Topic: Mehta steps down from Israel Philharmonic

[André]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBzIGNHNm4k&feature=youtu.be

His laboured breathing seems to indicate his health is not of the best  .

Thank you Maestro !

[SymphonicAddict]

When rest is necessary, it's better to be prudent, and I think he's doing it well. A great conductor in my view.

[André]

The job of music director is very demanding. I wish him many more years of fruitful guest conducting.

[relm1]

I saw him a few months ago at a rehearsal and he looked very ill.  Couldn't manage to go down a step. 

[Ken B]

Mrs Mehta https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Nancy+Kovack+1965&FORM=IRIBQP

[Florestan]

Four years ago he conducted the Israel PO at the Enescu Festival. He climbed on the podium and the next moment he stumbled so badly that, were it not for the concertmaster who literally jumped up off his chair and gripped him by the arms, he'd have had a possibly catastrophic fall. The relief of the audience was almost audible. Then he went on conducting a cracking performance of Mahler's 1st as if nothing happened.

[vandermolen]

Mrs Mehta https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Nancy+Kovack+1965&FORM=IRIBQP

She played Medea in my favourite version of 'Jason and the Argonauts' (1963) although her lines were dubbed by a British actress:

[Ken B]

She played Medea in my favourite version of 'Jason and the Argonauts' (1963) although her lines were dubbed by a British actress:

Ha! I think I saw that as a kid.

[Mookalafalas]

Ha! I think I saw that as a kid.

 Me too. And I recently showed parts of it as a "breather" for a weekly 3 hour mythology course for non-native English speakers. It has aged badly, but Mrs Mehta was smokin', and not in the tobacco sense...

[vandermolen]

Me too. And I recently showed parts of it as a "breather" for a weekly 3 hour mythology course for non-native English speakers. It has aged badly, but Mrs Mehta was smokin', and not in the tobacco sense...

Oh, I still like the film very much. The acting is rather wooden but I love 'Talos' and Patrick Troughton as the blind prophet, not to mention those fighting skeletons and 'Triton'. The film is certainly incomparably better than the recent re-make.

Back on topic, Mehta's version of Franz Schmidt's 4th Symphony is my favourite version.

[Roasted Swan]

Oh, I still like the film very much. The acting is rather wooden but I love 'Talos' and Patrick Troughton as the blind prophet, not to mention those fighting skeletons and 'Triton'. The film is certainly incomparably better than the recent re-make.

Back on topic, Mehta's version of Franz Schmidt's 4th Symphony is my favourite version.

Re "Jason" - mention has to be made of the stunning Bernard Herrmann score - check out the fighting skeltons cue - and of course Ray Harryhausen's stop-frame animations.

Re Mehta - he belongs to one of that select group of musicians who was stunningly brilliant and dynamic in his youth and oddly complacent and underwhelming later on.  His early Tosca/Trovatore/Golden Girl/Turandot (of course)/Schmidt - as Vandermolen mentions - and some others are still the still the equal if not the best in the catalogue.  I wouldn't say any of his work in the last 20 years at least comes close to that level.  I remember seeing him at the Proms in 1999 - a BIG all-Strauss programme and it was just all so routine.  It was clearly just a bit too easy for him and he seemed disengaged.  Well played and competently conducted but the fire of creation was guttering low....... (and that was 4 Last Songs and the Alpine Symphony!)

[vandermolen]

Re "Jason" - mention has to be made of the stunning Bernard Herrmann score - check out the fighting skeltons cue - and of course Ray Harryhausen's stop-frame animations.

Re Mehta - he belongs to one of that select group of musicians who was stunningly brilliant and dynamic in his youth and oddly complacent and underwhelming later on.  His early Tosca/Trovatore/Golden Girl/Turandot (of course)/Schmidt - as Vandermolen mentions - and some others are still the still the equal if not the best in the catalogue.  I wouldn't say any of his work in the last 20 years at least comes close to that level.  I remember seeing him at the Proms in 1999 - a BIG all-Strauss programme and it was just all so routine.  It was clearly just a bit too easy for him and he seemed disengaged.  Well played and competently conducted but the fire of creation was guttering low....... (and that was 4 Last Songs and the Alpine Symphony!)

Oh, I have that fabulous Jason score by Bernard Herrmann on a number of CDs and I agree with your verdict on Mehta. That Decca Schmidt Symphony 4 release is the one that stands out for me and is still my favourite version.

The stop-frame animation on Jason is so much better that the computer generated stuff. I saw a young student win a History of Art presentation award delivering a presentation on the superiority of the stop-start technique in a comparative analysis of the Jason films.

[ChopinBroccoli]

Not a favorite of mine but he definitely had some really outstanding recordings along the way and he was a trailblazer too... he's been at it a long time and I wish him the best

[Ken B]

Oh, I have that fabulous Jason score by Bernard Herrmann on a number of CDs and I agree with your verdict on Mehta. That Decca Schmidt Symphony 4 release is the one that stands out for me and is still my favourite version.

The stop-frame animation on Jason is so much better that the computer generated stuff. I saw a young student win a History of Art presentation award delivering a presentation on the superiority of the stop-start technique in a comparative analysis of the Jason films.

That Schmidt 4 is what stands out for me too. Perfect.

[ChopinBroccoli]

Mehta's 1976 Alpine Symphony is every bit as good as Karajan's... different style ... Karajan's is a bit more even-keeled while Zubin goes full-throttle all the way but he pulls it off