Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013)

[kernelbogey]

I was very sad to hear this news yesterday. I haven't had time to read the whole thread or any obits yet. My brother first drew my attention to Colin (as he then was) when the brother was at Oxford and just getting interested in serious music, and I was in my mid teens. I think he had heard/seen him conducting Berlioz.

A small (second hand, alas) anecdote from Covent Garden. He was conducting an orchestral rehearsal (of course long before the relatively recent refurbishment, but after his time as Music Director) when as a result of a heavy rainstorm water started to pour in great quantities into the auditorium from the cupola.

'Keep playing, ladies and gentleman,' he cried without stopping; 'On the Titanic the orchestra kept playing till they went down'.

Se non e vero, e ben trovato.

RIP Sir Colin

[salymap]

In 1967 I attended the Memorial Service for Sir Malcolm Sargent, held in Westminster Abbey. The BBCSO was conducted by Colin Davis.

I know CD would shake his head at the suggestion but I hope there is to be a Memorial Service for Sir Colin, to allow the public to show their admiration and affection for him.

[Hornspieler]

Colin made a great contribution to us all with his promotion of the music of Hector Berlioz, but it was in his operatic work and particularly the operas of Mozart where he was truly outstanding as a conductor and interpreter.

He leaves behind many fond memories of his humour, his enthusiasm and his dedication to music at all levels of performance.

Sadly missed, but fondly remembered. I have his full recording and the bonus DVD extracts and interview from his Performance of Messiah with the LSO and Tenebrae Choir from the LSO Live series*. This, for me, is his fitting epitaph.

*SACD LSO 0607

R.I.P

[johnb]

Sadly missed, but fondly remembered. I have his full recording and the bonus DVD extracts and interview from his Performance of Messiah with the LSO and Tenebrae Choir from the LSO Live series*. This, for me, is his fitting epitaph.

*SACD LSO 0607

R.I.P

That sounds like the performance that was broadcast on BBC4 (Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles, Tenebre, LSO) with Maurice Murphy playing the trumpet solos.

I recorded it to DVD and treasure the recording for Maurice Murphy as well as CD.

[salymap]

That sounds like the performance that was broadcast on BBC4 (Susan Gritton
, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles, Tenebre, LSO) with Maurice Murphy playing the trumpet solos.

I recorded it to DVD and treasure the recording for Maurice Murphy as well as CD.

I recorded it on DVD too. Very fine butmy pointabout a MemorialService still stands.

[Petrushka]

Very fine but my point about a Memorial Service still stands.

I attended the memorial service (in Westminster Abbey) for Sir Georg Solti in 1998 and would certainly hope that Sir Colin has one too.

[Barbirollians]

I attended the memorial service (in Westminster Abbey) for Sir Georg Solti in 1998 and would certainly hope that Sir Colin has one too.

He was worth a thousand Thatchers IMO !

[amateur51]

He was worth a thousand Thatchers IMO !

[BBMmk2]

CD Review, at the time of writing, has Sir Colin's recording of Berlioz'z Grande messe des Morts. Unknowing(I think), that it was to be a poingnant epitaph.

[amateur51]

CD Review, at the time of writing, has Sir Colin's recording of Berlioz'z Grande messe des Morts. Unknowing(I think), that it was to be a poingnant epitaph.

A well-known phrase or saying?

[aeolium]

Did anyone else listen to the tribute on Music Matters yesterday? It was good in that it had a lot of extracts from interviews Sir Colin had given and was not just a series of tributes from other musicians (though Andrew Marriner had a couple of comments towards the end). The interviews seemed to suggest a kind of divorce between Sir Colin and the LSO after the mid-1960s when he was passed over for the role of Principal Conductor until perhaps the 1980s or later when he claimed to find it a completely different orchestra. Yet surely he had continued to conduct the LSO right through those years (Principal Guest Conductor in 1975) with landmark recordings of Berlioz and Tippett.

It was clear from the interviews that the composer closest to his heart was Mozart, and he made a comment to the effect that "Mozart gave us a glimpse into the Garden of Eden". I think that's more true of Haydn than Mozart, Haydn's Creation even stopping short of the Fall, while Don Giovanni is a world away from Eden. Perhaps given Sir Colin's apparent obsession with death, over many years, this quotation from one of Mozart's letters to his father would have been apt: "As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relations with this best and truest friend of mankind that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling!"

Sir Colin came across as a very honest, generous and humble man, without a shred of vanity. It was a good tribute.

[salymap]

That's interesting aeoliam. I didn't hear it but must listen after today,when I have visitors.

CD certainly changed over the years, carefree young man, prickly and touchy middle period, to a mature and
well balanced last half of his life,which made him such a wonderful interpreter of so much music.

itprobably happens to a lot of people buthe did it all in the public eye- that's the difference.

RIP CD

[Stanley Stewart]

Absolutely agree, aeolium. A most refreshing half hour which matched the changing elements out-of-doors, too! I warmed to his moment of self-appraisal when he matured from the imperious and controlling persona as he developed the confidence to relate to others in a wide field. And how astutely he coped with the change from George Solti's directorship at Covent Garden to a more subdued but no less demanding temperament. His rock-solid presence always served him well.

During the past week, I've finally managed to transfer a couple of off-air videos to a single DVD. Solti's final PROM in 1996 when he conducted Beethoven 9 with the CSO, followed by the penultimate PROM in 1997 when Sir Colin took over the Verdi Requiem after the sudden death of Sir George, a week before. A deeply moving performance and a perceptive director had the nous to freeze frame, mainly on Sir Colin during the 30 seconds of eloquent silence which followed the last note. Spoke volumes about the occasion and this was followed as the applause started by a poignant shot of an almost bereft Valerie Solti in the Hall.

Pleased to note that BBC 4 will show on May 3 a repeat of "Missa Solemnis" + interview with Sir Colin of the 2011 PROM performance at 19.30 hrs.

"From the heart to the heart"

[clive heath]

Probably in 1963 as the Gramophone reviewed it in late 1963 "This is marvellous Mozart playing, the best that Davis has yet given us", Colin Davis, as he then was, recorded the Prague and Linz symphonies with the English Chamber Orchestra, which turns out to be my only Davis LP.

I have quite a few CDs of Sir Colin as a conductor, all from LSO Live at the turn of the century and some from concerts at which we were present. I have completely forgotten Bruckner's Ninth and Gerontius ( shame on me!) but I do recall Elgar 2 and Berlioz, Symphony Fantasque, the latter especially as we were near the front and enjoyed the humming, Yuri Bashmet's viola in "Harold in Italy" which was the first half of the concert and Alexander Barantschik's perilous hyper-activity in the leader's chair.

I wondered why I might have purchased the LP but then I noticed it was a 1980 re-issue from a Decca source and it was about then that I enjoyed hearing and seeing Sir Colin conduct two of his string-playing sons soloing in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the school orchestra.

If the symphonies might be of interest to you they will be found on

https://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/vinyl.php

[Nick Armstrong]

Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013)

Tributes on BBC4 TV on Friday next week, including a new hour-long interview from earlier this year.

Sir Colin Davis with love

In Performance BBC4 7:30pm - 8pm

Petroc Trelawny pays tribute to acclaimed classical music conductor Colin Davis, who died last month at the age of 85. The programme includes footage from his Davis' televised concert at the 2011 Proms, in which he conducted part of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the London Philharmonic Chorus. With soloists Helena Juntunen, Sarah Connolly, Paul Groves and Matthew Rose.

In his own words BBC4 8pm - 9pm

An interview with Colin Davis, filmed shortly before his death. The conductor - who shot to fame in the 1960s as Malcolm Sargent's successor at The Proms - talks to John Bridcut about his life, beliefs and musical passions.