This Week in Classical Music: January 13, 2020.Jansons.Mariss Jansons died less than two months ago, on November 30th of 2019 (the great Wilhelm Furtwängler also died on November 30th, in 1954).This week Jansons would’ve celebrated his 77th birthday: he was born on January 14th of 1943 in Riga, Latvia.The circumstances of his childhood were extremely difficult.Latvia was occupied by the Germans, and while his father, Arvid Jansons, was an established musician, his mother, a soprano Ida Blumenfeld, was Jewish and undermortal danger.Almost 70,000 Jews were killed in Latvia during the German occupation, only 14,000 survived.Most of the Riga Jews ended up in the ghetto, but Ida, with Arvid’s help, went into hiding.All her relatives perished during the occupation.Mariss was born while Ida was still hiding from the Nazis and local collaborators, and that’s how he spent the first year and a half of his life.After the war, with the Soviets taking over Latvia, Mariss studied the violin in Riga (Gidon Kremer was one of his fellow students) and later, when Arvid became an assistant to Yevgeny Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic, he moved to that city and continued his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory.In addition to the violin, he took conducting classes with the noted Soviet conductor Nikolai Rabinovich.Mariss was one of the first Soviet musicians to study abroad: in 1969 he went to Vienna where he studied first with the conductor Hans Swarowsky and then with Herbert von Karajan.In 1971 Jansons won the Young Conductors competition in Berlin; Karajan offered Jansons to become his assistant at the Berlin Philharmonic but the Soviet didn’t let him take the coveted position.Instead, following in the steps of his father, he became the assistant conductor at the Leningrad Philharmonic (Arvid by then was the second conductor of the orchestra).In 1979, with Mravinsky’s help, Mariss Jansons became the music director of the Oslo Philharmonic.He worked there till 2000 and made the orchestra, previously quite mediocre, into a world-class ensemble.From 1997 to 2002 he was the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.He was regularly invited to Vienna to conduct the Philharmonic and from 2004 till 2016 he was the Chief Conductor of the famed Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 1996 Mariss Jansons had a heart attack while conducting the La bohème in Oslo (his father Arvid had a heart attack and died while conducting a concert with the Hallé Orchestra).He had another heart attack five weeks later, soon after a defibrillator was implanted in his chest.Last year Jansons health deteriorated; he cancelled many concerts.He did come to the United States in November with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra but was clearly unwell: a music critic noted in a review that during one of the concerts Jansons could barely lift his arms.Mariss Jansons died at his home in Saint-Petersburg later that month.Here’s the first movement, Allegro maestoso, of Mahler’s Symphony no. 2.Mariss Jansons conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.This recording was made during the Munich concerts on May 13-15, 2011.
Mariss Jansons, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: January 13, 2020. Jansons. Mariss Jansons died less than two months ago, on November 30th of 2019 (the great Wilhelm Furtwängler also died on November 30th, in 1954). This week Jansons would’ve celebrated his 77th birthday: he was born on January
14th of 1943 in Riga, Latvia. The circumstances of his childhood were extremely difficult. Latvia was occupied by the Germans, and while his father, Arvid Jansons, was an established musician, his mother, a soprano Ida Blumenfeld, was Jewish and undermortal danger. Almost 70,000 Jews were killed in Latvia during the German occupation, only 14,000 survived. Most of the Riga Jews ended up in the ghetto, but Ida, with Arvid’s help, went into hiding. All her relatives perished during the occupation. Mariss was born while Ida was still hiding from the Nazis and local collaborators, and that’s how he spent the first year and a half of his life. After the war, with the Soviets taking over Latvia, Mariss studied the violin in Riga (Gidon Kremer was one of his fellow students) and later, when Arvid became an assistant to Yevgeny Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic, he moved to that city and continued his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory. In addition to the violin, he took conducting classes with the noted Soviet conductor Nikolai Rabinovich. Mariss was one of the first Soviet musicians to study abroad: in 1969 he went to Vienna where he studied first with the conductor Hans Swarowsky and then with Herbert von Karajan. In 1971 Jansons won the Young Conductors competition in Berlin; Karajan offered Jansons to become his assistant at the Berlin Philharmonic but the Soviet didn’t let him take the coveted position. Instead, following in the steps of his father, he became the assistant conductor at the Leningrad Philharmonic (Arvid by then was the second conductor of the orchestra). In 1979, with Mravinsky’s help, Mariss Jansons became the music director of the Oslo Philharmonic. He worked there till 2000 and made the orchestra, previously quite mediocre, into a world-class ensemble. From 1997 to 2002 he was the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He was regularly invited to Vienna to conduct the Philharmonic and from 2004 till 2016 he was the Chief Conductor of the famed Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 1996 Mariss Jansons had a heart attack while conducting the La bohème in Oslo (his father Arvid had a heart attack and died while conducting a concert with the Hallé Orchestra). He had another heart attack five weeks later, soon after a defibrillator was implanted in his chest. Last year Jansons health deteriorated; he cancelled many concerts. He did come to the United States in November with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra but was clearly unwell: a music critic noted in a review that during one of the concerts Jansons could barely lift his arms. Mariss Jansons died at his home in Saint-Petersburg later that month. Here’s the first movement, Allegro maestoso, of Mahler’s Symphony no. 2. Mariss Jansons conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. This recording was made during the Munich concerts on May 13-15, 2011.