tor-pianist Daniel Barenboim, Patner says, “That’s when he stopped swaying and moving his head and started play- ing all the notes.” Music, for Eschenbach, isn’t prescrip-
tive but individual. He’s interested in what he, and other people — composers or performers — have to communicate.
National Symphony Orchestra
Maestros through the years 1931 | Hans Kindler, the former principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, forms an orchestra of his own in Washington. Despite his shortcomings as a conductor and his difficult temperament, Kindler wins recognition for his group and makes a number of recordings.
1949 | Kindler is succeeded by Howard Mitchell, the orchestra’s principal cellist. He leads its first overseas tour (three months in Latin America) in 1959 but is more gifted as a society figure than a conductor; his tenure has been called the NSO’s artistic nadir.
1970 | In Hungarian-born Antal Doráti, the NSO gets its first internationally renowned music director. He turns the organization around after a strike at the end of Mitchell’s tenure, and molds it into a fully professional orchestra. He’s helped by a new concert hall: The Kennedy Center opens in 1971. But Dorati and the board don’t get along, and he is let go on short notice.
1977 | Mstislav Rostropovich, the world-famous Russian emigre cellist, takes over the NSO and leads what many consider its golden age. Rostropovich’s deep musicality, outsize personality and charm compensate for his technical weaknesses. Yet financial difficulties plague the orchestra — in 1986, the NSO becomes part of the Kennedy Center — and some see complacency in programming and performance.
1996 | Leonard Slatkin, an American with a taste for contemporary music, comes to the NSO hot off a successful tenure in St. Louis. He improves the level of playing and energizes the orchestra; the NSO wins a Grammy for its recording of Corigliano’s “AIDS symphony” in 1996. But Slatkin eventually draws criticism for under-preparedness.
2008 | Iván Fischer, the quirky, engaging Hungarian maestro, takes the interim position of principal conductor. His programming is often commendable, though his performances are uneven.
And onstage at Ravinia, in the glow of the lights, as he leads Fleming in the performance of “Four Last Songs,” or conducts Barto in two little-known piec- es by Schumann, he seems to be going for those elements of communication that take him beyond the routine, into something that might be truly meaning- ful, not just as music, but as life.
14 The WashingTon PosT Magazine | september 26, 2010
“I don’t have a private life,” he says.
“I’m not married. Music is my home- land, music is my family, music is my love. And it’s sufficient.”
Anne Midgette is the classical music critic for The Washington Post. She can be reached at midgettea@
washpost.com.
KINDLER PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPH BY HARVEY GEORGES/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; DORÁTI PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES KRIEGMAN, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; ROSTROPOVICH PHOTOGRAPH FROM TEATRO ALLA SCALA/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; SLATKIN PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE J. SHERMAN, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; FISCHER PHOTOGRAPH FROM PHOTOPOST, COURTESY OF LIFE PR
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