Scotland; clouds over cｌassical nusic in 2011 [音楽時評]
イギリスのスコットランドは，イギリスのほぼ北半分を占め，美しい湖水地域を含む地域ですし，北海油田で資源の少ないイギリスを潤してきました．そのお蔭もあって，最近，スコットランドのクラシック音楽界は人材に恵まれてひとつの花盛りを迎えていました．
しかしイギリスが厳しい緊縮財政を強いられる中で，スコットランドのクラシック音楽界は大きく揺れています．それを10の疑問として提起している記事に出会いました．
１．スコットランド音楽の中心的な位置を占めてきたのが the Royal Scottish National Orchestra＝RSNO だったのですが，その楽団長を務めてきた中心人物Woodsが，大西洋とアメリカ大陸を横断して，シアトル（野球でいえばマリナーズの本拠地で，イチローで有名です）の the Seattle Symphony Orchestra の楽団長に移ることが，昨年の11月に決まりました．
彼は，たいへん有能な経営者で，経営を安定させ，国際的名声を勝ち取り，定期演奏会の聴衆を増大させたのです．特に Edingburgh の聴衆増大は非常に顕著でした．
Woods は，あとに大変魅力的なポストを残したことになりますから，後任希望者には事欠かないでしょうが，本当にそのアナを埋められるかには懸念が残ります．
2．併せて指揮者Stéphane Denève が2012年に楽団を去ることを表明していますが，その後任も大きな問題です．彼のフランス風の指揮やprogramming は，楽団員には十分に受け容れられませんでしたが，聴衆には好評だったのです． その後任も問題ですが，ひとつの可能性は，かつてCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra の後任に名乗りをあげていた Osmo Vanska で，昨年のLondon Proms でも the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra を率いて大好評だった Vanska が，イギリスでもオーケストラを持ちたいと考えていることが知られており，声を掛けるだけの価値はあるでしょう．アメリカでMinnesota 管を世界トップ・クラスへ短時間で押し上げた実力は大きな魅力です．
3．スコットランドのオーケストラが財政削減に耐えられるでしょうか？ 経費削減は数百万ポンドの予算を要するオーケストラには大きな問題で，その前兆は昨年の助成金が2％から半減されたことで既に感じているところです． 同時に，Cuts are one thing, but a radical review of orchestral provision is another.で，問題はスコットランドにオーケストラはいくつが望ましいかという問題になります． イギリスにはBBC という独立した経営体と，Art Council からの助成に依存しているオーケストラがあるのですが，BBC は既に16%の予算削減を求められていますから，BBC Scotland をArt Council の傘下に譲ろうとするかもしれません．そうした再編はたいへん懸念されることです．
4．Scottish Opera．はどうなるのでしょう． Scotish Opera は既に full-time musicians を持たないのです．With the orchestra forced into part-time existence, the chorus long disbanded, and major prodctions in limited supply, there is no going back to the halcyon days of wall-to-wall opera. で収まっているのです．
5.What are the unmissable events of 2011? 既に予定されている events は是非実現したいものです．musical gold heading our way over the coming months. Scottish Opera's imminent annual get-together with the RSAMD sees a welcome resurrection of David Pountney's 1980s fairy-tale production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. the big RSNO treat comes in a spectacular season finale in May, with the coupling of On The Transmigration of Souls, John Adams' musical response to 9/11, with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Donald Runnicles, the SSO and Edinburgh Festival Chorus get together in February for a performance of Brahms' German Requiem. などはいずれも見逃せない大作です．
The SCO was to end its season in May with Sir Charles Mackerras conducting an all-Mozart programme, including the glorious unfinished Requiem. That seems all too ironic now following Mackerras's death last summer. His place will be filled by the young American conductor, James Gaffigan,
6．And what will be missing?
The SCO was to end its season in May with Sir Charles Mackerras conducting an all-Mozart programme, including the glorious unfinished Requiem. That seems all too ironic now following Mackerras's death last summer. His place will be filled by the young American conductor, James Gaffigan．
7. Any word on the new seasons?
スコットランドの新シーズンは2011年10月からなので，基本的にまだ予測困難としています．
8. Will the RSAMD change its name?
音楽学校の名称を
The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama plans to change its name in August to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. に変更することについて，賛否があり，Music が消えてしまうことに反対があるようです．
9 Can the St Magnus Festival withstand change?
new artistic director Alasdair Nicolson is a composer, so the festival's unstinting championship of new music should be in good hands.とFestival のartistic director が変わっても，作曲家が続いているので，現代曲への注力はかわらないと予測しています．
10 Will Nicola Benedetti stay solo or get hitched?
日本でも有名な若き俊才 violinist Nicola Benedetti （23歳）が広い世界ツアーを終えたのですが，彼女の新しい演奏スタイルとしてトリオが生まれており，しかもその1人は学友だった人で事実婚関係にあるようですから，今後は室内楽を主体にするのだろうか？とこの俊才の将来を懸念しています．
The Arts in 2011: on classical music
1 Who will take over at the RSNO?
Simon Woods shocked us in November with the announcement that he is leaving his post as chief executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In three months' time he heads across the Atlantic to take control of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Woods will be a hard act to follow. The former EMI record producer, who came to Scotland five years ago, has done for the RSNO what few of his immediate predecessors achieved: give the orchestra a sense of managerial stability, international artistic credibility and, most importantly, increased audiences at its regular subscription series, especially in Edinburgh where audience growth has been extraordinary.
The director of the influential Association of British Orchestras, Mark Pemberton, confirmed last month that "Woods leaves behind a very attractive vacancy" that will "attract interest from very qualified people".
Woods even seems to have instilled a smiling countenance on a bunch of musicians notorious for once visibly yawning through a piece of contemporary music. May the smiles continue in the hands of his successor, whoever he or she may be.
2 And who will be Stéphane Denève's successor?
Woods' unexpected departure leaves the lingering question mark over a possible successor to the RSNO's musical director Stéphane Denève, who intimated last year he would be departing in 2012. While Denève's uncompromising and determined personality has never been entirely popular with the players, he has wooed audiences with his French-flavoured repartee, imaginative programming and many exceptional performances. Woods is unlikely to be party to announcing a replacement, leaving that up to his successor. The feelers will already be out, of course, and as with Woods' own position, an orchestra in rude health will certainly be more attractive to worthy candidates.
So who might they approach? Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo (who made his name as Simon Rattle's successor at Birmingham's CBSO, and was in brilliant form with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at last year's Edinburgh International Festival) revealed to one interviewer recently that he is keen to get his hands again on a British orchestra. It's maybe a long shot, but there's no harm in asking.
Every arts body in Scotland is bracing itself for inevitable cuts in funding this year, not least the orchestras operating on budgets of several million, who got a taste of things to come last year when their expected two per cent increases were halved.
Cuts are one thing, but a radical review of orchestral provision is another. How much, for instance, should we read into the alarming statement to MPs last month by BBC director general Mark Thompson, who said his organisation would be willing to enter discussions about closer co-operation between the licence-funded BBC orchestras and those funded by the Arts Council? The logical implications are that the BBC – itself facing overall cuts of 16 per cent – might be open to deals that could potentially merge BBC orchestras with those that are Arts Council-funded. There's a long-standing precedent in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. And while the catalyst for Thompson's recent comments were the impending predicaments of certain English orchestras, who's to say the BBC – which funds its own Scottish orchestra – does not see the debate being equally relevant to Scotland? A frightening thought.
4 What about Scottish Opera?
Scottish Opera starts 2011 (the year before its 50th anniversary) with no full-time performing musicians in its employ. With the orchestra forced into part-time existence, the chorus long disbanded, and major productions in limited supply, there is no going back to the halcyon days of wall-to-wall opera. The debate is dead. We have what we have – balanced books and the coat radically cut to suit Scottish Opera's modest cloth. Benign though it is, the politicians are happy.
5 What are the unmissable events of 2011?
Despite difficult times, there are real nuggets of musical gold heading our way over the coming months. Scottish Opera's imminent annual get-together with the RSAMD sees a welcome resurrection of David Pountney's 1980s fairy-tale production (originally for the joint purposes of Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera) of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Watch out for such timely special effects as the instantly disappearing snow (assuming it remains in Elaine Tyler-Hall's re-direction).
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra launches straight in to a mini-series focusing on Stravinsky's ballet scores, and the big RSNO treat comes in a spectacular season finale in May, with the coupling of On The Transmigration of Souls, John Adams' musical response to 9/11, with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Donald Runnicles, the SSO and Edinburgh Festival Chorus get together in February for a performance of Brahms' German Requiem.
6 And what will be missing?
The SCO was to end its season in May with Sir Charles Mackerras conducting an all-Mozart programme, including the glorious unfinished Requiem. That seems all too ironic now following Mackerras's death last summer. His place will be filled by the young American conductor, James Gaffigan, who worked with Mackerras on last year's Glyndebourne Festival production of Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. So all is not lost.
7 Any word on the new seasons?
The problem with crystal ball gazing of the calendar year is that most concert seasons run from October, so little more than crumbs of information filter out at this early point in the year. There's interesting news from the RSNO, however, that it will feature Scottish composers, past and present, during Denève's final 2011-12 season, music by the likes of Greenock-born William Wallace. Just another sign of the orchestra's new-found confidence.
8 Will the RSAMD change its name?
The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama plans to change its name in August to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The consultation process ended last month, and doubters' views vary from "it sounds like a glorified greenhouse" to "that tells us everything and nothing about the place". Call the Academy what you will, but the only thing that really matters is the quality of its teaching. That's what attracts the best students and forges its reputation. Rebranding is an expensive exercise. Could the money be better spent?
9 Can the St Magnus Festival withstand change?
After almost two decades under the directorship of Glenys Hughes, this year's St Magnus Festival is the first under new artistic director Alasdair Nicolson. Like the founder, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Nicolson is a composer, so the festival's unstinting championship of new music should be in good hands. The SCO under Thierry Fischer feature in his inaugural line-up.
10 Will Nicola Benedetti stay solo or get hitched?
Back in October, violinist Nicola Benedetti ended her epic Fantasie Tour at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. It revealed a completely new side to her musicianship, playing in a chamber music line-up with two musical friends, including German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, a former school colleague who was later revealed as being her long-term boyfriend. Two questions worth asking: will 2011 see 23-year-old Benedetti develop her chamber music activity more (really worth considering); and – now it's out in the open - will she upstage Willy and Kate with a personal match of her own
