John Neschling's Música Mundana

The Brazilian conductor John Neschling's new book Música Mundana is sure to make a stir when it's released next week. His dismissal from the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp) in January was highly controversial - I blogged about this story here and here. It will be interesting to see the response to this release.

Thanks once again to Carlos at the Audições Brasileiras blog for this information.

Nuts about Music in Brazil

Thanks to the brand-new, and very amazing, Gramophone Archive site, I can link to the full-text of the January 2007 article "Nuts about Music in Brazil", by Phillip Clark. With John Neschling unexpectedly gone, it's sad to read about the "swift rise of an orchestra poised to join the A-list."

Neschling is interesting, and insightful, when it comes to Villa-Lobos:

"He was a giant personality who gained tremendous power.... People have often mistaken his innovative orchestration for bad orchestration. It's like cutting thick hair; you really have to get inside to find where all the strands lead. Sometimes it's necessary to rethink his dynamics, but the soundworld is really like no other."

The Gramophone Archive really is something. Naturally, my first impulse was to search for "Villa-Lobos". The result was 1058 hits, which isn't that many when you consider that each review from 1920 to the present is included in this great resource. It's actually really close to one mention per issue: the archive opened with 1023 issues!

Did I mention it was free? Kudos to this great magazine for opening up this information to the world!

More from Osesp

I updated the last of my recent posts on the departure of John Neschling from the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp) with a new Comment, but there's enough meat in the new story to justify another post.

This story from Veja São Paulo lets us know that Yan Pascal Tortelier has replaced Neschling at the head of the orchestra (as both conductor and music director). The story talks about Tortelier's very strong resume, leading the BBC Philharmonic and as principle guest conductor in Pittsburgh.

But there are also less positive comments, including this from Le Monde's Alain Lompech:

"Neschling fez reviver obras essenciais do patrimônio musical brasileiro.... Tortelier não tem esse conhecimento, e, neste momento cultural do país, dar continuidade ao trabalho de memória é crucial."

Google-translated, that's

"Neschling was essential to revive works Brazilian musical heritage.... Tortelier has no such knowledge, and now the country's cultural, continuing the work of memory is crucial."

On the other hand, there have been very positive comments about Tortelier - including from Osesp musicians, who complained of bad treatment from Neschling. I've seen lots of stories like this about bad feelings after a conductor leaves (or a hockey player is traded), and they all seem to follow a similar pattern.

This entire controversy is probably more about live concerts in Brazil than about recordings. There is no question that Neschlings' recent recordings with Osesp for BIS are absolutely first-rate: easily the best Choros series. So it's a bit disappointing to see that

"Duas gravações de CDs de Neschling à frente da Osesp marcadas para este mês com a gravadora sueca Bis foram adiadas e ainda não têm data para acontecer." - ("Two CDs of recordings of Neschling ahead of Osesp scheduled for this month with the Swedish label Bis were postponed and not have time to happen.")

I'm not sure if that means that upcoming recordings for BIS were cancelled, or if the upcoming release of previously recorded discs was postponed. I'm hoping for the latter. There are plenty of under-recorded orchestral gems out there that need the full BIS-Neschling-Osesp treatment.

John Neschling's Departure

There's more fall-out from the announcement of John Neschling's departure from the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp). French critic Alain Lompech from Le Monde provides an absolute rave review of Neschling's legacy as conductor and (especially) as music director in São Paulo, comparing his orchestral development to that of George Szell in Cleveland and Simon Rattle in Birmingham. He concludes:

Daqui a 20 anos, daqui a 50 anos, o nome de John Neschling será conhecido como o de um músico que realizou um trabalho excepcional no Brasil, o mais excepcional desde Villa-Lobos.

If I understand this correctly, Lompech guesses that in the future when one thinks of musical development in Brazil, Neschling's name will come only after Villa-Lobos's. That is high praise indeed!

Changes at Osesp

This somewhat puzzling news comes from Brazil: John Neschling is leaving his post as artistic director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp). Neschling has been one of the top Villa-Lobos stars on CD in the past few years, especially with his complete Choros series on BIS. Orchestra politics, as always, are a mystery to me. Let's hope, though, that the orchestra's future is as positive as its last 12 years has been under Neschling's leadership.

If you're in São Paulo later this year, check out Neschling & Osesp's performances of the rarely performed Choros #09.