Wolfgang Sawallisch RIP

[amateur51]

I was going to flag up that wonderful Capriccio. With Schwarzkopf, Waechter, Gedda, Fischer-Dieskau, Hotter, Ludwig and Moffo. What a cast.

Thanks for an outstandingly interesting post, Gordon.

Seconded, thanks Gordon

[Gordon]

In #13 I mentioned Dennis Brain, he and Sawallisch did of course record a superb pair of Strauss Horn Concerti in September 1956 at Abbey Road almost a year to the day before Dennis' death. You can see Dennis' horn after its repair at the York Gate collection at the RCM.

[Karafan]

Thanks for the great post and image, Gordon. Just been re-reading your trilogy of articles on Kingsway Hall - ever fresh and a delight to return to.

We mustn't forget also what a gifted Brucknerian he was, with some splendid symphonies with the Bayreisches Staatsorchester, on Orfeo. A recent - and glorious - discovery for me. (Also his splendid and seldom challenged 1962 Lohengrin or Tannhäuser!)

RIP Wolfgang Sawallisch

[Nick Armstrong]

Just been re-reading your trilogy of articles on Kingsway Hall - ever fresh and a delight to return to.

Ah! Where can these be found? I'm fascinated by the KH, I cycle past (almost) its site every day (and later in the trip, past the site of the Queen's Hall) and wish both were still part of musical life in London.

[Karafan]

Ah! Where can these be found? I'm fascinated by the KH, I cycle past (almost) its site every day (and later in the trip, past the site of the Queen's Hall) and wish both were still part of musical life in London.

Spring, Summer and Autumn 2004's editions of the Classic Record Collector, Cali - and they are excellent and very comprehensive!

[Nick Armstrong]

Spring, Summer and Autumn 2004's editions of the Classic Record Collector, Cali - and they are excellent and very comprehensive!

Are these available to the general public? (online?)

[Karafan]

Are these available to the general public? (online?)

Mine are copies of the CRC, I don't think they're available online AFAIK Cali, sorry. Gordon may be better placed to advise.

K.

[Gordon]

Ah! Where can these be found? I'm fascinated by the KH, I cycle past (almost) its site every day (and later in the trip, past the site of the Queen's Hall) and wish both were still part of musical life in London.

Glad of your interest Cal. Drop me a PM and your email and I'll send you an electronic copy. I doubt you'll be able to get them as reprints or as back issues from CRC. They could do with a little bit of updating [discographic material and some Museum of London stuff on an archeological dig] but they are basically sound! I do an FRMS evening of recordings from KH and they seem to go down well, endless supply of material!!

[Nick Armstrong]

Glad of your interest Cal. Drop me a PM and your email and I'll send you an electronic copy. I doubt you'll be able to get them as reprints or as back issues from CRC. They could do with a little bit of updating [discographic material and some Museum of London stuff on an archeological dig] but they are basically sound! I do an FRMS evening of recordings from KH and they seem to go down well, endless supply of material!!

Crumbs not half! Thanks Gordon.

[gurnemanz]

Versatile Kapellmeister of the old school. Also a formidable Lieder accompanist. I've been listening to some Brahms songs with Fischer-Dieskau - also, of course, recently deceased.

[Barbirollians]

I was going to flag up that wonderful Capriccio. With Schwarzkopf, Waechter, Gedda, Fischer-Dieskau, Hotter, Ludwig and Moffo. What a cast.

Thanks for an outstandingly interesting post, Gordon.

Christa Ludwig is still with us .

[bluestateprommer]

Tributes from musicians with Philadelphia connections (as well as a few civilians) are at this post from the Inquirer's "Artswatch" blog:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch/Tributes-to-Wolfgang-Sawallisch.html

I especially liked reading about David Hayes' tribute about the new idea for Ein Deutsches Requiem that Sawallisch was willing to give a go (although Simon Woods' memory is perhaps one for the overly false modesty on Sawallisch's part, but in a good way).

The obit from The Guardian, c/o the Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns, has some overlap with the full blog obit that Petrushka initially noted (note the family heartbreaker at the very end):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/24/wolfgang-sawallisch

The NYT has their tribute as follows (though Anne Midgette is unwittingly anachronistic in citing Fritz Wunderlich at one point):

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/arts/music/wolfgang-sawallisch-german-conductor-dies-at-89.html?ref=music&_r=0&pagewanted=all

I only saw Sawallisch conduct live once, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia back in 1995, in a concert performance of Ariadne auf Naxos. No less than Werner Klemperer had the spoken part of the Major-Domo. After the performance, near the stage door, I caught a glimpse of Sawallisch and his wife Mechthild going to their hired car for the evening. It would have seemed tacky to ask the maestro for an autograph. Amazingly, Google turned up this article from the time:

http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-09/news/25674151_1_ariadne-zerbinetta-mechthild-gessendorf

[JFLL]

I was interested to read in one of the obituaries that Sawallisch refused to perform Bach’s B Minor Mass on the grounds that he thought he wouldn’t be able to add anything to what was already there in the score: ‘This work is such a monumental expression of the ability of the human mind to express the greatest thoughts in music, that I feel there is nothing I could bring to a performance which is not already on the page.’ That’s modesty for you. (And if all conductors exercised similar self-restraint it would make the job of the presenters of Building a Library a lot easier )

[Nick Armstrong]

(And if all conductors exercised similar self-restraint it would make the job of the presenters of Building a Library a lot easier )

If all of them did, there wouldn't be a Building a Library, due to a lack of any performances - but I imagine that is the ironic point you are highlighting with your

But if some of them did, it would make BAL easier, that's for sure.

It begs a lot of questions, though. WS's comment - rather an 'ivory tower' approach. What he or anyone else brings to it (over what is "on the page") is - at the very least - audibility: otherwise non-score-readers would never experience it.

[JFLL]

If all of them did, there wouldn't be a Building a Library, due to a lack of any performances - but I imagine that is the ironic point you are highlighting with your
But if some of them did, it would make BAL easier, that's for sure.

Oh, these legal eagles!

It begs a lot of questions, though. WS's comment - rather an 'ivory tower' approach. What he or anyone else brings to it (over what is "on the page") is - at the very least - audibility: otherwise non-score-readers would never experience it

The obituarist does admittedly call it ‘a rare bout of artistic timidity’. Perhaps he meant that he thought he couldn’t do full justice to the work, or add anything new. But as others here have pointed out, some of his finest recordings are of the Schubert masses and other church music, so maybe his ‘timidity/modesty’ was misplaced in this case.