In Saturday’s (11/26) Gazette (Montreal), Arthur Kaptainis writes, “The week just ending might go down in Montreal musical history for what did not happen, as well as what did. Kent Nagano did turn 60 on Tuesday. And the [Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal] did not take any measures to mark the occasion. This is tantamount, of course, to saying that Nagano himself was not interested in a celebration. … Of course, hitting 60 does not carry the same significance on the podium as it does in other walks of life. For most people it represents the onset of autumn and a cue to start thinking about retirement. For a conductor it is virtually a bar mitzvah, a coming of age, the threshold at which a maestro can be considered musically mature. … But the subject is Nagano, an unusual case inasmuch as his peculiar mystique incorporates a chameleon-like capacity to seem young and experienced (not to mention Western and Eastern) at once. … His artistic trajectory also is unique. After a long career of performing and recording just about everything but Beethoven, he has applied himself to that master with a singular devotion, and remade his orchestra, formerly famous for Stravinsky and Ravel, accordingly.”
Posted November 28, 2011
