Gennady would have been 90

No-one figured out the enigma that was Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

On the one hand he stepped up to head a Soviet Ministry of Culture Orchestra when the others were deemed to be infected with dissidents. On the other, he conducted every new symphony of Alfred Schnittke and when they banned him in Moscow, Gennady put his orchestra on a train and gave the premiere in the boondocks.

A charming, witty companion, he was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony, the Vienna Symphony and Stockholm Phil, skimping famously on rehearsals so he could take his wife shopping. But the concerts lacked nothing in passion and precision.

He was a magician and a very private man.

Gennady who died in June 2018, would have turned 90 this week.

We miss him