Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie
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Lorin Maazel 1930-2014
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amateur51
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Maazel had the thankless task to follow Szell in Cleveland. Szell had built that Orchestra over a quarter century and put his personal stamp on it. They made lots of recordings and were considered one of the world's finest musical pairings.
Maazel did a pretty good job of maintaining standards there. Inevitably he was seen as not being able to live up to the standard of Szell, which was well nigh impossible. He was no shrinking violet and so had many clashes there and this contributed his problems. His true worth wasn't appreciated in Cleveland until after he left and the Orchestra began to go into a minor decline.
When Maazel left Cleveland he then largely thrived in Europe for the next couple of decades. When he came back to be director of NY PHil he was still somewhat dogged by a perception that he had "failed" in Cleveland and that New York was settling for an ageing has- been instead of finding a young and dynamic
leader. Again, New Yorkers didn't appreciate his true worth until he had departed.
His recorded legacy is a mixed bag, and his sad departure won't change that. The Musical World is poorer for his death, however, and I suspect that the trend will continue that his virtues will be more appreciated as his absence is prolonged.
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Originally posted by cloughie View PostRIP Lorin - I hope all those who have said unkind words about him on these boards will now learn to enjoy his large 60+ year recorded legacy. I also hope there will be commercial recordings of his late expansive Richard Strauss.
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears! I come to bury Ceasar - not to praise him. The evil that men do .... etcetera, etcetera ...."
(I once played the part of Mark Anthony in a school play at the tender age of ten. Those words by William Shakspeare have lived with me ever since.)
R.I.P
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