Death of a noted concertmaster, 60

Death of a noted concertmaster, 60

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norman lebrecht

March 04, 2018

Serguei Azizian, professor of violin at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen, has suddenly died.

An Armenian who became concertmaster of the Leningrad Philharmonic from 1980 to 1993, he moved to the Copenhagen Philharmonic as concertmaster, retiring in 2011.

Serguei was an important figure in Danish musical life, winner of the 2009 Carl Nielsen and Anne-Marie Carl Nielsen Award.

Comments

  • Andrew Condon says:

    I hesitate to post a negative comment about an obviously fine player who has been taken from us far too young, but I was quite shocked to hear the clip from the cadenza to the Britten Concerto. This is a fully written out cadenza by the composer so I fail to see the need to add anything extra. You wouldn’t add your own twists and turns to the Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky or Bartok no 2 cadenzas (all of which have written out cadenzas by the composer), so why here? Not good. I shall listen to Mr Friend’s recording forthwith to expunge the memory of this travesty!

  • Jewelyard says:

    Why beat up on someone who just died? Are you that much of an a-hole?

  • ViolinDad says:

    Serguei was a wonderful teacher and an amazing person. He had been ill for some months but kept teaching as much as he could until the much too early end. He will be sorely missed and long remembered.

  • Eva says:

    What a disgraceful comment,not to say more. Shame on you. Serguei was a wonderful person and a great violinist and teacher. RIP

  • Pearl says:

    Andrew Condon,

    Just because a cadenza is written out in no way excludes additional embellishment. I am sure Britten, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and the like would have been very pleased to hear any of their cadenzas played in a new way, in the style of the great Baroque masters. As Liszt said, “We’ve heard that one before, let’s have something new”.

  • Tamás Vető says:

    A phantastic musician a charming person with an enormous knowledge and musicality
    Left us.

    We will always remember him.

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