Daniel J Wakin
The Website photograph depicted an elegant array of orchestra musicians in a glowing hall. A video clip showed an earnest young conductor leading players in a Tchaikovsky symphony. Below the picture, an official biography described the ?Tschaikowski? St Petersburg State Orchestra as ?an ensemble with unlimited musical possibilities.? But according to one of Russia?s best-known conductors, Yuri Temirkanov, there is a problem: The images depicted were of orchestras unrelated to the Tchaikovsky. The photograph was of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, and the video showed the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra. Both were playing in the city?s Philharmonic Hall, where the Tchaikovsky orchestra does not perform. The materials appeared on the site of Columbia Artists Management in advance of a major American tour planned for next year.
?This Tchaikovsky orchestra doesn?t exist,? said Temirkanov, the music director of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, a storied orchestra that recently finished its own American tour. ?Nobody knows who plays there. Maybe they got some sort of band. Maybe students. But they put the word ?state.? But there is no such orchestra, neither private or state.? Roman Leontiev, identified as the Tchaikovsky orchestra?s music director, begged to differ. In a telephone interview he insisted on the orchestra?s existence. Leontiev called Temirkanov a ?celestial creature? who perhaps preferred not to recognise any orchestras other than his own. The orchestra has no Web presence of its own, Leontiev said, because a site is still under construction.
He referred further questions to the orchestra?s manager, Yelena Kostychenko. Kostychenko said the orchestra was founded seven years ago, although the orchestra?s biography on the Columbia Artists site says it was founded ?in the years following World War II,? adding that it has undergone a name change. Kostychenko said it played about 15 concerts this season, in smaller halls and other spaces, and has 9 planned for next season.
The photograph was on the site, stripped across the top of the page devoted to the orchestra, but disappeared after calls were made to Andrew S Grossman, who was listed as its Columbia Artists manager. The video remains. Kostychenko said she had no information about the photograph and referred questions to Columbia Artists. She confirmed that the video was of Leontiev conducting the Academic Symphony.
Whatever the case, the dispute makes one thing clear: St Petersburg has a lively (and mutable) musical scene. It includes the famed Mariinsky Theater and its orchestra, led by Valery Gergiev. Other orchestras have St Petersburg in the title. The Naxos label has recordings with the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, saying it was founded in 1969 as the Russian State Concert Orchestra. A St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra Klassika also exists.
Temirkanov contacted The New York Times to point out the images on the Columbia Artists Web site, which he called deceptions. He said protests to the Columbia Artists executive who is listed as the orchestra?s manager for the United States, Grossman, were ignored. Grossman, who produces long concert tours in the United States by lesser-known orchestras, did not respond to an e-mail or to several messages left at his office.