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Swan_Knight
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« on: 15:38:38, 20-08-2007 » |
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Sorry to indulge in a bit of tittle-tattle, but there is no Grazia/National Enquirer/delete as appropriate for this type of thing. One of my favourite singers, Regine Crespin, died last month. A few years back, I read her autobiography. Probably too much was made of her backstage role as an adventuress, but one comment she made about John Culshaw gave me pause for thought. 'I adored (him)', she wrote, 'but he only had time for snakes.' So, what does this mean? That Culshaw was too busy reptile-spotting to fall for her womanly wiles? Or is it a coded reference (and a none too subtle one at that) to the recording maestros sexual preferences? I guess the latter....Culshaw's writing style has always struck me as being that of the classic pre-Wolfenden closet (check out the film 'Victim' for good examples of what I mean). But virtually nothing seems to be known about Culshaw the man other than that he made a lot of classic recordings, worked for the BBC, had firm musical and technological opinions and died an early death of a uncommon form of hepatitis. Does anyone know anything I don't? Sorry about the rather sleazy nature of my enquiry...not very high-minded, I know. But, having established the truth, I'll shut up about it, I promise you!  |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #1 on: 15:52:40, 20-08-2007 » |
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I don't know anything, I'm afraid, SK, so here's the best I can do courtesy of a quick internet search (I've included some stuff not relevant to Culshaw because it amused me): Mr. Lebrecht's purported examination of how classical recordings were killed by corporate takeovers is hijacked by a number of flaws, some of them literary. He refers to the singer Kathleen Ferrier's "organic contralto," whatever that may imply. Readers who think the author might mean "organ-like" will be disappointed to see the word "organic" reused a few pages later to describe early music virtuosos, equally bafflingly. English syntax suffers in this book from sentences such as "Decca landed months later in Chicago Georg Solti," and "Gelb in hubris was a sight to behold," making parts of "The Life and Death of Classical Music" read like a slapdash translation from an unspecified foreign language.
Even musicians admired by the author are described sneeringly. The tenor Enrico Caruso was "short, fat, and ugly," and British contralto Kathleen Ferrier was "devoid of beauty, brilliance, or sexual appeal." Perhaps in reaction to American political correctness, Mr. Lebrecht refers to Sony's directors as "hard-hat techno-Japs" and bizarrely tells us about the recording producer John Culshaw and conductor Georg Solti: "There was no male rivalry between them, since Culshaw was gay and Solti aggressively heterosexual." (from http://www.nysun.com/article/52835) I don't know whether 'bizarrely' is meant to indicate an untruth, but I've seen no other assertion that Culshaw was gay. On the other hand, his memoirs were called Putting the Record Straight ... Maybe someone around here might know more about Culshaw's professional relationship (which was apparently very friendly) with Britten? As for the snakes, the mind boggles. |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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teleplasm
Gender: 
Posts: 49
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« Reply #2 on: 16:06:12, 20-08-2007 » |
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Trouser-snakes, perhaps?  |
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #3 on: 16:13:50, 20-08-2007 » |
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Thanks for that, t_i_n! Sadly, Lebrecht has a deserved reputation for asserting half-truths. I think he may be right about Culshaw, though. A close relationship with BB, certainly, but wasn't BB a one-man man? I stand to be corrected on this. For some reason, I always felt there was something going on between Culshaw and Erik Smith (who wrote the tail-piece to his autobiography). Birgit Nilsson's autobiography questions some of the stories Culshaw tells about the artists he worked with....particularly about Bjorling being fired from THAT Ballo recording. |
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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time_is_now
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« Reply #4 on: 16:20:24, 20-08-2007 » |
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Absolutely, SK, I didn't mean to suggest anything about Culshaw and BB except that since BB wasn't famous for getting on with record producers I wondered if there was some sort of fellow-feeling with Culshaw over them both being gay. I did say 'professional relationship'!
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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ernani
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« Reply #5 on: 17:36:00, 20-08-2007 » |
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Well, if you read Bjorling's biography written by his wife Anna-Lisa and Andrew Farkas, you'll get a very different reading of why the tenor ended up being replaced by Bergonzi on the Ballo recording. It is not one that reflects well on either Solti or Culshaw. Interestingly, Culshaw's 'version' has a drunk Bjorling supposedly asking whether Solti is gay or not.
Certainly one might expect a biography co-written by the singer's wife to be partial, but there is compelling testimony from Nilsson, Cornell MacNeil and others that Bjorling was neither drunk nor abusive, was suffering in the Roman heat from heart palpitations, and was treated with extreme discourtesy by both Solti and Culshaw during the sessions. In any case, Bjorling walked out and was not fired - given what it seems occured, this is hardly a surprise. The shame is that, wonderful as Bergonzi is, Bjorling never got to commercially record one of his greatest roles.
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smittims
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« Reply #6 on: 09:31:26, 21-08-2007 » |
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I've sometimes thought John Culshaw was gay,but I have no facts . For much of his life it was a criminal offence so it's not something one would expect abundant evidence for.
I look at it this way.Being heter has never been an offence,but many heters don't display any obvious evidence of their sexual orientation.
I believe Culshaw had a profound admiration for Britten's music, and I expect that would have helped him gain the composer's confidence and friendship.
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #7 on: 18:16:08, 21-08-2007 » |
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I've certainly read somewhere, probably when I was reading about Britten, that Culshaw was gay, and that gave them a fellow-feeling (no more). Can't remember where i read it, or what the evidence, if any, was.
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MabelJane
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« Reply #8 on: 21:31:45, 21-08-2007 » |
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Well, if you read Bjorling's biography written by his wife Anna-Lisa and Andrew Farkas,
Thanks for mentioning this book, ernani. I hadn't thought of buying a Jussi biography but I've now ordered it and look forward to an enjoyable read. |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #9 on: 00:41:06, 22-08-2007 » |
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I deleted a message I posted here earlier today, having had second thoughts about it, but it was based on the Humphrey Burton BBC documentary on the recording of the Solti Gotterdammerung, from about 1964. Culshaw comes over as an interesting character. It was he who persuaded the BBC to make the programme and yet he seems on his guard when the cameras are on him.
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smittims
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« Reply #10 on: 10:22:10, 22-08-2007 » |
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I think Culshaw was on his guard when he wrote 'Ring Resounding' too.It presents a much more careful and conciliatory portrrait of his Decca years than he shows in his posthumous autobiography.
He seems to have been a man of very strong likes and dislikes. I think it is quite clear that he hated Ernest Ansermet and Josef Krips ,two people well-spoken-of by other writers.
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MrYorick
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« Reply #11 on: 10:58:02, 22-08-2007 » |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #12 on: 10:59:18, 22-08-2007 » |
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Michael Parkinson interviews BB and John Culshaw.  |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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ernani
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« Reply #13 on: 17:15:58, 22-08-2007 » |
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Well, if you read Bjorling's biography written by his wife Anna-Lisa and Andrew Farkas,
Thanks for mentioning this book, ernani. I hadn't thought of buying a Jussi biography but I've now ordered it and look forward to an enjoyable read. Not at all. Hope you enjoy it It's a very balanced biography IMHO and the chapters on Bjorling's alcoholism are pretty unflinching. But it also demonstrates what a decent and humble man he was, and given his affliction, what a wonderfully consistent singer too. |
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #14 on: 18:28:17, 22-08-2007 » |
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I agree with Tony. Culshaw seems very guarded in that Golden Ring docu. And his writing style is similarly enigmatic. I wouldn't mind reading the novel he published in the early fifties (can't remember its name, now, though).
Culshaw pretty much knifes Bjorling in Putting The Record Straight, even though J.B. seems to have got the thumbs up from most of the people who worked with him. Maybe Culshaw and Solti just had a bad experience with him.
And there is a truly vile anecdote about Josef Krips in Ring Resounding, which - if it's true - must make Krips one of the most unspeakable personalities in the history of music.
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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