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

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thank you - I must be confusing two gigs then. But the violin concerto was definately on the programme; the 'rank and file' violinist who had to play a duet with the soloist (Georgy Pauk) was a particular friend of mine. I will trawl my box of stuff and try to see if I still have the programme.

It's entirely possible that both works (the Violin Concerto and the Bruckner arrangement) did feature, but they're not mentioned in the documentation I can access. (All the Festival programmes are viewable at the Heritage Quay, but don't seem to be available online.)

[Petrushka]

My introduction to Shostakovich was his Symphony No.4 (still the only one I'd take to a desert island) via a televised Proms concert with Rozhdestvensky and (presumably) the BBC SO. Must have been around 1975-77. Aside from the great music, I'd never seen such unusual conducting; IIRC in the closing coda he stood motionless, eyes closed, only moving a finger to mark each start of the ascending celesta phrase. It only added to the mystery of the work's closing.
Around 1982 I discovered Maxwell Davies through Rozhdestvensky's (again televised) Proms premiere of the 2nd Symphony. Still have that premiere on cassette, and prefer it PMD's own recording on Collins Classics!

RIP.

I attended both of those Proms. The Shostakovich 4 was given on September 9 1978 and is available on a Medici DVD. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Arc...rozhdestvensky

The PMD 2, from July 23 1981, wasn't, as far as I know, televised but the Elgar Violin Concerto given in the second half, was and that too is on a Medici DVD https://www.amazon.co.uk/ITZHAK-PERL...itzhak+perlman Later that same month, on July 27, Rozhestvensky and the BBCSO played Act 2 of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker which I mention above where GR is both conjuror and conductor. They were fantastic times to be at the Proms.

[secondfiddle]

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky was a very watchable conductor, with a splendid stick technique. He would occasionally play to the audience by stopping conducting while the orchestra played on. He had a very interesting repertoire and I taped many of his broadcasts, especially when chief conductor of the BBCSO and his memorable 1971 Proms with the Leningrad Phil that I quite often replay. Intaglio released at least two performances from those Leningrad Phil Proms as well as several concerts with the Moscow SO and the LSO in the late 1960s. His memorable broadcast repertoire included Kullervo, The Trojans (Proms 1982), The Apostles (RFH after the planned Proms performance never took place because of the strike), L’enfance du Christ, Rachmaninov Francesca da Rimini (both 1980 Proms) and The Miserly Knight and a magnificent Rachmaninov Symphony No 1, Dvorak The Spectre’s Bride, A Child of our Time (twice), Walton 1 (4 times), Delius The Song of the High Hills, War Requiem and Spring Symphony, Belshazzar’s Feast, Elgar Symphonies 1 & 2 (at least twice), Violin Concerto and In the South (several times), Vaughan Williams, plenty of Tippett, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, the list goes on, and more recently (2014) from Russia British works that included Cyril Scott’s Violin Concerto, Parry’s Symphony No 3 and Tippett’s Fourth. A personal selective list but surely enough to meet most tastes. Quite impressive!

[Boilk]

I attended both of those Proms. The Shostakovich 4 was given on September 9 1978 and is available on a Medici DVD. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Arc...rozhdestvensky

The PMD 2, from July 23 1981, wasn't, as far as I know, televised but the Elgar Violin Concerto given in the second half, was ...

Indeed, I stand corrected. The PMD 2 I recorded off the radio, it wasn't televised like the 1978 DS 4. DS 4 I was too young at the time to record, but a lasting memory which led me to borrow the Previn/EMI recording from the music library some years later.

Thanks for Medici DVD information Petrushka.

[bluestateprommer]

The France Musique website (affiliated with Radio France, AFAICT) has this tribute program of GR-conducted selections:

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/le-meilleur-des-concerts-radio-france/andre-watts-62473

I heard from an orchestral musician acquaintance of one experience with GR conducting, where GR actually strolled into the orchestra during the music, and simply said "Good" at one point. "Eccentric" is one way of interpreting that story....

[jayne lee wilson]

...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!

Gosh yes, I'd forgotten that - superb set, fresh and electrifying live readings of the complete cycle in pretty good sound - another eccentrically-packed Melodiya Boxset released as recently as 2013. 4 & 6 seem to create parallels with DSCH - Highest recommendation! (I should add that I never played the Sea Symphony,...which IIRC received some criticism)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vaughan-Williams-Symphonies-Polyansky-Rozhdestvensky/dp/B00JU5DGY8/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529253111&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=rozhdestvensky+vaughn+williams

And let's not forget all the BBC Legends issues - I can personally vouch for the Prokofiev 5th and the Rachmaninov 1st...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=rozhdestvensky+bbc+legends

Did anyone ever hear his Schumann Symphonies with the Estonians? It reviewed rather poorly for SQ and interpretation, so I never got hold of it...
But the more I consider Rozhdestvensky the more remarkable his catalogue seems... I just remembered his stunning Gubaidulina recordings of the Offertorium and the Symphony in 12 Movements, which happen to be some of her finest works...

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search_v2?q=rozhdestvensky+gubaidulina+&i=boutique

[cloughie]

Gosh yes, I'd forgotten that - superb set, fresh and electrifying live readings of the complete cycle in pretty good sound - another eccentrically-packed Melodiya Boxset released as recently as 2013. 4 & 6 seem to create parallels with DSCH - Highest recommendation! (I should add that I never played the Sea Symphony,...which IIRC received some criticism)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vaughan-Williams-Symphonies-Polyansky-Rozhdestvensky/dp/B00JU5DGY8/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529253111&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=rozhdestvensky+vaughn+williams

And let's not forget all the BBC Legends issues - I can personally vouch for the Prokofiev 5th and the Rachmaninov 1st...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=rozhdestvensky+bbc+legends

Did anyone ever hear his Schumann Symphonies with the Estonians? It reviewed rather poorly for SQ and interpretation, so I never got hold of it...
But the more I consider Rozhdestvensky the more remarkable his catalogue seems... I just remembered his stunning Gubaidulina recordings of the Offertorium and the Symphony in 12 Movements, which happen to be some of her finest works...
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search_v...na+&i=boutique

A mention also for his LSO recordings on Pickwick of Tchaik 4 5 & 6 and also of Rachmaninov Sym 2. I also have some good raw Russian recordings of his on Russian Revelation of Rachmaninov 1 3 and Tchaik Manfred. Yes I'm a fan!

[jayne lee wilson]

Excellent Guardian piece today... note his comments on DSCH and Russian/Western Orchestras... I can only concur.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/17/gennady-rozhdestvensky-obituary

As I noted in Listening, I've played his Bruckner 9th across the night/day, and it's a recording of remarkable intensity, uniquely vivid orchestral colours and wildness of imagination - but wonderfully well-paced. (And if you like brasses to be at white-heat, then - wow ). I'd forgotten that the set includes the earliest Samale-Mazzucca finale to the 9th - it is still pretty episodic in 1984, but Rozh almost makes it work through sheer conviction and intensity alone... he really does convey that sense of setting out on a new journey,an exploration, that seems the essence of the movement. I was in tears over the beauty of the finale themes themselves...

I think it may finally be time for me to focus more closely on the various other 9th-Symphony finale recordings now....

[Dave2002]

Just remembered a concert in Hemel Hempstead Pavillion - now long gone (https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/pa...shed-1-1200359) - so went looking for traces of the performances.

I found this - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio3/1979-04-06 - with the BBC SO at 7.45pm.

GR paid scant attention to the acoustics. If the score was marked fff he had the orchestra play fff - despite the fact that the hall was a lot smaller than the RFH or Albert Hall. I actually got to dread each outburst from the timpani in the Walton. I think I also decided that on balance the Walton was louder than the Shostakovich.

I did enjoy the concert - but in a pained sort of way!

[Richard Tarleton]

Excellent Guardian piece today... note his comments on DSCH and Russian/Western Orchestras... I can only concur.

Ditto obit in The Times - lovely photo from a 1968 Prom, with Prommers behind him. Almost certain to be a Forumite or two there, albeit in late 60s+ now.... I can't reproduce it as it's multiple copyright inc Getty Images who are hot on this sort of thing....

[LMcD]

RIP

Elgar - Enigma Variations - Proms 2007

I've just watched this - an absolutely wonderful performance. 'Nimrod' was particularly beautiful - it reminded me of Pierre Monteux's recording with the LSO. And to think that GR had stepped in at short notice to replace an unavailable Daniele Gatti...

[BBMmk2]

I must get round to hearing that famous RVW cycle some time! Sacreligious of me not to have done!

[Rholben]

Just remembered a concert in Hemel Hempstead Pavillion - now long gone (https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/pa...shed-1-1200359) - so went looking for traces of the performances.

I found this - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio3/1979-04-06 - with the BBC SO at 7.45pm.

GR paid scant attention to the acoustics. If the score was marked fff he had the orchestra play fff - despite the fact that the hall was a lot smaller than the RFH or Albert Hall. I actually got to dread each outburst from the timpani in the Walton. I think I also decided that on balance the Walton was louder than the Shostakovich.

I did enjoy the concert - but in a pained sort of way!


I remember this very well too - the acoustic of The Pavilion was almost anechoic - and the performances were as you have described. I have a tape of the live FM broadcast.

[Barbirollians]

Sad news - time for a spin of his wonderful Pickwick Tchaikovsky 5 and that BBC Legends Prokofiev 5.

[BBMmk2]

Had a listen to the first movement of the RVW S1. Why on earth couldn't he import a British Choir(BBC SO Chorus for example) and British soloists? Couldn't stand their accents getting in the way!