The Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Were Paid Per Concert and There Was No Wa Originally Founded in 1902, When an Question of a Permanent Contract
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SlJecicd issue /,0'1' tlte tllird lJnited States CO'llCeJ't tour' of tlw Stocldwlnl PlliUlar'monic Or'cllestr'cI u'Jlde,' the rna'Jlageme'Jlt of Cohuubia Artists if'a'llagetnent ~ l'Ilc. ~ New J'OJ'/~~ N.J'. Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra United States tour November 14-December 7,1975 Under the gracious patronage of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf. Konsertnytt (Concert News) is the official publication of the Stockholm Concert Association, published bi-weekly throughout the seasen. Editor: Hans Ekhedell. Address: Konserthuset, Hotorget 8, S-I11 57 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel. 08-22 1800. Association" and was himself the con ductor. Early activities were on a mode rate scale and the concerts took place in The Stockholm the old building of the Royal Music Academy. Already from the start, there Philharmonic wa the emphasis on "good art for the broad masses", which was to be re-ini Orchestra terated in the founding regulation of the Concert Hall 24 years later. The musicians The Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra were paid per concert and there was no wa originally founded in 1902, when an question of a permanent contract. Small invitation signed by Wilhelm Stenhammar grants were given by the City of Stock and other Swedish composers was ent holm but despite that, the fi nancial situa out, soliciting participation in an associa tion wa very poor, and in 1909 the board tion with the ta k of making available a found it impossible to continue the con great um of money for regular orche tral cert . concerts in tockholm. The primus motor Later on, tbe Concert Association was in tbe work wa Tor Aulin. Two year unexpectedly able to take over a hall with carlier he had founded what wa then 1800 seats. The former king, Gustav VI called the "Mu ikforeningen Orke ter " Adolf, then Crown Prince, became Ho I. e. the Orchestra of the Mu ician ' norary Chairman. Thanks to grants from ~..., s::! 'l.l ;:. ..., -'l.l ~ -t:..., C ~ ~ <:::; s::: ~ (.J ' . .....c C -t: <::), <;; ;:. c \j 3 the public and tbe City Council, it was DOl'ati. The orche tra bas also made con pos ible to create a new orche tra of 60 cert tours to West and East Germany, members, and in January 1914, the fir t France, Au tria, Czecho-Slovakia and concert was given in a series which ha Great Britain as well as the Scandinavian since continued without interruption. countries. The orchestra's first prominent con o presentation of the Stockholm Phil ductor-in-chief was Georg Schneevoigt, harmonic, however brief, is complete who began in 1915 and remained until without a mention of the several cham 1924. It became pos ible to engage pro ber music en embles which have been minent foreign guest arti t; Richard formed by orche tra members. Many of Strau ,Max Fiedler and Arthur Nikisch these ensembles have toured extensively, were among the visiting conductors and at home and abroad, have recorded gra the oloi t included Adolf Bu ch, Serge mophone records, a nd give numerous Rachmaninoff and Arthur Schnabel. concerts, under the sponsorship of the After the first successful period new Concert Association as well as other spon- difficultie arose, but the completion of ors. the Concert Hall in 1926, which provided Among the e ensemble are th e Stock the orchestra with a home of its own, olv holm Philharmonic Wind Quintet (who ed many problems. The orchestra wa will give a concert together with the pia lucky enough to engage Vaclav Talich a nist Viktoria Po tnikova in Chicago on conductor-in-chief, a post which he oc ovember 22nd), the Stockholm Phil cupied for ten year. He wa followed by harmonic Bras Ensemble, the Stock Fritz Bu ch, who, however, only tayed holm Chamber Soloists and the Crafoord until 1940. After bim came Carl Garaguly Quartet. until 1953. Two year later Han Schmidt Of the several LP records which the I er tedt took over for a decade. In 1966, Stockholm Philharmonic has recorded - Antal Dorati became the orchestra's con many featuring Swedish mu ic - three ductor-in-chief, succeeded in 1974 by have been released on the U.S. market; Gennady Roshdestvensky. on these three records, the Orchestra i In 1971, the Concert Hall wa closed conducted by Antal Dorati. for rebuilding and the reinauguration took Available on the U.S. market is a re place in January 1973, when the Stock cording of Sibelius' Second Symphony holm Phllharmonic, conducted by Antal (RCA VICS 1318), a record featuring mu- Dorati, perfQrmed Mahler's 8th Sym ic by Swedish composers Karl-Birger phony. Blomdahl, Hilding Ro enberg and Franz During the year, the orche tra ha Berwald - the latter is repre ented by made several tours abroad. The orchestras his Sinfonie Capricieuse (RCA VICS first visit to the United States took place 1319), and a recording of Allan Petters in 1968, and it was followed by another son' Seventh Symphony (London CS tour in 1970, both conducted by Antal 6740). 4 der his father, Nikolaj Anosov, and piano with Lev Oborin. In recent years, Rosh destvensky the pianist has given only few Gennady public concerts, and most of these have been together with hi pianist wife, Vik Roshdestvensky toria Postnikova. Already in his 20's, Roshdestven ky began hi career as con ductor at the Bolshoi Theatre, and in 1963 The new conductor-in-chief of the Stock he became conductor-in-chief and artistic holm Philharmonic is Gennady Ro h director of this famous institution. A destvensky, widely considered to be the couple of years ago he left this position in foremost Soviet conductor today. One order to devote himself to a growing num may safely assume that the Orchestra's ber of other engagements. artistic development wi ll continue under In 1961 he became conductor-in-chief his leadership. In pite of the fact that he of the large ymphony orchestra of the is only a li ttle over 40 year old, thi un Moscow Radio, which he left about a year obtrusive musical genius ha had an im ago. He is professor of conducting at his pre ive career. At the conservatory in old conservatory, he tours abroad fre Mo cow he has studied coducting un- quently and is much in demand to conduct Viktoria Postnikova and G ennady Roshdestvensky 5 gramophone recordings. As late as No bon in 1968 and two years later the third vember 1973, Ro hde tven ky conducted price at the Tchaikovsky competition in the Leningrad Philharmonic in the United Moscow. Miss Postnikova ha recorded States, and was invited to open the 1974 sonatas by Skrjabin, Mozart and Chopin fa ll season with the Chicago Symphony. and three of Mozart's piano concertos He ha al 0 conducted the Cleveland and other record. She ha already made Symphony Orchestra and has toured in a number of appearances abroad in the United States also with the Bolshoi Europe, Canada, Japan and the United Theatre and the London Symphony Or State , where she ha s given concerts in chestra. New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Washing Gennady Roshdestvensky appeared ton and other citie . She has performed with the Stockholm Philharmonic, as together with the Stockholm Philharmonic gue t conductor, for the fir t time in the already a number of times, mostly to fa ll of 1972 and this first meeting was so gether with her hu band Gennady Rosh successful in every respect that the Con destven kyo cert A sociation immediately initiated ne gotiations to have Roshdestvensky as the next conductor-in-chief of the Stockholm Leo Berlin Philharmonic. The negotiations reached Leo Berlin, Concert Master of the the highe t governmental level , and in Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, was Augu t, 1973, the Concert Association born in 1927. He studied at the Royal wa happy to announce that they had Concervatory of Mu ic in Stockholm, for been brought to a successful conclu ion. Georg Kulenkampff in Switzerland and 1 His present contract runs for 3 / 2 years. later on as a stipendiary of the Sweden It may be safely assumed that this period America Foundation for Henri Temianka will be one of further artistic development in the United States in 1951. For a num for the Orchestra, and that it will offer ber of years he played in the Radio Sym opportunities for successful tours abroad. phony Orchestra and became Concert Ma ter of the Stockholm Philharmonic in Viktoria Postnikova 1962. He regularely appears as a so li st and The pianist Yiktoria Postnikova ·started has toured in many countries. In 1972 he her music career already as a child in a gave a number of recitals at the Carlson Russian school for musically gifte.d Fe tival in Los Angele together with the children. She later continued her stu well-known Swedish piani t Greta Erik dies at the Conservatory for Jacob Flier. son. Leo Berlin is also a prominent cham Yiktoria Postnikova has participated in a ber musician and was for many years the number of international piano competi leader of the Stockholm Philharmonic tions and has won the first price in Lis- Chamber Orche tm. 6 by the Internal Revenue Service as a cha ritable organization. Individuals were in vited to serve on this board representing Friends of the industry, foundations, banking, academia, professions and persons active in Ameri Stockholm can-Swedish organizations. Mr. Roland A. Erickson, former Exe Philharmonic, Inc. cutive Vice President of General Foods Corp. and now a financial consultant of Greenwich, Conn., was elected Chairman. Early in the planning process of a third Dr.