Mariss Jansons 1943 - 2019

[Darkbloom]

Jansons with the BRSO were a real team, and the few times I saw them live were always memorable. I was surprised to see recently that some people on here found him a bit safe and dull, but I couldn't disagree more. That Proms Heldenleben has been mentioned but the Dvorak 8 in the first half was also sensational. I remember hearing the Tchaik 4 with Pittsburgh on the radio and being envious of those lucky enough to hear it live.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I never saw him conducting live, but like others I saw Arvid in action. He was so popular in Manchester that many people wanted him to be Barbirolli's successor.

[cloughie]

I never saw him conducting live, but like others I saw Arvid in action. He was so popular in Manchester that many people wanted him to be Barbirolli's successor.

Yes it was a straight choice between him and Loughran!

[Edgy 2]

Very sad news

Just listened to his BRSO Brahms 1

RIP

[Maclintick]

Orchestras always seemed to enjoy playing for him: a Barbican concert with the Bavarians in 2017 (Prokofiev, DSCH and Rachmaninov).
RIP.

That was very special -- one of those rare occasions where a visiting orchestra was coaxed into defying the unfriendly Barbican acoustics & conjure an unaccustomed glow to the sound in that concrete bunker -- magical. MY was top-class. RIP

[Master Jacques]

Very sad news. Mariss Jansons provided me with one of those few, perfect evenings in the opera house, conducting a thrilling Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in Amsterdam (2006), searingly directed by Martin Kušej and with Eva-Maria Westbroek stupendous in the title role. The final image was daring - all lights off, except a single spot on the conductor himself, willing on that extraordinary final crescendo. Never was such focus so well-deserved. I never heard a Jansons performance (father, in Manchester when I was a boy, included!) which didn't illuminate something new.

[alywin]

I, too, saw Arvid Jansons conduct the Halle both in Stoke on Trent and Manchester in 1978 but Mariss was one of the few conductors I would make a special effort to see, especially at the Proms. I met him just the once after a Barbican Shostakovich Leningrad with the RCO but the most unforgettable concert I heard him give was of that very same symphony in a blistering performance with the St Petersburg PO in Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Remember also that BRSO Heldenleben when the stage lights went off during the battle scene and both orchestra and conductor carried on regardless.

All of his Proms I attended whether with the Pittsburgh SO, Oslo PO, RCO or the BRSO were special events. RIP Mariss Jansons.

I totally agree with you - I feel as though a light has just gone out in my life.

RIP, Maestro.

[frankbridge]

Very sad news, as a lot of posters have said. I was lucky to see him live quite often (particularly at the Proms) conducting the Olso and the Bavarian RSO in Mahler 2, etc. I've also got on CD his cycle of Tchaikovsky Symphonies on Chandos, which I rate very highly. And of course I did see his father Arvid as a schoolboy with the USSR SO in Birmingham Town Hall in 1983 playing Khachaturian's Violin Concerto.

RIP Mariss

[BBMmk2]

I was shocked and saddened. My late father had similar problems. So I know what this entails. RIP Mariss. Your memory lives on with your great recordings.

[Barbirollians]

Sad news - saw him conduct the Leningrad Philharmonic at Sheffield City Hall in 1987 on their tour of the UK - a sensational sold out concert .

I did not have many of his records but I have long treasured the Oslo Tchaikovsky 5 and his EMI Rachmaninov recordings.

[Stanfordian]

I saw Mariss conduct some 6 weeks ago in Munich and he looked extremely unwell.

This is extremely sad news although probably no surprise.

I was a massive admirer of his conducting. He will be greatly missed!

R-I-P Mariss

[akiralx]

Here in Melbourne we were fortunate to hear him in 2013 on his Far East/Australian tour with the RCO where he got a huge reception (the Sydney Opera House was illuminated in orange for the Dutch). He had missed the Beijing concert owing to poor air quality, so we were worried he would not appear but seemed in fine form, conducting Wagenaar's Taming of the Shrew Overture, the Firebird Suite, and a wonderful Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony.

I really treasure his Oslo recording of the Polish Symphony and the St Petersburg Rachmaninov Third Symphony, and many others. Rest in Peace, maestro.

[Alison]

I saw Mariss conduct some 6 weeks ago in Munich and he looked extremely unwell.

This is extremely sad news although probably no surprise.

I was a massive admirer of his conducting. He will be greatly missed!

R-I-P Mariss

I wonder if that was his last performance Stanners?

[Petrushka]

I wonder if that was his last performance Stanners?

I think his last concert was on November 8 in Carnegie Hall, New York, with the BRSO, Alison.

A recording of part of the concert is here https://www.wqxr.org/story/listen-di...gie-hall-live/

I've not listened to it but understand from the comments that the Strauss 4 Last Songs has been omitted from the recording as Diana Damrau was unwell and not in best voice. Pity.

[Alison]

Thanks Pet. Did you acquire the MJ Mahler 9 BRSO??