Rachel Lee:

>I have not heard Franz Wesler-Moest in concert and am aware of some
>derision of his work, what are the current opinions of his ability to be a
>major conductor?

I confess I don't understand them.  As far as I'm concerned, he's a major
conductor right now, surely better than any number of people who make
more money in prominent venues.  I have heard exactly one weak CD (Catulli
Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite on EMI), made when he was incredibly young,
and the fault lies with the performers, not with him.  I've heard him live
twice, once with the Cleveland Orchestra, once with the NY Phil.  The NY
Phil concert (I think in the late morning - schoolchildren and seniors and
me and my wife) featured the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1, Kancheli
Symphony No. 3, and the Sibelius Symphony No. 2.  The concert represented
my first exposure to this conductor, although I had heard the joke
("Frankly Worse-than-Most"), so if anything, my expectations weren't
particularly high.

The concert blew me away, even though 2/3ds of the pieces don't normally
excite me.  I've never heard NY sound either so focussed or so warm.  The
Saint-Saens was filled with nervous energy, without over-inflating it.  The
Kancheli - my first hearing - actually made sense.  The Sibelius received
simply its best performance I've heard, live or recorded, full, glorious,
everything you expect to hear from Scandinavian music (unless, of course,
Finland isn't in Scandinavia).

The Cleveland Orchestra program featured the Mozart Masonic Funeral
Music (not a favorite), the Mozart Requiem (a favorite), and Messiaen's
L'Ascension.  The unusual lineup of pieces was probably due to the fact
that the original program had changed from Schmidt's Buch mit sieben
Siegeln.  Having heard the work in the meantime, I can well believe the
orchestra and chorus didn't have time to prepare it.  L'Ascension was a bit
scrappy, due to clams from the brass, particularly first trumpet Michael
Sachs.  An off-night? The Masonic Funeral Music, as I say, leaves me mostly
cold anyway, but I can say that Welser-Moest shaped the piece beautifully,
with the plainchant coming in at the end like the song of one of those
Austrian wedding-cake putti.  There's a roccoco quality to the music that
fits the contemporary cathedral architecture.  For me, it's a bit too
sweet.  Others will disagree.  The Requiem was its usual wonderful self.

The outstanding features of WM's conducting to me are first, his strong
sense of architecture.  Listen to his mind-blowing recording of Schmidt's
Seven Seals, an incredibly complex work, both in its individual sections
and in its overall design.  It's one of those pieces, like the German
Requiem, that could bog down at any point in performance.  Under WM, it
becomes a dramatic tale, driving to the end.  He accomplishes this by a
rare mastery of crescendo and diminuendo (loudening and softening), and
he never seems to run out of room at either end of the dynamic range.
Furthermore, his line is, I think, the finest, most beautifully shaded I've
heard since Szell, although I perceive Schmidt as "warmer." He can sustain
any tempo, although he doesn't often show off, nor does he mistake pokey
for profound.

Of the CDs I've heard, I recommend his Korngold and especially the Book
with Seven Seals, by me a major event of recorded music, both on EMI.
I intend to give both CDs a fuller review - raves, incidentally - but
I probably won't get to it for months, if not years.

Steve Schwartz