Misunderstood/neglected/ignored conductors

[salymap]

Yes waldhorn is a very nice man and has some wonderful back- stage stories ams - and yes, there's not much to laugh at/with these days.

[Nick Armstrong]

In the (paraphrased) words of Peter Sellers, 'what about Leslie Jones indeed?'

1) Made lots of LPs of Haydn symphonies, with 'warmer' interpretations than the approximately contemporaneous ones that were being done in Vienna by Max Gobermann with his razor-sharp, somewhat charmless band (the Vienna Phil in disguise?)

2) had a bee in his bonnet about which octave the horns had to play in. Ruthlessly applied a 'rule' that anything in B flat or C had to have the horns screaming away an octave higher than anybody else in the orchestra.

Fortunately his timpanist seems to have been instructed to hit his drums so hard that said horns were rendered mostly inaudible as well as everyone else.

Great stuff, waldo!!

[Nick Armstrong]

Günther Herbig is not often seen on concert platforms or CDs in UK but he's a conductor whom I rate highly

Cracking Dvorak 8 with the BBC Phil on the R3 afternoon programme just now

[cloughie]

Cracking Dvorak 8 with the BBC Phil on the R3 afternoon programme just now

Cali, Strange he should be mentioned I also listened this afternoon, a civilised rather than extrovert performance of what is one of my favourite symphonies, but i wondered when the recording was made and whether Herr Herbig was still with us, hence my reference to Wiki - and checking it out was more rewarding than trying to solve the current AA setting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Herbig

[Simon B]

Cali, Strange he should be mentioned I also listened this afternoon, a civilised rather than extrovert performance of what is one of my favourite symphonies, but i wondered when the recording was made and whether Herr Herbig was still with us, hence my reference to Wiki - and checking it out was more rewarding than trying to solve the current AA setting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Herbig

He certainly seemed pretty alive when he conducted Shostakovich 4 in Manchester in May 2010... He's made a number of appearances with the BBCPO in the last few years (I recall e.g. a Bruckner 9 and 8).

Unfortunately he seems to particularly qualify for this thread on that evidence - in the case of the Shostakovich the audience only just about outnumbered the orchestra. Only a few years previously Sinaisky conducted the same work to a full house. Quite why Herbig has attained such a level of un-notoriety here is anyone's guess - the Bruckners were magnificent. The Shostakovich did less for me, seeming a bit lacking in tension and ferocity compared with previous live Sinaiskys and Gergievs, but that's maybe just a matter of taste or the consequence of a huge orchestra playing to 50 people and a guide dog...

[Sara]

I've found a Frederick Marshall conducting the Lavenham Sinfonia, but he could well not be your FM

He is indeed your Frederick Marshall, or rather very sadly, he was. He died two or three years ago, in his early 80s.

Fred had been for a while the Musical Director of the Old Vic theatre Company before he left London, and had many fond tales to tell of those roistering times. He was very fond of a drink, right up until the end, and I fear this somewhat stunted his career which was a pity, since he had terrific passion for and a real commitment to music. He never had a television, and would regularly leave company to go home to listen to something particular on Radio 3. In fact, he never listened to anything else but Radio 3. He had a piano in his tiny house however, and played regularly right into old age, getting an operation on his hands in his late 60s or early 70s since the conducting had given him carpal tunnel syndrome.

I knew him only in his Lavenham days, since about 1987. He'd lived in this area for many years, and founded the Lavenham Sinfonia with Jessie Ridley who played First Violin in the orchestra. wearing a cream DJ, Fred conducted with great verve and presence, his hair flying and his glasses glittering.

The Sinfonia was very highly thought of, and, as Fred put it "got them on the way up and on the way down". I believe there are videos on the web of the orchestra playing in Fred's day, if you wish to google for them.

They played several concerts a year in the magnificent church at Lavenham - it's one of the finest 'wool churches' in Suffolk and has a splendid acoustic. Fred used to be very amused by the fact that the Vicar's name a few years back was the 'Reverend Stiff'! They'd also play sometimes at nearby Long Melford.

Fred was very sociable and great fun to be with, and he's much missed in Lavenham. He was also very interested in archaeology, and he was a great reader, and avid supporter of the [old] Labour Party.

I believe Jessie has carried on with the orchestra, although I rarely get over to Lavenham these days as I moved some miles away just before Fred died.

[John Shelton]

I suppose the four don't really qualify, being hardly obscure, but my nominations would be Michael Gielen, a man insightful in the central classical repertoire and central in performing contemporary music; Lothar Zagrosek who I've always thought a fine musician ...

... and a hero of mine, Frans Brüggen .

I also rate Herbert Blomstedt one of the greatest of Bruckner conductors.

[Sara]

This one will 'fox' you! What happened to Frederick Marshall - conductor of something called 'London Hospitals orchestra',I believe, studied conducting a the RCM a long time ago.

Further to my last post, here's an account of Fred stepping down from the Sinfonia in 2008, from the local press:

http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/fred-s-30-years-with-the-elastic-band-at-lavenham-1-559368

http://www.lavenham-sinfonia.co.uk/

[salymap]

He is indeed your Frederick Marshall, or rather very sadly, he was. He died two or three years ago, in his early 80s.

Fred had been for a while the Musical Director of the Old Vic theatre Company before he left London, and had many fond tales to tell of those roistering times. He was very fond of a drink, right up until the end, and I fear this somewhat stunted his career which was a pity, since he had terrific passion for and a real commitment to music. He never had a television, and would regularly leave company to go home to listen to something particular on Radio 3. In fact, he never listened to anything else but Radio 3. He had a piano in his tiny house however, and played regularly right into old age, getting an operation on his hands in his late 60s or early 70s since the conducting had given him carpal tunnel syndrome.

I knew him only in his Lavenham days, since about 1987. He'd lived in this area for many years, and founded the Lavenham Sinfonia with Jessie Ridley who played First Violin in the orchestra. wearing a cream DJ, Fred conducted with great verve and presence, his hair flying and his glasses glittering.

The Sinfonia was very highly thought of, and, as Fred put it "got them on the way up and on the way down". I believe there are videos on the web of the orchestra playing in Fred's day, if you wish to google for them.

They played several concerts a year in the magnificent church at Lavenham - it's one of the finest 'wool churches' in Suffolk and has a splendid acoustic. Fred used to be very amused by the fact that the Vicar's name a few years back was the 'Reverend Stiff'! They'd also play sometimes at nearby Long Melford.

Fred was very sociable and great fun to be with, and he's much missed in Lavenham. He was also very interested in archaeology, and he was a great reader, and avid supporter of the [old] Labour Party.

I believe Jessie has carried on with the orchestra, although I rarely get over to Lavenham these days as I moved some miles away just before Fred died.

Thanks for this and PM Sara. Good but rather sad to catch up on FM but not to be able to contact him over his triumphs and commiserate over other things. Thanks again/salymap

e

[french frank]

He is indeed your Frederick Marshall, or rather very sadly, he was. He died two or three years ago, in his early 80s.

Thank you for communicating that bit of news, Sara. I will, sadly - and reverently - remove him from the Friends of Radio 3 mailing list (I suppose there was an obit. somewhere, but I missed it).

[Sara]

Thank you for communicating that bit of news, Sara. I will, sadly - and reverently - remove him from the Friends of Radio 3 mailing list (I suppose there was an obit. somewhere, but I missed it).

There wasn't really an obit - see my remarks above about Fred's wife! There might have been one if his close friend Robin Golding hadn't predeceased him. Robin wrote all the programme notes for the Sinfonia from its inception; he and Fred shared their deep knowledge of music in a long friendship. Robin sadly died a couple of years before Fred. Lavenham is a duller place without them both.

[Ferretfancy]

Has anybody mentioned Yuri Temirkanov? I've just listened to his RPO recording of Le Baiser de la Fee, rather dreamy with a very wide dynamic range and a lot more Tchaikovsky than in Stravinsky's own performance. Temirkanov gave a stunning performance of Gliere's Iya Mourometz at the Proms a few years ago, managing this rather prolix but fascinating piece without any of the cuts than some conductors introduce and making it completely convincing.

[french frank]

Given the title of the thread, Fred's last letter is interesting: point 4 of his criticisms of R3:

"What about the many composers who are completely neglected, e.g.Fartein Valen (much admired by Glock, who did nothing when he got the hot seat). We did the violin concerto last year. But [illegible] Lutyens, Searle, Rawsthorne, Eisler, Webern, Schoenberg, Dallapiccola, Xenakis, Boulez, Nordheim - or anyone who is doing anything new who has brains!"

[cloughie]

Has anybody mentioned Yuri Temirkanov? I've just listened to his RPO recording of Le Baiser de la Fee, rather dreamy with a very wide dynamic range and a lot more Tchaikovsky than in Stravinsky's own performance. Temirkanov gave a stunning performance of Gliere's Iya Mourometz at the Proms a few years ago, managing this rather prolix but fascinating piece without any of the cuts than some conductors introduce and making it completely convincing.

I suspect he doesn't always fully obey composers' instructions but his performances are usually interesting.

[Beef Oven]

It is surely a mystery why Carl Schuricht is so neglected as a conductor, and even as a Bruckner conductor too.

Bruckner 9 Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra