OAS BLUES

It was not long before Orfila was compelled to confront me stating that there had been ‘a number of complaints’ from various sources about ‘administrative deficiencies’ in my department.

That my administrative skills left plenty to be desired was a given.  However, administrative skills had not been part of my job description-—nor, for that matter, were other departments of the organization models of bureaucratic efficiency and probity.

Orfila did, however, try to help me by giving me Scheman’s administrative support along with that of two professional Argentine diplomats that formed his ‘political cabinet’, Guillermo MacGough and Marcelo Huergo.  Both later went on to become ambassadors in Europe and the Middle East.

Orfila eventually bolstered my team by appointing an ‘Assistant Director’ with the mandate to take over the department’s adminstratve chores.  He turned out to be an Argentine historian, with the respectable Basque name of Roberto Etechpareborda who had applied for only a temporary position.

One problem in writing a memoir, of course, is the need to ward off the temptation of putting a better face that some bad experiences warrant by that insidious ‘corrective’ mechanism known as mellowing with age.

Anyway,  the more rewarding experiences at the OAS included a week-long cultural festival I was invited to organize by Martin Feinstein, the artistic director of the Kennedy Center.  I had known Martin when he was the press person of the Sol Hurok enterprises, perhaps the most influential artist’s management in New York.  He informed me that the City Center Ballet had suddenly cancelled its appearance in Washington.  This meant that the Kennedy Center was faced with the agonizing prospect of at least one ‘dark’ fortnight.  Since I had frequently talked to Martin about opening up the Center to Latin American performers, which he had been reluctant to do.  He now wanted to know if I would be in a position to find enough quality artists to fill that fortnight.

I promptly said ‘of course’ but that I needed those two weeks before I would confirm.  He said he could wait.  I decided that, if necessary, I would use the last nickel of my department’s travel funds to scour the hemisphere for artists sufficiently qualified to appear at a highly respected U.S. cultural center.  The trip began with Buenos Aires, where with the financial assistance of my friend Paul Hirsch and his Fundacion Antorchas, I was able to engage the excellent Camerata de Bariloche chamber orchestra.

The Camerata, was an ensemble created by the residents of the ski resort town of Bariloche, at the foothill of the Andes Mountains, with Paul’s Financial assistance.  The young orchestra musicians were guided by the same principles of music making that prevailede in Marlboro and Tanglewood.

Our Washington festival turned out to be both an artistic and popular success--great reviews and sold-out houses.  The Camerata, for example, was able to follow up the Washington concert with appearances in New York and several other U.S. cities, as were other ensembles as well as solo performers.

Priceless Frank Rich........

In his review Jonathan Alter's The Promise: President Obama, Year One


As soon as Inauguration Day turned to night, the real Obama was destined to depreciate like the shiny new ludxury car that starts to lose its book value the moment it's driven off the lot.

Gov. Bill Richardson's Column on U.S.-Latin American relations

   
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 Hemisphere countries to collaborate

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By Bill Richardson
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Arizona's attempt to create and enforce its own immigration policy has once again amplified -- and politicized -- the immigration debate in this country. But the fallout of that debate extends beyond our borders. The anti-

immigrant push in Arizona has further alienated our neighbors throughout Latin America, who had been hoping for better relations with the United States after President Obama's election. We need to turn this opportunity to our advantage and engage with our neighbors throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Latin America has perhaps the greatest impact, in terms of trade and culture, on the daily lives of most Americans. U.S. exports to Latin America have grown faster in the past 11 years than to any other region, including Asia. Hispanics represent the biggest ethnic and most sought-after voting bloc in the United States. And nearly every country in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean now has a democratically elected government.

The time is right to leverage our trade and partnerships and advance a more collaborative relationship with our neighbors to the south. The Obama administration should consider these five steps:

-- First, it should aggressively lobby Congress for a comprehensive immigration law. Such legislation would include increased border security; a crackdown on illegal hires; and an accountable path to legalization that requires the 11 million immigrants here illegally to learn English, pass a background check, pay fines and get in line behind those who are trying to enter our country legally. Illegal immigrants come to our country from Central and South America and the Caribbean. This is not just an issue with Mexico; it is a hemispheric issue that needs a comprehensive response.


-- Second, as a first step to changing our policy toward Cuba, the president should issue an executive order to lift as much of the travel ban as possible. The travel ban penalizes U.S. businesses, lowers our credibility in Latin America and fuels anti-U.S. propaganda. Lifting the ban would also be a reciprocal gesture for Cuba's recent agreement, negotiated among the Catholic Church, the Spanish government and President Ra?l Castro, to release political dissidents. Obama has taken significant steps to loosen restrictions on family travel, remove limits for remittance and expand cooperation in other areas such as expanding the export of humanitarian goods from the United States into Cuba. Loosening travel restrictions is in U.S. interests and would be a bold move toward normalization of relations with Cuba.

-- Third, embark on a new Alliance for Progress with Latin America and the Caribbean, modeled on President John F. Kennedy's vision for the hemisphere. This should not be a one-sided alliance preconceived on expansion of U.S. markets, nor an agreement that imposes a U.S. solution. We need a new partnership in which we close the gap between the haves and have-nots by addressing both human and economic needs and giving more priority to the indigenous people of this hemisphere.

The United States needs to craft a hemispheric agenda that includes and emphasizes solutions to energy demands and climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. Perhaps we need a hemispheric agreement on renewable energy that provides the technical know-how for the Americas and dramatically expands the biofuel agreement with Brazil. We also need to move quickly toward a real carbon-trading system that would reward countries that protect their forests.

-- Fourth, we should continue to seek trade agreements that are free and fair and contain strong standards on labor, the environment and human rights. Pending trade agreements with Colombia and Panama should be approved by Congress and once again establish the United States as a reliable trading partner. Additionally, the Obama administration should seek a hemispheric agreement on common labor, environmental and human rights standards. This bold move would promote our interests and image in the region.

-- Finally, we need a hemispheric accord on crime and violence. In New Mexico, we are working with law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels and on both sides of our border with Mexico to share intelligence and stop the illicit trade of narcotics, illegal guns and human trafficking. These are transnational issues that involve a coordinated effort to protect the safety of law-abiding citizens of the United States and Mexico. We must not allow the immigration debate to distract from our national responsibility to engage with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean. Better hemispheric relations should be a foreign policy priority, not an afterthought.

The writer, a Democrat, is governor of New Mexico. He is former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former energy secretary.

The Marlboro we missed this year (from the Boston Globe)

A passionate, intimate gathering in Marlboro, Vt. By David Weininger, Globe Correspondent  |  August 10, 2010 MARLBORO, Vt. — This summer marks the 60th season of the Marlboro Music Festival. There is, however, something timeless about this venerable chamber music gathering. Ensembles still mix players of varying levels of experience; the repertoire still hews largely — though by no means exclusively — to established composers of the 18th through mid-20th centuries; and the whole thing has an informal feel that’s at odds with the intensity of the music-making, which occurs in rehearsal and on stage. Indeed, at its best — which it mostly was this past weekend — Marlboro produces some of the greatest chamber music anywhere. Saturday’s concert opened with Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3, which drew a polished and impassioned performance from violinist Dina Nesterenko, violist Kyle Armbrust, and cellist Marcy Rosen. At times the passion was too much of a good thing, as if the performers saw the work as a tempestuous middle-period work rather than the fruit of Beethoven’s early maturity. What followed was one of the weekend’s highlights: a profound reading of Schumann’s great song cycle “Dichterliebe’’ by tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Mitsuko Uchida, one of the festival’s codirectors. Phan is an excellent young singer whose voice is patchy at the top but powerful in its middle and lower ranges. More important, he penetrated deeply into the inner drama of each of the 16 songs. But he was almost upstaged by Uchida’s playing, which was so sensitive and insightful that it went far beyond the role of accompaniment. During the piano codas, she seemed to open up an interior world that recalled the composer’s best solo piano music. They made a superb duo, and certain songs — “Ich grolle nicht’’ (“I bear no grudge’’) and “Ich hab in Traum geweinet’’ (“I wept in my dream’’) — almost overpowered in their intensity. Cellist Rosen returned after intermission with three younger colleagues for a performance of Bartok’s Sixth String Quartet, an elusive work whose character remains somewhat obscure until its deeply melancholy finale. Aside from some brief tuning problems, Saturday’s performance was one of astonishing precision, the quartet adroitly navigating Bartok’s unusual textures and rapid mood changes. If some final quantum of intensity seemed to be missing, perhaps that was due to this hermetic piece rather than to the performers. Sunday’s concert was an object lesson in balances: the careful weighing of voices and phrases that allows as much of the musical material as possible to be heard. A selection of songs with obbligato instruments tested the performers’ skills in this regard: Adolf Busch’s Three Songs, Op. 3a, and Schubert’s lengthy, multipart song “Auf dem Strom’’ (“On the River’’). Busch, one of Marlboro’s founders, was a competent composer but no more; the songs were notable for the intertwining of Jennifer Johnson’s plush mezzo-soprano and Geraldine Walther’s viola. The Schubert is a far deeper exploration of parting and sorrow. The equilibrium between Susanna Phillips’ silvery soprano and Radovan Vlatkovic’s horn was trickier to maintain, but for the most they succeeded. Lydia Brown was the excellent pianist in both. Between them came a rarity — Schumann’s “Six Etudes in Canonic Form,’’ originally written for pedal piano and arranged for two pianos by Debussy. These little gems not only display Schumann’s contrapuntal skill but are full of character as well. Cynthia Raim and Amy Jiaqi Yang were scrupulous in the care they gave to each motif, as it was passed gently back and forth between them. Closing out the weekend was an ebullient performance of Dvorak’s Sextet for Strings, Op. 48. This is not, to my ears, the composer’s finest piece of chamber music, but that was no barrier to enjoying the work of the ensemble, which included New England Conservatory violist Kim Kashkashian. Here, the work of maintaining balances reached a new level; I can’t recall having heard so much inner detail in this busy piece before. It bespoke the thoroughness of preparation that, 60 years on, is still Marlboro’s hallmark. The festival’s final performances are this weekend. David Weininger can be reached at globeclassicalnotes@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
 

To IMO: with reference to

your Schitlist:  For Schwarzkopf I had to make some concession--she married the head of EMI Records, L something.  She did however make a magnificent recording of Schubert songs with Edwin Fischer at the piano.....you're probably too young to have heard that.

On the other hand you may take some comfort with this anecdote:  Many, many years ago I accompanied my two dearest Finnish friends, Arno Karhilo and his lovely pianist wife Lisa, to hear the visiting Berlin Philharmonic at the old Constitution Hall conducted by one Karajan.  


They performed the Beethoven Sixth (a.k.a. Pastoral).  Furtwangler had just died and Karajan was clearly intent on 'outpacing' his Master in an Adagio molto espressivo.  Soon the Karhilos and I, who fortunately occupied a box where our outrageous behavior could be concealed as we rolled on the floor, desperately attempting to stifel our laughter.  It was so excruciatingly slow that you felt you were in an old choo-choo train that could barely negotiate the climb of the mountain........and we laughed and laughed and laughed....


I can think of no better way to desecrate the Parteimitglied's memory......

How I opted for Latin America rather than Eastern Europe

show details 8:17 AM (1 minute ago)

Weiser, and sometimes not so Weiser Imo:

My brand of Rassenreinung, very similar to the one you suggested, was implicitly accomplished long ago.  Which means that, with the exception perhaps of occasional early Schwarzkopfs, the rest turn out to be moot.  Especially Karajan.  I confess to having deliberately acquired one (no, actually two (2)  Karajans because I consider them unsurpassed.  Both are operas:  Falstaff and Trovatore.  I have both on LPs.  And I must confess that Falstaff retains a particularly poignant memory for me.

Many years ago, when the UP management had decided, with my eager consent, to transfer me from Washington to Belgrad (Beograd), I came down with a (mild) case of hepatitis.  I was so diagnosed by a Dr. Isadore Lattman, a famous radiologist, friend of Heifetz and Kapell.  He knew I lived alone and counseled me to promptly check in at a hospital.  

"Not so long as I have Latin American friends in this town,"  was my cocky reply.  And it was not misplaced.

During one whole month there a daily procession passed through my never-locked front door at 1900 T Street (2nd floor) bearing the legendary Latin American viandas which might be roughly translated into 'portable hot plates'.  In a memoir I am writing I attribute this experience to my decision to remain the UP's 'Latinamericanist' rather than become its bureau chief for Eastern Europe.  And, frankly, I've never regretted the decision.

Dixit

'Latty's well-tgrained eye 'diagnosed' my ailment as I was about to walk into Rudy Serkin's dressing room at Constitution Hall  in the midst of  a rehearsal of a Mozart (Beethoven?) concerto with that execrable conductor Howard Mitchell.  

told Lenny '*es geht auch so!*'?  Well, listen to this:

*After the **Anschluss **of March 1938, Hitler scheduled a plebiscite to
confirm the takeover and took a campaign tour through smaller Austrian
cities and towns.  Many Austrian artists spoke in his favor.  "Say a big YES
to our Fuhrer's action," urged the conductor Karl Boehm......*

The Big Fart!