State-funding cuts mean Germany is to lose an orchestra. Should we care? Yes. This is why
Germany. Land of fully-functioning decentralised government, of gleaming, speed-unrestricted autobahns, and similarly unrestricted appetite, love, and state funding for the richest, most diverse, most respected, and arguably greatest orchestral culture in the world. Well: yes and no - the state money has been slowly but surely drying up in recent decades, and 36 orchestras have been dissolved over the last 20 years. That still leaves Germany in an astonishingly favourable situation relative to most other European countries (with the possible exception of Finland), but there's been no more significant loss than the one that's on the horizon in 2016, when the SWR Symphony Orchestra, based in Freiburg and Baden-Baden, is merging with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, thanks to a combination of budgetary cuts at the radio organisation that pays for both of them and what musicians in Germany call the "cultural barbarity" of the radio bosses.
To sort out potential confusion: currently, you've got two distinct symphony orchestras, with different responsibilities, playing cultures, and specialisms, both paid for by Südwestrundfunk, the public broadcaster for Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. That might sound like an embarrassment of riches, but it's not in reality if you think that the radio station covers a population of nearly 15 million, and the orchestras have radically different identities. They're both among the most adventurous in Germany: from the start and its formation in 1946, SWR is one of the most compelling advocates for new orchestral music, a tradition that continued with Michael Gielen and with the present incumbent, François-Xavier Roth. The Stuttgart Radio, on the other hand, handles more conventional repertoire, but in the hands of such conductors as Sergiu Celibidache and Roger Norrington, often in radical interpretations. Norrington had the Stuttgart players at his disposal until 2011 as a showcase for his (almost) no-vibrato crusade in repertoire that stretched well into the 20th century, and their recordings of Bruckner, Elgar, Mahler, and Wagner have a revelatory impact.
But the head of the Südwestrundfunk decided that the orchestras should merge. It's a cost-saving measure that seems to fly in the face of the cultural and educational remit of the radio company in its charter with the federal company - at least, that's what Michael Gielen and 160 conductorial signaturies contended in an open letter to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 13 November. The head of the SWR's response isn't hopeful for those who want to keep both orchestras alive - 'in 2016, yes Germany will have one fewer orchestra. but: we will have, in the new SWR Symphony Orchestra, another orchestra in Germany whose future is assured' - and the question now is what impact the intervention of the conductors and their letters can have. But this is cause that needs supporting: the loss of either orchestra means the end of at least one of the most forward-thinking orchestral ensembles - whether it's the current SWR's commitment to the new, or the Stuttgart Radio's commitment to rethinking the classics - anywhere in the world. Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.
Germany. Land of fully-functioning decentralised government, of gleaming, speed-unrestricted autobahns, and similarly unrestricted appetite, love, and state funding for the richest, most diverse, most respected, and arguably greatest orchestral culture in the world. Well: yes and no - the state money has been slowly but surely drying up in recent decades, and 36 orchestras have been dissolved over the last 20 years. That still leaves Germany in an astonishingly favourable situation relative to most other European countries (with the possible exception of Finland), but there's been no more significant loss than the one that's on the horizon in 2016, when the SWR Symphony Orchestra, based in Freiburg and Baden-Baden, is merging with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, thanks to a combination of budgetary cuts at the radio organisation that pays for both of them and what musicians in Germany call the "cultural barbarity" of the radio bosses.
To sort out potential confusion: currently, you've got two distinct symphony orchestras, with different responsibilities, playing cultures, and specialisms, both paid for by Südwestrundfunk, the public broadcaster for Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. That might sound like an embarrassment of riches, but it's not in reality if you think that the radio station covers a population of nearly 15 million, and the orchestras have radically different identities. They're both among the most adventurous in Germany: from the start and its formation in 1946, SWR is one of the most compelling advocates for new orchestral music, a tradition that continued with Michael Gielen and with the present incumbent, François-Xavier Roth. The Stuttgart Radio, on the other hand, handles more conventional repertoire, but in the hands of such conductors as Sergiu Celibidache and Roger Norrington, often in radical interpretations. Norrington had the Stuttgart players at his disposal until 2011 as a showcase for his (almost) no-vibrato crusade in repertoire that stretched well into the 20th century, and their recordings of Bruckner, Elgar, Mahler, and Wagner have a revelatory impact.
But the head of the Südwestrundfunk decided that the orchestras should merge. It's a cost-saving measure that seems to fly in the face of the cultural and educational remit of the radio company in its charter with the federal company - at least, that's what Michael Gielen and 160 conductorial signaturies contended in an open letter to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 13 November. The head of the SWR's response isn't hopeful for those who want to keep both orchestras alive - 'in 2016, yes Germany will have one fewer orchestra. but: we will have, in the new SWR Symphony Orchestra, another orchestra in Germany whose future is assured' - and the question now is what impact the intervention of the conductors and their letters can have. But this is cause that needs supporting: the loss of either orchestra means the end of at least one of the most forward-thinking orchestral ensembles - whether it's the current SWR's commitment to the new, or the Stuttgart Radio's commitment to rethinking the classics - anywhere in the world. Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.