Nikolaus Harnoncourt has died

[ritter]

Not that I am a Karajan groupie by any means,  but this relative demonisation of him as regards other conductors' careers does seem unfounded to me as well. Of course,  he "held court" in Salzburg, but even there he had to a great extent to share the spotlight with other figures,  most notably with Karl Böhm. And beyond his Berlin and Salzburg (plus Vienna, for a while ) fiefdoms, I'd say his influence was close to zero, particularly in America (where the great music directors of the big orchestras all had thriving recording careers, for example). This all sounds similar to the demonisation of Boulez, who's fault we all know it was that so much good music was not performed  (or,  according to some,  was not even composed  ).

Of course, Harnoncourt was a trailblazer in many respects,  but to credit him with the blossoming of the careers of an Abbado  (who came from La Scala,  initially promoted   by Gavazzeni) or a Boulez (who's background was the Domaine and then German radio orchestras ),  appears far-fetchedIMHO.

Regards,

[Spineur]

But  this whole invidious narrative of Karajan wrecking rivals' careers just doesn't survive fact scrutiny.

I wholly disagree with you.  I lived through this period and I can tell you that even in France, Karajan influence was tremendous.  Only in the area of french and italian repertoire, people looked elsewere.  You should watch Bruno Monsaingeon "Richter, the enigma" and hear what Richter says on Karajan.

Anyway as far as Salzburg press release, here it is
http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=3ljSyoYlBPo%3d&tabid=90&mid=1132&language=en-US&forcedownload=true

[Parsifal]

What's missing in this thread is the historical perspective.  Up to 1990, the dominance of Karajan as a conductor was tremendous.  He in fact would bar the emergence of new conductors in festival as well as in recordings.  Whether you talked about Beethoven, Brahms (which he botched up in a number of occasion) and even Verdi (Requiem) he was the absolute reference and no other vision of the repertoire could be expressed.  Occasionally, one would tolerate a reference to Otto Klemperer or Wilhelm Furtwangler,  but only to say how much better Karajan was.

In the press release of the Salzburg Festival to honor the memory of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Festival direction acknowledge that Karajan prevented Harnoncourt  from directing at Salzburg Festival.

Cellist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1969, Karajan in person recruits. Yet he will do everything to block the road to the head Harnoncourt who begins to direct his baroque ensemble on period instruments, the Concentus Musicus of Vienna. Karajan certainly sensed in Harnoncourt, a serious rival - out of the question to risk it.

Ultimately it will be in 1992, three years after the death of Karajan, that Harnoncourt would lead for the first time as part of the Salzburg Festival.

No wonder that Harnoncourt felt as a spell of fresh air in orchestral direction.  He also opened the road to the Italian maestros Abbado, Mutti, as well as Boulez in his Bayreuth tenure.

Does a thread about Harnoncourt have to degenerate into a Karajan conspiracy theory thread? Of course, as the director of the Salzburg Festival from 1956 and the founder of the Salzburg Easter festival, Karajan could largely determine who would appear at the Salzburg Festivals. The same for Berlin. Other than that, he was a highly sought-after conductor due to his popularity in recordings and performances, but I don't see how that confers on him the ability to wreck people's careers. (He reportedly didn't think highly of Solti, but that didn't prevent Solti from having a successful career.) The idea that Harnoncourt opened the door for Abbado after Karajan's death is particularly preposterous, since Abbado was a Karajan protege who was invited to perform at the Salzburg festival in the 60's.

[Parsifal]

Harnoncourt was eulogized by MTV!

http://www.mtv.com/news/2750555/nikolaus-harnoncourt-was-classical-musics-punk-genius/

[Ken B]

Does a thread about Harnoncourt have to degenerate into a Karajan conspiracy theory thread? Of course, as the director of the Salzburg Festival from 1956 and the founder of the Salzburg Easter festival, Karajan could largely determine who would appear at the Salzburg Festivals. The same for Berlin. Other than that, he was a highly sought-after conductor due to his popularity in recordings and performances, but I don't see how that confers on him the ability to wreck people's careers. (He reportedly didn't think highly of Solti, but that didn't prevent Solti from having a successful career.) The idea that Harnoncourt opened the door for Abbado after Karajan's death is particularly preposterous, since Abbado was a Karajan protege who was invited to perform at the Salzburg festival in the 60's.

Little known fact: HvK was Trump's father and Hillary's too. His plan has come to fruition at last.

[Wanderer]

...as well as Boulez in his Bayreuth tenure.

The notion that Boulez's career was in any way hindered by someone else's dictatorial rule of a musical institution is deliciously ironic.

[hpowders]

I was never a Harnoncourt fan. His interpretations always seemed a bit "odd" to me.