Paris ignores conductor, 90
OrchestrasFrom 1968 to 2003, Michel Plasson was music director of the industrial city of Toulouse, turning into a musical powerhouse to rival the nation’s capital.
Paris did not like that.
It also did not like Plasson performing all the great composers that the dictator Pierre Boulez had banned from national institutions. Or his demands for decentralisation of music funding.
Plasson ignored the bureaucracy and built what was, at the time, the country’s best orchestra and best-run opera house.
Yesterday, he turned 90.
Not a word in French media.
Not an email from the Elysée.
No-one does huffs like the French.
Happy birthday from London, Michel, and bloody well done!
And here’s one from the Germans.
One of his finest and most renowned and memorable recordings from Toulouse is Gounod’s Faust, with a stellar and unmatchable cast – Cheryl Studer, José van Dam, Richard Leech, et.al.
And how could I miss mentioning the gorgeous Plasson/Toulouse recording of Massenet’s Hérodiade, also with Cheryl Studer, José van Dam, Ben Heppner, et.al.
Not to mention the fact that he was also a very fine conductor who left an enviable discography with his Toulouse forces. In 2013, I visited friends in Toulouse and Plasson’s presence in the city was one of the reasons why they decided to move there from Paris, and remain.
I LOVE his record of Saint-Saens 1st and 5th concerti with Philippe Entremont.
Joyeux Anniversaire, Monsieur Plasson!
Et merci de tout cœur pour toutes les joies musicales que vous nous avez offert !
Hear, hear! Happy Birthday Maestro Plasson and thank you for all of your great achievements over the years. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see you conduct live in concert, but your recording legacy – especially in French music – is a greatly significant and much valued contribution to classical music. I remember buying your recordings of the complete Alberic Magnard symphonies – starting with the 4th in my late teens – and I remember being totally overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence and beauty of these masterpieces. I have many of your other recordings, and they remain a source of much joy to this day. Good health to you Sir, and thank you again.
My memory deceives me – I have seen you conduct after all! It was at a performance of Poulenc’s vivid and engrossing operatic masterpiece “Dialogues des Carmélites” at Covent Garden in 1983. Felicity Lott sang the role of Blanche, and amongst what was essentially an Anglo-centric cast, the great and glorious Régine Crespin stood out in the role of Madame de Croissy. I thank you for this wonderful experience too!
Happy Birthday, Maestro. And thank you for all these pieces that you brought into the limelight.
I lived in “La Ville Rose” for 5 years and knew many of the musicians in the town’s orchestra.
This conductor was never really a household name on the international scene, apart from Europe.
L’Orchestre du Capitole felt that 25 years with the same conductor was too much for them, and they really needed a change at the helm. No one can argue against the fact that Sokhiev propelled them out of the fog.
Joyeux anniversaire Maître Plasson !
Surely sir, 35 years, if those dates are correct!
Yes you are correct!
Not sure I agree with your Sokhiev comment. Yannick was also in the mix, already a well-liked and regular guest. He wanted the job. The Toulouse post was quite a catch and Tugan’s CV was not the best at that moment. Fortunately for everyone it worked out well, but pretty much anyone on the short list would have been a decent choice.
What a tribute! What happens when you don’t like someone?
Paris also continued to ignore the great maestro Jean Fournet, didn’t it?
he’s personal story didn’t help.
Part of me thinks he doesn’t care what Paris or the French media or the academy thinks… good for him.
Paris is famously snotty towards anyone from the provinces. When Nicolas Joel was named future head of the Paris Opera, Parisians could barely disguise their contempt. In one press exchange the interviewer said, ‘You haven’t worked much in capital cities, Monsieur Joel’. Joel’s reply came as if from the barrel of a gun: ‘New York, Milan, Geneva, Chicago, Munich…no, you’re right’.
Touché.
Clearly mentioned on Radio France Musique yesterday.
Joyeux anniversaire Maître Plasson et mange merde Paris!
We all feel that way.
and he conducted that haunting “Werther” with Kaufmann in 2010 at the Paris Opera
This is what else he conducted at the Paris Opera: https://www.memopera.fr/personnalite.php?numint=7341.
I would have love to hear his Platée – yes, we should know what great conductors can do with baroque music.
Is it actually the case (I’m sincerely just asking those in the know for 2nd or 3rd opinions to evaluate what our host has just said) that Pierre Boulez sought, and had some or much sucess in, the “banning” of certain composers from French “national institutions”? I’ve always been torn by the fact of very much liking Boulez’s music but finding him narrow-minded in his judgments.
Norman he’s not the only one. In France, Pretre was celebrated at a level very very low and when he did the Waldbhune and the new year concert (no other french conductor did both things) he was not at all celebrated.
I had the fortune of meeting him in Oslo in the spring of 2006. He conducted the Chausson symphony (I already had his old recording of it) and a fabulous version of the wickedly difficult “Épilogue – Hommage à la mémoire d’un Monde Perdu” by Edvard Hagerup Bull (1922-2012). And he worked with and was very nice to my friend and former student, the conductor Halldis Rønning. Happy birthday, maestro!
No matter what, he remains to be the most important French opera conductor together with Pretre. Thank to EMI he made many records.
Because there are no French conductors worth mentioning.
Arguably, from their generation, Alain Lombard is worth mentioning. Though his career seemed to have taken a nose dive after Strasbourg.
I once played under Alain Lombard and survived it (just)
He treated the orchestra like trash.
Well, this explains the career nosedive. Too bad, because he was a very good conductor.
M. Plasson thoroughly deserves our felicitations. Without sniping at Boulez, a truly great man.
Yes, Boulez’ self-appointed role as Emperor of France did much damage to musical life.
Happy birthday to M Plasson
From France Musique’s website:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/disques-de-legende/don-quichotte-de-jules-massenet-par-michel-plasson-9014719
France Musique is an excellent radio. maybe the best classical radio in the world or one of the best.
— along with WFMT in Chicago — another second city — which I’m listening to now.
Well done for remembering, Radio France! Good find, Mark.
My only personal experience with Plasson was him as president of an international conducting competition jury, where he was absolutely insufferable. Kept interrupting candidates as if he owned the place and as if no-one but he might have any decent ideas about French music, irritating orchestra and audience alike. Could not come up with any constructive comments towards his younger colleagues. What he built in Toulouse will always honour him, but in the end, to me at least, he’s more about ego than music.
We all know the classical music scene is up its own arse ❤️⭐️
Dictator Pierre Boulez???? What am I reading????
I’m also stumped by this. I always adored Boulez and feel that his contribution to music, not just in France, was monumental. I realise that he acquired tremendous power that maybe was a disadvantage for others who couldn’t stand up against him, ( Barraquė for example), and he had strong opinions. But this unkind label of “dictator” is unnecessary…
What a stupid tone. At least in France there have properly funded music and arts institutions, while the UK lags behind and treats musicians like we’re still in the 18th century
Well done and from Israel happy birthday. Thank you
Michel Plasson may have been a firebrand on the podium but in putting the Toulouse Orchestra on the map he ranks as one of the great conductors of the 20th century. I salute him on his 90th birthday. His recordings of the later 19th-century French repertoire, still ignored today, are essential.
Joyeux Anniversaire, Maestro Michel Plasson! Never mind the government and press. The world’s music lovers matter more. I remember many brilliant recordings from M Plasson, but never had the chance to see him conduct in concert.
Boulez dictator? He was a great musician and a powerful. Influence as a composer and conductor. Politics has infected every aspect of life. Congratulations to the maestro!
I remember well Michel Plasson visiting the CBSO some time ago and serving up some incredibly beautiful and exciting Ravel.
Michel Plasson and his Toulouse orchestra introduced me to the marvels of Alberich Magnard. Treasures, always!
Congratulations Maestro Plasson!
I can think of another great conductor who fell into oblivion Jean-Claude Casadesus who left Paris for Lille.
He was the very first conductor leading the Met Opera Premiere of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1977.
Many happy returns maestro! Your Belle Helene with Jessye Norman and John Aler has given me enormous pleasure over the years.
And also he conducts! And doesn’t just flap his hands around like two dying trout
Happy Birthday Maestro! An all time favorite in his many successful concerts with the Sevilla Symphony. A wonderful musician and an elegant man. Bravo!
Bravo! You are to be so proud of your achievements! Stay true to yourself, we recognize your passion and talent.
An amazing career. Happy birthday!
I have recordings he made. The orchestra is sloppy and very second-rate, if not the repertoire. Nagano in Lyon also recorded more-traditional composers such as Milhaud.