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Masur Ushers In A New Era
| Article
# : |
19941 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1992 |
2,036 Words |
| Author
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Theodore W. Libbey, Jr.
Theodore W. Libbey, Jr., formerly the senior editor of Musical
America, contributes regularly to national publications and is
currently at work on a selective guide to classical music on
compact discs. |
Kurt Masur looks as though he could impose his will on an orchestra through sheer physical intimidation, if he wanted to. With his towering, six-foot three-inch frame, broad shoulders, chiseled forehead, and militarily close-cropped beard, the Silesian born conductor who this past season became music director of the New York Philharmonic might seem better equipped to take command of the nearest artillery battery than direct the efforts of 105 of America's finest musicians.
But over the years Masur has won the respect of the world's orchestral players the old-fashioned way--by being a solid musician in his own right. And while his massive presence on the podium radiates an unquestionable authority, his eyes have a reassuring twinkle that turns what at first seems to be a scowl into a gentle, whimsical smile. Masur speaks softly, and he carries no stick at all. In a world of conductors who confront the orchestra as if they were swordsmen and their batons little rapiers, he lets his hands do the work of a sculptor. The right one, partially clenched due to an old injury, seems to hold a baton even though it doesn't, while the left, occasionally chopping or thrusting at the air, more frequently molds and polishes the sounds that form as a piece is played. Animated by the music, Masur sometimes sways in front of the orchestra like a windblown tree. But no oak could be more firmly rooted.
Masur's roots reach deeply into the tradition of Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra, for which he has been music director since 1970. For more than two decades he had stood at the center of the musical life of one of Germany's most important cities, the same position in which Bach and Mendelssohn one stood. He has come to be seen as a dependable practitioner whose commitment, patience, and collegial way with an orchestra hark back to a different time altogether, a time when the likes of Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwangler, and Bruno Walter held the Gewandhaus music directorship.
A rarity in the busy, celebrity-dominated music machine of the present day, Masur embodies the conventional, central European notion of the conductor as Kapellmeister. While the term is used pejoratively in some circles, real musicians wear it as a badge of honor, for it denotes service both to one's art and one's community. For Masur it has meant, among other things, donning a hardhat to supervise every detail of the construction of the Neues Gewandhaus concert hall, which opened in Leipzig in 1982 to replace the magnificent structure of 1884 destroyed during World War II. In order to make certain that the new hall's sound was accurately tuned, Masur arranged for a
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