Louis Langree To Cincinnati Symphony

[THEHORN]

The Cincinnati symphony has just announced a successor to Paavo Jarvi : Frenchman Louis Langree of
the Mostly Mozart festival . According to reports, the musicians are very enthusiastic about the choice
and have reacted very favorably to his appearances as guest ocnductor .
Langree has conducted several operas at the Met recently, most notably the revival of Hamlet by
Ambroise Thomas ,which was telecast on PBS. How he will handle a wide variety of repertoire, from
Mozart and Haydn to contemporary,remains to be seen , but the choice seems auspicious .

[Werner]

It looks like a fine choice to me. We've hear Langree over the years at Mostly Mozart, which he brought to ne life when he took over from Gerald Schwartz.

His pwerformances tend to be rigorous and energetic, and over the years he'sone a large vareity of works. They should like him in in Cincinnzate. And I suppose he'll keep coming to the Met, as well as staying with Mostly Mozart.

[John F]

I'm less enthusiastic about Louis Langrée's conducting than you are, though he has certainly rebuilt the Mostly Mozart orchestra and it plays better for him than it used to. But Cincinnati has a history of hiring Metropolitan Opera conductors (Max Rudolf, Thomas Schippers), and clearly this choice makes sense to them.

With Yannick Nezet-Seguin in Philadelphia, Jacques Lacombe with the New Jersey Symphony, and Charles Dutoit serving as musical advisor here, there, and everywhere, it seems there's a spate of Francophone conductors being chosen by American orchestras. Interesting.

[Chalkperson]

Personally, I think this is a terrible decision, he could not Conduct his way out of a paper bag, even if one end was left open...

[Lance]

Louis Langrée, conductor

Time will tell, as it will for everything. The Cincinnati Orchestra has had quite a few conductors of repute, including Stokowski, Reiner, Eugene Goossens, Schippers, Susskind, and quite a few others between, before and after those mentioned. New life seems to be needed to bring these grand old American orchestra back to life. I'm not familiar with Langrée, but he seems to be liked by many people in the business of music.

[THEHORN]

Chalkie, the musicians of the orchestra obvioulsy are in total disagreement with you .
Have you ever played in an orchestra ? I have. Many,many different groups. Under who knows how many conductors,
most not superstars. Musicians can tell almost instantly if a conductor is any good .

[maestrob]

I'm in agreement that Langree is a splendid conductor for Mostly Mozart: his style is energetic yet sensitive. I'm looking forward to whatever he chooses to record. He certainly has a good ear for details, even while maintaining the flow of the music in a comfortable tempo. Good luck to him!

Chalkie: Nice to hear from you. Hope you're doing better.....

[John F]

Musicians in an orchestra doubtless have inside knowledge about a conductor's skills and knowledge. They don't necessarily know which conductor will be best for the orchestra - making them do what they need to in the way of discipline but may not want to, creating programs that both attract and challenge audiences, giving performances of the highest artistic quality, and not least, helping the orchestra's administration with community outreach and development, such as fundraising.

Louis Langree has done well in this last function, and I'm sure the Cincinnati board weighed this in his favor. The Mostly Mozart orchestra plays better than it used to under Gerard Schwarz, but nobody would mistake them for a virtuoso ensemble - that would be too much to expect of an orchestra that plays together only one month in the year. Mostly Mozart programming is put together by Langree under the direction of Lincoln Center's Jane Moss, who is very much involved; how much of the result can be credited specifically to Langree, I couldn't say. As for performances that inspire and carry us away, I wouldn't say this is Langree's strength, and I assume Chalkie's talking about this rather than Langree's technique.

[Chalkperson]

As for performances that inspire and carry us away, I wouldn't say this is Langree's strength, and I assume Chalkie's talking about this rather than Langree's technique.

I also happen to be a big fan of Paavo Jarvi's work in Cincinnati, my comment refers to the audience getting a much less interesting Conductor, unless the are just going to program recitals...

[Chalkperson]

Chalkie, the musicians of the orchestra obvioulsy are in total disagreement with you .
Have you ever played in an orchestra ? I have. Many,many different groups. Under who knows how many conductors,
most not superstars. Musicians can tell almost instantly if a conductor is any good .

Most Musicians in Orchestras disagree with my feelings regarding their choice of Conductors...