Kurt Masur in Leipzig: A Favorite Son at Home (original) (raw)
Arts|Kurt Masur in Leipzig: A Favorite Son at Home
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/02/arts/kurt-masur-in-leipzig-a-favorite-son-at-home.html
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- Jan. 2, 1992
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January 2, 1992
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Section C, Page
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His towering frame draped in baggy brown slacks and a gray shirt opened at the collar and not tucked in, Kurt Masur raised his arms and the Gewandhaus Orchestra stirred to life as though its genial music director had never been away.
It was his third visit to Leipzig, where he remains Kapellmeister, since assuming the directorship of the New York Philharmonic in September. At the end of his 10 days here, he will have conducted Beethoven's Ninth Symphony three times, including on New Year's Eve, extending a tradition begun in December 1918 by a predecessor here, Arthur Nikisch, in the dark aftermath of World War I.
"Grossartig" -- "Great" -- he murmured, flashing a thumbs-up sign as the music faded.
Leipzig is proud of the son who made it to the new world. For his part, Mr. Masur is still the same, kibitzing with soloists, harrumphing at the choir, throwing himself into the orchestra work as though he had never left.
Since he left Leipzig in the summer a lot has changed. Leipzig is afflicted with a million problems: crushing unemployment; wrenching debate about just who did and who did not collaborate with the old communist secret police, the Stasi, youthful disaffection. While he rehearsed in the empty craggy auditorium, knots of students huddled about campfires by the Gewandhaus, protesting the closure of a radio station for young people. But the musicians who rose to welcome him appeared glad to have him back if even for only a fleeting visit.
More than anything, Mr. Masur's return to conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with its triumphal "Ode to Joy" climax seemed nothing if not an act of solidarity by a local son returning home with a much-needed message of hope.
"People are behaving maturely; hope is rising," he said, wiping his brow during a pause in the rehearsal. "Some, especially the unemployed, are in a bad situation." Those over 50, he said, were particularly hard hit, because in the primitive economy of what was East Germany, they had grown "unable to come into the computer age."
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