A forgotten Mahler master would have been 100 today

A forgotten Mahler master would have been 100 today

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norman lebrecht

March 06, 2014

There will be a concert in Amsterdam tonight in memory of Kirill Kondrashin, the Russian exile who was named principal guest conductor of the Concertgebouw in 1978 and died three years later, on a day he was due to conduct Mahler’s first symphony.

His defection stunned the Soviets, who suppressed all his past recordings. Kondrashin had been a recipient of the Stalin medal. He conducted Van Cliburn to victory at the Tchaikovsky competition and formed a warm personal friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich.

 

kondrashin, shostakovich

Mariss Jansons and Valery Gergiev pay tribute to his genius in a Dutch radio programme. See release:

 

Amsterdam, 6 maart 2013

Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest draagt concert op aan Kirill Kondrashin

Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest draagt zijn concert van vanavond op aan Kirill Kondrashin (1914-1981). De

Russische dirigent en orkestpedagoog was van 1979 tot 1981 vaste dirigent naast Bernard Haitink. Beide

dirigenten hebben een essentiële bijdrage geleverd aan het spel en de klankkleur van het Concertgebouworkest.

Algemeen directeur Jan Raes zal voor aanvang van het concert een moment stilstaan bij de honderdste

geboortedag van Kondrashin.

Op het programma, onder leiding van Myung-Whun Chung, staan Beethovens Tweede symfonie en een werk dat

Kondrashin ook meerdere malen met het Concertgebouworkest uitvoerde, de Symphonie fantastique van Berlioz.

Kirill Kondrashin debuteerde in 1968 bij het Concertgebouworkest en keerde daarna regelmatig als gastdirigent

terug. Vanaf 1975 fungeerde hij als vaste gastdirigent en orkestpedagoog. In 1979 werd Kondrashin benoemd tot

vaste dirigent naast Bernard Haitink. Helaas overleed Kondrashin op 7 maart 1981 aan een hartaanval.

Ter gelegenheid van de honderdste geboortedag van de dirigent heeft de Kirill Kondrashin Stichting haar

vermogen overgedragen aan de Stichting Donateurs Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest. Sinds Kondrashins dood

heeft de Kirill Kondrashin Stichting zijn naam en het gedachtengoed uitgedragen door het ondersteunen van

talentontwikkeling, bijvoorbeeld door het financieren van prijzen, boeken en filmopnamen. Het resterende

vermogen is ondergebracht in het vandaag opgerichte Kirill Kondrashin Fonds bij de Stichting Donateurs. Het zal

worden aangewend om Kondrashins naam in ere te houden middels projecten die de ontwikkeling van

uitzonderlijk muzikaal talent ondersteunen, zoals een masterclass voor dirigenten.

Vanaf 5 maart staat de documentaire Het testament van Kirill Petrovich online bij Cultura 24. Op

www.cultura.nl/klassiek is deze prachtige film over Kondrashin, die Hans Heg, Mia van ‘t Hof en Kees van

Langeraad in 1989 maakten, tien dagen lang te zien. Interessant zijn de interviews met de toen nog zeer jonge

dirigenten Mariss Jansons en Valery Gergiev.

 

Comments

  • Johan Korssell says:

    Kondrashin was not due to, he actually conducted Mahler’s first symphony in the Concertgebouw, on the very day he died. The orchestra was the NDR orchestra of Hamburg on tour, and there is a recording of it.

  • Gerard says:

    2013 should be 2014…

    ”on a day he was due to conduct Mahler’s first symphony”‘. In fact, he did conduct the matinee concert with the NDR orchestra. Kondrashin replaced Klaus Tennstedt at last notice.

    • Michael Schaffer says:

      Yes and I heard that Tennstedt wasn’t just sick – as he often was – he actually *quit* on the orchestra, whose principal conductor he was, in the middle of that tour. I don’t remember any other details though.

  • mbhaub says:

    Forgotten by whom? Many collectors avidly seek out his recordings. His Mahler may not be “traditional”, and he sure ignored a lot of Mahler’s notations, but is there any recording of the 7th that makes the finale so joyous and just fun? (The Concertgebouw recording). His Scheherazade, New World, Capriccio Espanola, Comedians, are easily among the best ever. He’s not forgotten in this household by any means.

  • kanapoika says:

    I spent nearly four decades working in one of Canada’s orchestras, and can say that Kondrashin was the finest

    conductor I ever had the privilege to experience. It was April, 1976, and Kondrashin had brought with him the newly-minted 15th Symphony of Shostakovich. A revelation.

    On the wall of my studio hangs a framed, autographed photo of this great artist.

  • Neil van der Linden says:

    He did unforgettable Shostakoviches for Philips and among many other treasures I cherish his recordings of Khatchaturian’s piano concerto with Scriabin’s reconstructed sketches for the first part of his Mysterium, but also Chausson’s Poeme with Oistrakh stood out..

  • NYMike says:

    In ’58, the same year he conducted Cliburn in NY, he conducted Butterfly @ Chicago’s Lyric Opera with (If I remember correctly) Tebaldi and Björling. During rehearsals, he was affable but guarded around his “interpreters” read: KGB. The performances were magical, done as a 3-movement symphony without constricting the singers. This was one of the highlights in my playing career.

  • Andrey says:

    He is not forgotten indeed. There is a Kirill Kondrashin conductors competition in a Holland, regular master classes his name. By the way his very interesting book is translated to many languages, including English.

    And we all should remember that it was Kirill Kondrashin, who conducted premiere of Shostakovich Fourth symphony in 60th, and premiere of famous “Babi Yar” -symphony n. 13. Without him it wouldn’t be possible.

    So, we do remember this big Maestro. His interpretation of Tchaikovsky, ( especially Suite n. 3), Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev belong to the very best.

  • schöne müllerin says:

    1981 wurde Kondrashin zum Chefdirigenten des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks designiert, starb aber überraschend, bevor er dieses Amt antreten konnte.

    in english: 1981, he was called to be the principal conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, but died unexpectedly , before he could start to work in Munich.

    Hopefully not too much Germany to be mentionned….

  • Andrey says:

    Until March 14 you can watch documentary about Maestro Konrashin here:

    http://www.cultura.nl/genres/klassiek/2014/Het-testament-van-Kirill-Petrovitch.html

    It is in Dutch, and quite old (1989), but it worse to be seen in any case.

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