Berlin Phil and Petrenko dispute reported comments

The Berlin Philharmonic has taken issue with comments attributed to its chief conductor, Kirill Petrenko, at last week’s press conference and has requested a correction. The conductor himself (or someone acting on his behalf) has written to slippedisc.com in similar vein.

A spokesperson for the orchestra said:

The quote that the BZ used was incomplete and therefore incorrect.  Kirill Petrenko spoke very positively about, how the Berlin Philharmonic is reacting quickly to his wishes. As a counterpoint he stressed out, that sometimes other orchestras don’t react to his wishes and play as they played 30 years ago. (His original quote from the press talk in German started with: „Manche Orchester spielen einfach das, was“)
The journalist then asked him, if he talks to these orchestras in the intermission (as football coaches would do), and he answered with the intermission quote (still in connection with other orchestras).

We are happy to publish this clarification and have changed the headline accordingly.

The apparent Petrenko response can be read here.

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