Hands off my Wiener Simon, hints Welser-Most

Straight-talking Franz Welser-Möst has been talking straight again.

Asked by Wien.ORF.at who he'd like to see conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker's New Year concert, frank Franz tells them instead who shouldn't.

Simon Rattle is "fantastische" but, one infers, not quite Austrian enough. As Franz puts it, Sir Simon  - whose numerous crimes against fashion have yet to incorporate lederhosen - doesn't know how to connect with this sort of music, and said as much to Welser-Möst. 

Franz concludes "Not everyone can do everything, that's how it is." 

Comments

[Emil Archambault]

Well, in all modesty, I am Austrian enough to conduct this concert twice in 3 years, says Franz...

[Giochini]

So, Sir Simon is “not quite Austrian enough”? I'd take that as a compliment, honest.

[Devil's Trill]

FW-M can keep the New Year's Day snorefest. I'm sure Rattle's got better things to do.

[Rannaldini]

Well that's rich coming from "Frankly Worst-than-most."

I went to his new years day concert in 2011 and he was RUBBISH. Somehow he's managed to persuade them he can do it again in 2013! He couldn't conduct his way out of a brown paper bag. Useless. (D'ya think I made my point strongly enough?! USELESS!

[Zwölftöner]

Ah, Franzi and other conductors. And it’s not so much what he says but the strange way he goes about saying it, as you point out. Like when Thielemann conducted the Ring in Vienna recently. In public it was all ‘bussi-bussi’ and (from W-M) ‘you know that I invited him, don’t you?’ But then there were odd things, like that in a November profile of Thielemann in the Wiener Staatsoper’s in-house mag, mentions of his past Staatsoper achievements were followed by bracketed comments saying what W-M had done there at the same time (most noticeably in the first sentence). There were strange things I saw elsewhere as well, indeed my Ring-going companion and I had great fun playing Thielemann/W-M bingo during that fortnight. And now I know the real reason for why there will be no release of that Ring it makes W-M’s claims of admiration even less plausible. Weird guy.

[andtyranny]

this guy

[Manou]

If only Rannaldini would get off the fence and tell us what he really thinks of FWM...

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Haha Manou! But seriously - last year's NYD concert from Wien was possibly the most boring in living memory with the possible exception of Ozawa's. Has Franzi even got a sense of humour? Whatever Rattle's failings, he is one of the wittiest mainstream Haydn conductors around right now and I'm pretty sure he'd bring a bit more toe-tapping zing to J Strauss II et al than stodgy Welser-Moest who is the musical equivalent of a Leberknoedel.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Is that big pink wrinkly thing underneath the lectern Franz's "Wiener"?

[Magicflute]

http://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2515865/

The link for the complete interview. I don´t think that is what he meant and comments should not be taken out of their context.

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Intermezzo replies - thanks for that, but the link is already in the post (in the first sentence).

[Zwölftöner]

The musical equivalent of a Leberknoedel, lol. But his conducting isn't stodgy; in fact that's one thing he tends to avoid. And he's capable of getting exciting playing from Cleveland and the Wiener Phil, that much I've observed. The problem is that his ideas about the music are often either not so thought-out or unsatisfying to begin with. You never get that sense of him hearing a piece in one breath and things can often seem micro-managed.

[DESR]

Is this why Christian Thielemann still hasn't been invited to conduct the New Year's Concert also? A bizarre omission.

[dobardan]

Re Rannaldini's and N. Vogel's impressions of last year's NY-concert - it's funny that for me the exact opposite was true.
This year reviews of the concert with Mariss Jansons were almost hymnic (the colours, the emotions, the exhilaration, …) but for me the concert fell completely flat. Like every year I was looking forward to it, determined to enjoy it ;-) but I ended up washing dishes in-between, checking my e-mails and reading a book while listening. It just didn't touch me. Last year, when many others said it was „boring“, I was captivated and glued to the TV … so … that's individual taste and approach to music for you, isn't it?
That's why I don't like absolute evaluations like „he/she IS rubbish“ or „he/she IS the epitome of perfection“ in something as elusive as music.
Ok, thanks for reading, 'm hopping down from my soap-box now ;-)