RAI orchestra
JAMES CONLON ' S RECOVERED VOICES
A MISSION TO REVIVE AND RESTORE THE MUSIC OF COMPOSERS NEGLECTED DUE TO POLITICAL SUPPRESSION AND SYSTEMIC INEQUALITY
BY ALLISON BURR-LIVINGSTONE AND ROSIE CONSTANTINE
THE BACKSTORY
BSO Artistic Advisor James Conlon was driving home from conducting the Cologne Opera in the early 1990s when he first heard the music of Alexander Zemlinsky on his car radio . This personal discovery of an incredible composer led him to what would become a lifelong mission : to perform the music of composers suppressed by the Nazi regime and revive works that have been underperformed , underappreciated , and under recorded for far too long .
THE MUSIC
Nazi ideological and systematic suppression was neither limited to Jewish musicians , artists , and writers , nor to works written in concentration camps or with the war as the subject matter . Therefore , Conlon ’ s work takes a look at two generations who were silenced during the Nazi regime : those who were already well-established with music dating as far back as the 1880s , banned retroactively , and a later generation from whom we didn ' t have the change to hear more due to political suppression .
“ The Third Reich silenced an entire musical heritage : an uninterrupted line of the most extraordinary geniuses with traditions having been passed through each generation ,” said Conlon . “ Many who perished in concentration camps , and others , whose freedom and productivity were curtailed , were fated to be forgotten after the war . Their music seemed to have passed with them , lost in endless silence .”
“ RECOVERED VOICES ” IS ESTABLISHED
When his career brought him back to the United States , Conlon wasn ’ t put off when marketing departments began to balk at some of the names in his programming : Franz Schreker , Walter Braunfels , and Viktor Ullmann don ’ t exactly have built-in marketing appeal . But Conlon sees changing this perception as his own personal responsibility in shaping music history . It was , for instance , the conductor Leonard Bernstein who helped bring renewed international recognition to the genius of Gustav Mahler , whose music was also branded as degenerate , through his exhilarating performances and consistent championing of the composer on and off the podium .
And while like Bernstein , Conlon has taken every opportunity possible to speak and write about these composers and their music , he also believes that the power of performance cannot be understated .
10 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org