Zubin turns out for bassoon king’s 90th
mainTomorrow’s concert by Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion honours the 90th birthday of bassoon player Mordechai Rechtman, who will step up to conduct Beethoven’s fourth symphony.
Rechtman, a refugee from Hitler’s Germany, was principal bassoon of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1946 to 1991. He went on to become music director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra Wind Ensemble. He is a widely performed composer and a teacher of practically everyone in Israel who makes a living on the basoon.
Zubin Mehta will be sitting front row tomorrow.
Countless wind musicians, from high schoolers to seasoned professionals, perform his arrangements: many of them for wind quintet, but for other combinations as well.