Franz Welser-Most
Monday 3 September 2007 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Norman Lebrecht talks to Franz Welser-Most. Described by Lebrecht as the leader of the next conducting generation, the one behind Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen, he's music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and incoming chief of the Vienna State Opera. He talks revealingly about his life and music. He left home in his early teens and was adopted by a wealthy admirer. He experienced a life changing car accident in his late teens, and his turbulent time in charge of the London Philharmonic Orchestra he describes as an interesting learning experience. What did it feel like getting up in-front of the orchestra knowing that they were calling him names behind his back?
With the collapse of commercial recording, his name is known only to dedicated followers of musical fashion. All that will change when he comes to Vienna, the first Austrian to take the helm since Herbert von Karajan, half a century before.
Lebrecht interviewed him in Zurich, where he is music director of the opera, not far from his Lichtenstein home.
This interview concludes an 8-part series broadcast during the Proms season.
This programme is available to download for 7 days as a podcast from The Lebrecht Interview homepage.
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