Victor Hochhauser is Dead.

[Conchis]

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/24/victor-hochhauser-obituary

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I remember seeing the almost daily press adverts for his London Tchaikovsky concerts. The programme never seemed to change, and included the 1st piano concerto, the Sleeping Beauty Waltz plus 1812. They must have been successful; otherwise they wouldn’t have continued for so many years.

[BBMmk2]

Heard this on Radio 3 and he certainly had a good innings!

[Conchis]

I think his early reputation put him on a par with Raymon Gubbay (ie, a populist) but his work with the Kirov seemed to elevate him somewhat.

[Darkbloom]

These kinds of concerts are a bit of a mystery to me. It's like the existence in London of the Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse, you never know anyone who has ever been yet they carry on regardless. In terms of money spent (as everyone on this forum knows) classical music, even opera, can be experienced very cheaply, yet there is still a market for these things that are supposedly more accessible. Maybe they cater for tourists who have heard of the Proms and couldn't get tickets for Phantom of the Opera.

[Conchis]

These kinds of concerts are a bit of a mystery to me. It's like the existence in London of the Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse, you never know anyone who has ever been yet they carry on regardless. In terms of money spent (as everyone on this forum knows) classical music, even opera, can be experienced very cheaply, yet there is still a market for these things that are supposedly more accessible. Maybe they cater for tourists who have heard of the Proms and couldn't get tickets for Phantom of the Opera.

I've been to an Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse, once. I'd never go again.

I think classical music has its 'casual fandom', like every other kind of music. The people who went to Victor Hochauser concerts and who still go to Raymond Gubbay events are most likely the same people who go to see the LSO playing classical pops at Kenwood House or the RPO playing the greatest hits of Queen at the AH.

[Richard Tarleton]

I think his early reputation put him on a par with Raymon Gubbay (ie, a populist) but his work with the Kirov seemed to elevate him somewhat.

Erm......from The Times obituary......

......he brought the virtuoso Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter to Britain for the first time. British concerts of the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich were cited by Julian Lloyd Webber as the reason he took up the instrument. In the words of Isaiah Berlin, Hochhauser performed “a unique service to British musical life”.

When Rostropovich defected in 1974 and spent most of the next year in Hochhauser’s north London home, the supply line of maestros and prima ballerinas from Moscow halted. Hochhauser proceeded to book Nureyev in the knowledge that it no longer mattered how much damage it did to his relationship with the Soviet Union.
Hochhauser’s modus operandi was to book the best; the Iron Curtain could be surmounted. As such, he bombarded the Russian embassy with requests to book the violinist David Oistrakh. The answer, while Stalin was alive, was “nyet”: the Soviet Union would not do business with capitalists. After Stalin’s death in 1953, the Kremlin decided that a display of Russian cultural superiority may not be a bad thing after all. A year later, Hochhauser booked Oistrakh for a concert at the Albert Hall. It was a sensation.

...........................


His first formal Anglo-Soviet agreement was signed in 1961, and included arrangements for a visit by the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya to sing Aida at Covent Garden. When Lord Harewood assembled Oistrakh, Rostropovich and Dmitri Shostakovich at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival, the first thing he did was to contact Hochhauser............


......................


As a result of his friendship with Rostropovich, who in 1974 stayed at the Hochhauser’s north London home instead of returning to Moscow after speaking out in favour of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the outspoken critic of the Soviet Union, Hochhauser’s relations with the Russians froze. During this time Rostropovich took part in the household’s strictly observed Sabbath rituals. He also taught Hochhauser’s children the cello. They would play for him in turn in the living room; he would award prizes.

Perestroika allowed the Hochhausers to resume booking Russian artists, starting with Richter in 1991. The impresario continued to organise shows in London up to his death. He and his wife promoted the Mariinsky Ballet at the Royal Opera House in 2017 and have organised shows by the Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Opera House this summer. The family will continue as promoters.

Read the full story - a remarkable man.

[Maclintick]

Erm......from The Times obituary......



Read the full story - a remarkable man.

Yes indeed, & Victor & Lilian -- a remarkable power-duo. I believe Ray Gubbay had his first job in the music business with Victor -- the interview lasting short of a minute, consisting of 2 questions, the second of which was "Can you start on Monday ?". Incredible to realise VH was virtually negotiating with Stalin & his apparatchiks after WW2, finally wearing down their successors to ensure those great artists, Oistrakh, Richter, Rostropovich et al came to share their music with us...