June 3, 2018.Schumann and more.This week a year ago we celebrated Robert Schumann and Martha Argerich, here.Schumann of course is one of the greatest Romantic composers, while Argerich – one of the most popular pianists of her generation.We love Schumann (no surprise there) but are somewhat more circumspect about Argerich, though we’re happy to admit that some of her interpretations, for example of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, are superb.(Martha Argerich was 26 when she recorded this concerto in 1967, here; in 2009 another female pianist, who was then 22, performed the same concerto with the same conductor, Claudio Abbado, and took exactly the same 27 minutes, give or take a couple of seconds, to dispatch the Prokofiev.The name of the younger pianist is Yuja Wang; her live recording, unfortunately technically of lower quality, is here, for you to compare).
Last year we also mentioned that the great Russian conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky was born that week.He’s not the only conductor to be celebrated: George Szell and Klaus Tennstedt were also born around this date. George Szell was the oldest of the three: he was born in Budapest on June 7th of 1897 into a Jewish family; when he was six, the family converted to Catholicism before moving to the antisemitic Vienna.Szell was a child prodigy – not as conductor, of course, but as a pianist and budding composer.At the age of 11 he was giving concerts all over Europe.Even so, his interest was clearly in conducting, not the piano.At the age of 16 he filled in for an ailing conductor at a concert of the Vienna Symphony, and his conducting career was launched.He found positions at the German opera in Prague, and, at the age of 18, with Berlin's Royal Court Opera (now, Staatsoper).In Berlin Szell met Richard Strauss who was very impressed with the young man’s musical talents.In the following years Szell conducted many orchestras in Europe; in 1930 he made his American debut.Szell moved to the US at the outbreak of WWII.He settled in New York, taught at the Mannes school and frequently conducted different orchestras, including the Boston Symphony and the Metropolitan.In 1946 he was invited to the Cleveland Orchestra, then a good but second-tier ensemble.He stayed there as the music director for the following 24 years, building it into a world-class orchestra.
The Cleveland made scores of recordings under Szell, many of them of the German Classical and Romantic repertoire.Szell was an autocrat, a difficult person and a perfectionist.When he left the Cleveland, the orchestra was at its best; it never achieved the same level with the excellent conductors that followed Szell – Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi and Franz Welser-Möst.Szell died several months after relinquishing his position, on July 30the of 1970. Here Szell conducts his friend Richard Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks).
Yevgeny Mravinsky was six years younger than Szell: he was born on June 4th of 1903 in St.-Petersburg.If we associate Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra, Mravinsky will be forever connected with the Leningrad Philharmonic.Mravinsky started his studies in biology but then entered the conservatory, majoring in composition and conducting (his teacher was the noted conductor Alexander Gauk).His first conducting position was at the Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (now the Mariinsky).He became a guest conductor at the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1934 and conductor in 1938.Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic became the best orchestra in the Soviet Union.His recordings of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich were especially noteworthy.He premiered six symphonies of Shostakovich: nos. 5 (in 1937), 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12, in 1961.Mravinsky was known for his intensity, lack of sentimentality and the fast tempos of his performances; in this respect he reminds us of Toscanini. He led the orchestra for the rest of his life; Mravinsky died on January 19th of 1988.Here are the last three movements, Allegro Non Troppo, Largo and Allegretto of Shostakovich’s Symphony no 8, dedicated to Mravinsky.
Schumann and conductors, 2019
June 3, 2018. Schumann and more. This week a year ago we celebrated Robert Schumann and Martha Argerich, here. Schumann of course is one of the greatest Romantic composers, while Argerich – one of the most popular pianists of her generation. We love Schumann (no surprise there) but are somewhat more circumspect about Argerich, though we’re happy to admit that some of her interpretations, for example of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, are superb. (Martha Argerich was 26 when she recorded this concerto in 1967, here; in 2009 another female pianist, who was then 22, performed the same concerto with the same conductor, Claudio Abbado, and took exactly the same 27 minutes, give or take a couple of seconds, to dispatch the Prokofiev. The name of the younger pianist is Yuja Wang; her live recording, unfortunately technically of lower quality, is here, for you to compare).
The Cleveland made scores of recordings under Szell, many of them of the German Classical and Romantic repertoire. Szell was an autocrat, a difficult person and a perfectionist. When he left the Cleveland, the orchestra was at its best; it never achieved the same level with the excellent conductors that followed Szell – Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi and Franz Welser-Möst. Szell died several months after relinquishing his position, on July 30the of 1970. Here Szell conducts his friend Richard Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks).
Yevgeny Mravinsky was six years younger than Szell: he was born on June 4th of 1903 in St.-Petersburg. If we associate Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra, Mravinsky will be forever%20by%20Lev%20Russov.jpg "Evgeny Mravinsky")
connected with the Leningrad Philharmonic. Mravinsky started his studies in biology but then entered the conservatory, majoring in composition and conducting (his teacher was the noted conductor Alexander Gauk). His first conducting position was at the Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (now the Mariinsky). He became a guest conductor at the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1934 and conductor in 1938. Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic became the best orchestra in the Soviet Union. His recordings of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich were especially noteworthy. He premiered six symphonies of Shostakovich: nos. 5 (in 1937), 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12, in 1961. Mravinsky was known for his intensity, lack of sentimentality and the fast tempos of his performances; in this respect he reminds us of Toscanini. He led the orchestra for the rest of his life; Mravinsky died on January 19th of 1988. Here are the last three movements, Allegro Non Troppo, Largo and Allegretto of Shostakovich’s Symphony no 8, dedicated to Mravinsky.