Alex Ross on Ludovic Morlot
July 4th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Alex Ross’s take is here. Like Ross, I have a lot of optimism for what Morlot can achieve in Seattle.
Ross describes Schwartz’s tenure in Seattle as ‘uneven’, which I think is a fitting description. It was a recording Schwartz made with the Seattle Symphony that brought me back to classical music, and started me dreaming about life in the Pacific Northwest. I also have recordings of Schwartz leading the orchestra through a blistering rendition of Shostakovich’s tone poem October, and a pretty fair interpretation of Mahler’s Symphony no. 8.
Gerard Schwartz brought a lot to the Seattle Symphony, but his programming during my time in Seattle lacked daring, and his interpretations lacked panache. I still hold Schwartz in high regard as an artist, but bear in mind that his tenure in Seattle seems to have lasted a bit too long.
