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THE MAESTRO AND THE MUTINY - GORENSTEIN THREATENS LEGAL ACTION
Moscow News, Russia
September 29, 2011 Thursday
High-flying conductor under question Mark Gorenstein is threatening
to go to the law after his orchestra forced him out.
Alexander Avdeyev, culture minister, sacked him on Thursday evening,
almost a month after the fed-up musicians of the Svetlanov orchestra
wrote an open letter calling for his head . Gorestein claims the
letter was provoked by the Culture Ministry.
The instrumentalists wrote their formal complaint after what they
said are falling standards and a hostile atmosphere. They are
calling for Russian stars turned international Valery Gergiyev or
Alexander Lazerev. Orchestra members call Gorenstein's ousting their
'Victory Day.'
To the courts
'Yes, it's true, they fired me... I spoke to Avdeyev for an hour. I
recorded the whole conversation and tomorrow I will give a press
conference, well I will take it to court, of course,' Gorenstein told
RIA Novosti soon after his dismissal on Thursday evening.
It comes after a build up of ill-will. 'I feel I am forced to give
an answer to this provocative company of people,' he told Ekho Moskvy
on air in August.
And he said that higher forces were at work to give him the boot,
'It is to the advantage of the ministry, and the musicians, they are
an instrument to this goal,' he told the radio station.
Like May 9
Be that as it may, the bulk of the orchestra is playing a jollier
tune over Gorenstein's departure, 'We are so sick of Gorenstein's
arbitrary behavior that today is like May 9, 1945 for us,' violinist
Sergei Girshenko told Interfax as Gorenstein was lamenting his fate
to RIA Novosti.
'We hope that at last we will be able to play real music and not this
amateurish solfeggio, and that we will finally cease to be humiliated
every second,' Girshenko said.
Controversial past
Gorenstein has been courting controversy for some time. He has fired
280 musicians since he arrived to take the helm of the orchestra,
foreign tours have now become rarer and many famous soloists no longer
want to play with them.
Fifty of those who fell foul of the maestro faced the sack in May,
after they expressed health concerns about going on one of the few
tours to Japan following the Fukushima nuclear fallout.
In July a video appeared of him on the web, showing him making
xenophobic comments during a Tchaikovsky Competition rehearsal about
Armenian cellist Narek Akhnazaryan. He subsequently withdrew from
the competition's program, citing health reasons.
Moscow News, Russia
September 29, 2011 Thursday
High-flying conductor under question Mark Gorenstein is threatening
to go to the law after his orchestra forced him out.
Alexander Avdeyev, culture minister, sacked him on Thursday evening,
almost a month after the fed-up musicians of the Svetlanov orchestra
wrote an open letter calling for his head . Gorestein claims the
letter was provoked by the Culture Ministry.
The instrumentalists wrote their formal complaint after what they
said are falling standards and a hostile atmosphere. They are
calling for Russian stars turned international Valery Gergiyev or
Alexander Lazerev. Orchestra members call Gorenstein's ousting their
'Victory Day.'
To the courts
'Yes, it's true, they fired me... I spoke to Avdeyev for an hour. I
recorded the whole conversation and tomorrow I will give a press
conference, well I will take it to court, of course,' Gorenstein told
RIA Novosti soon after his dismissal on Thursday evening.
It comes after a build up of ill-will. 'I feel I am forced to give
an answer to this provocative company of people,' he told Ekho Moskvy
on air in August.
And he said that higher forces were at work to give him the boot,
'It is to the advantage of the ministry, and the musicians, they are
an instrument to this goal,' he told the radio station.
Like May 9
Be that as it may, the bulk of the orchestra is playing a jollier
tune over Gorenstein's departure, 'We are so sick of Gorenstein's
arbitrary behavior that today is like May 9, 1945 for us,' violinist
Sergei Girshenko told Interfax as Gorenstein was lamenting his fate
to RIA Novosti.
'We hope that at last we will be able to play real music and not this
amateurish solfeggio, and that we will finally cease to be humiliated
every second,' Girshenko said.
Controversial past
Gorenstein has been courting controversy for some time. He has fired
280 musicians since he arrived to take the helm of the orchestra,
foreign tours have now become rarer and many famous soloists no longer
want to play with them.
Fifty of those who fell foul of the maestro faced the sack in May,
after they expressed health concerns about going on one of the few
tours to Japan following the Fukushima nuclear fallout.
In July a video appeared of him on the web, showing him making
xenophobic comments during a Tchaikovsky Competition rehearsal about
Armenian cellist Narek Akhnazaryan. He subsequently withdrew from
the competition's program, citing health reasons.