Gennady Rozhdestvensky 4/05/1931-16/06/2018

[BBMmk2]

Sad to see the death today of the Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. RIP

[bluestateprommer]

Gramophone's website has this tribute to GR:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-conductor-gennady-rozhdestvensky-has-died

Interesting to read this quote from GR:

"The point of rehearsal is to put together the concert, not to give the concert. The concert brings with it an emotional intensity that couldn’t, and shouldn’t, be there beforehand, and I like to keep back a bit of improvisation on the night."

[Pianorak]

Very sad news. Was listening only last night to Rozhdestvensky conducting the USSR State SO and Vladimir Ashkenazy in Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2. Probably one of the most spell-binding performances on record. RIP

[Alain Maréchal]

Very sad indeed. I have so many memories of his performances in many cities, which sometimes contained unexpected combinations of works, but which were always fascinating. One of the few conductors to see whose concerts I made great efforts to travel distances, knowing the effort would be worthwhile. I am trying to recall a favourite from the depths of memory, but have failed, they were all superb.

[Tevot]

Sad news indeed.

I came across GR's account of Hugh Wood's Symphony on youtube quite recently (its Proms premiere in 1982 iirc) and in my experience it has the emotional intensity that bluestateprommer alluded to above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHmhnXLW82g&t=124s

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[cloughie]

Sad indeed. He was a breath of fresh air as Conductor of BBCSO. His conducting of Shostakovich’s ‘Tahiti Trot’ at the Proms was a real treat!
RIP Gennady.

[BBMmk2]

I saw him conduct a stupendous concert at The Brighton Festival, many moons ago. Unfortunately I cannot remember the programme.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A sad loss - he was a marvellous conductor.

[Petrushka]

Very sad news but, given his age, not entirely unexpected perhaps. I saw Rozhdestvensky many times in the 1970s and 80s, including his debut appearance with the BBCSO at the 1978 Proms. He was one of those conductors who could set his hand to virtually anything and his repertoire was amazingly wide. But it was the great Russian repertoire for which he will forever be associated, particularly Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.

There are so many memories but my favourite is a quite wonderful performance of the Tchaikovsky Act 2 Nutcracker at the 1981 Proms with the BBCSO now happily available on an ICA DVD. So typical of Rozhdestvensky's relaxed, genial style it's a masterclass in conducting this music. I met him just the once after a DSCH 8 with the LPO (available on the LPO label).

[jayne lee wilson]

I can't think of another conductor who's given me more listening pleasures, insights and rewards.... perhaps most of all in his Complete Sibelius and Prokofiev Symphony Cycles - and in that large, magisterial two-box Venezia set (nla ) of (almost) every edition of every Bruckner Symphony. It is devotedly true to the Brucknerian spirit, but distinctively Rozh and distinctively Russian too. John F. Berky later offered an 1887 8th to add - and very fine (and very expansive...!) it is. So all it lacks is the 1872 Carraghan 2nd.

At his best he was always so imaginative in his view of a work, encouraging individualistic orchestral voicing, in solos etc - there's a live Schumann Violin Concerto with Igor Oistrakh which has a swiftness and urgency few have ever come close to since. And many of the Shostakovich Symphonies on Olympia/BMG/Melodiya etc are among the most compelling of all.

Thanks Maestro Rozh!

[vinteuil]

... that large, magisterial two-box Venezia set (nla ) of (almost) every edition of every Bruckner Symphony. It is devotedly true to the Brucknerian spirit, but distinctively Rozh and distinctively Russian too. John F. Berky later offered an 1887 8th to add - and very fine (and very expansive...!) it is. So all it lacks is the 1872 Carraghan 2nd. :

... I think Stephen Johnson this morning said that at the last count there were eight versions of Bruckner 3 ...


.


.

[ardcarp]

A sad loss - he was a marvellous conductor.

Yes indeed.

Does anyone know how recently he was still conducting? Many conductors seem to reach a good age. Is it the aerobic exercise. I wonder?

I like this quote from The Gramophone:

...he did not believe in over-rehearsing, preferring the inspiration of the moment to bring off some very impressive concerts. ‘The point of rehearsal is to put together the concert,’ he told the French film-maker Bruno Monsaingeon, ‘not to give the concert. The concert brings with it an emotional intensity that couldn’t, and shouldn’t, be there beforehand...

[Petrushka]

I saw him conduct a stupendous concert at The Brighton Festival, many moons ago. Unfortunately I cannot remember the programme.

I wonder if that was a Sunday afternoon concert coupling the Prokofiev 5 and the Tchaikovsky 4? It so, I well remember the white hot intensity of both readings on the live R3 relay.

[cloughie]

I can't think of another conductor who's given me more listening pleasures, insights and rewards.... perhaps most of all in his Complete Sibelius and Prokofiev Symphony Cycles - and in that large, magisterial two-box Venezia set (nla ) of (almost) every edition of every Bruckner Symphony. It is devotedly true to the Brucknerian spirit, but distinctively Rozh and distinctively Russian too. John F. Berky later offered an 1887 8th to add - and very fine (and very expansive...!) it is. So all it lacks is the 1872 Carraghan 2nd.

At his best he was always so imaginative in his view of a work, encouraging individualistic orchestral voicing, in solos etc - there's a live Schumann Violin Concerto with Igor Oistrakh which has a swiftness and urgency few have ever come close to since. And many of the Shostakovich Symphonies on Olympia/BMG/Melodiya etc are among the most compelling of all.

Thanks Maestro Rozh!

...and not forgetting his recordings of the Vaughan Williams with the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture, no doubt inspired by his exposure to them whilst with the BBCSO!

[HighlandDougie]

...and not forgetting his recordings of the Vaughan Williams with the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture, no doubt inspired by his exposure to them whilst with the BBCSO!

Indeed! But those HMV/Melodiya Prokofiev symphonies were part of my upbringing (and still bring much pleasure) - and then there was his time with the BBC SO. My most abiding memory of him is seeing him, after he had conducted the RSNO in Liszt's Faust Symphony (a work which greatly suited him) in the Usher Hall, simply step off the pavement onto Lothian Road, Mme Rozhdestvensky (née Posnitkova) on his arm - and have four lanes of traffic screech to a halt as they ... err, tottered across the road to the Sheraton. Simply no-one else like him around today. Much missed already