Andrew Druckenbrod at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes on his blog that Andre Previn lost his shpadoinkle in a radio interview with 90.5 Essential Public Radio. It starts out like any old generic interview — could have been a little more focused maybe — but the interviewer, Paul Guggenheim found out that Previn really hates generic questions. To his credit, Guggenheim never retaliated or lost his cool. Here’s the link for the audio.
The real zingers are at 5:22 and 6:16 and around 7:30. Previn says things like…
You ask really ridiculous questions if you don’t mind my saying so.
At the end, Previn gives a back-handed apology and blames his grumpiness on bad questions. At least he doesn’t call them “gotchas.”
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They’re all grumpy:
Subject: “Dagger Eyes” Muti they call him
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/10/chicago-symphony-orchestra-fight_n_1337089.html
I have to reply to the reply that says they are all grumpy. The musicians in the CSO tell me that not only is Muti NOT grumpy but that he’s charming, funny, respectful, and a dream to work with. One example and I can give you 20 more direct quotes (Disclaimer: I work for the CSO):
David McGill, CSO Principal Bassoon:
Maestro Muti is – and I don’t mean this to sound like I’m going to be denigrating other conductors, because there are many great conductors out there – but I think Maestro Muti is the absolute best conductor for this orchestra at this point in time, and he is a joy to work with. First of all, you wouldn’t think it to look at some of these photographs of him, because he has a very – how can I say – a severe visage, his face is angular; he has that Romanesque nose – although don’t talk to him about the Romans; he’s a Neapolitan, that’s for sure – but he has that Roman nose, and it gives him sort of an imposing quality on the posters and this sort of thing.
However, in the rehearsals, he is the funniest man; perhaps the funniest conductor I’ve ever worked for. He tells the most amusing stories; he has a chuckle that’s infectious and it sets us all at ease. But then when we snap to it to do our work there’s a change that comes over him, and we work hard and we concentrate. So he has a way of leavening the mood; sometimes it gets a little tense, he’ll stop, he’ll tell a little story. But musically he’s just absolutely unimpeachable.
He has such – how can I say it – respect for the score, and yet it’s not rigid. He doesn’t restrain himself from taking liberties now and then, but the liberties make sense, and I tell you, as a trained musician, when you learn about harmony and this sort of thing, and then you have a conductor who comes in and brings out the things that you know are in the music, you just have to sit there in awe and the level of respect you have for this man rises exponentially.
The fidelity of what he brings out, how he makes his music, is just incredible, and of course, like I said, it’s never dead. It’s never dull or pedantic. It is always alive. There’s something always moving forward, and let me tell you, he being Italian, he is concerned with the musical line, sustaining vocally. And when he sings in rehearsals – oh, if you only had recordings of him in rehearsal, when he would stop and sing us a melody – it’s absolutely beautiful, with the most perfect vibrato and great intonation, and then his solfege abilities – my goodness, he can just solfege anything that comes down the pike. Amazing.
I feel that this is the beginning of a golden era with Maestro Muti.