Gidon Kremer: My father lost 35 in his family to the Nazis
NewsThe violinist gives a rare glimpse into his background. He says:
‘I am – so to speak – my father’s second life.
‘He suffered so much in the War. 35 of his relatives – including his wife and his 18 month-old daughter – were murdered in the Riga ghetto.
‘He was able to escape and he met my mother, a German, after the War.
‘Those are the circumstances of my birth. ‘That’s why I see myself as my father’s second life.
‘After such a tragedy he wanted to plant something good in me.
‘He also gave me the strength that a lot can be achieved if one is honest, and true to oneself.
‘I have a family history and, because of it, I feel I have a duty to do something… I am a defender of human rights, in Russia, in Ukraine…’
Watch the 6-minute video here.
Very impressive. Impossible not to show compassion to Gidon Kremer’s account.
There is no doubt Gidon Kremer is one of the great violin virtuosos of our time. While some of his recordings are unmistakably in my “reference list”, there are some that I am sceptikal about. I am sure that I will never forgive his abominable cadenze i Beethoven’s concerto (that thing he recorded with Harnoncourt! – which is even more startling); he should keep to the Schnittke, if he wanted to be inovative or unconventional just in Beethoven.
“abominable cadenza” – thanks for this. I didn’t know it, looked for it, and found it fascinating – a version of Beethoven’s own cadenza in his piano transcription of the concerto. Certainly worth hearing at least once. As well as the Harnoncourt recording, he does it here with the NHK orchestra (though without piano this time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0ktYkxwes
It was Beethoven’s cadenza for the piano version ruined by synchronizing a tape recording of a ill-sounding (electronical?) piano providing the notes that could not be played by the violinist. It was a rare occasion when Beethoven made me feel bad. For comparison listen to the cadenza provided by Wolfgang Schneiderhan from the same source (Beethoven’s piano cadenza).
Thanks. More digging suggests that it was a real piano, off-stage, transmitted through speakers (not a tape-recording). Certainly rather weird and jarring.The Schneiderhahn version, with just timpani, is much more tasteful – and the version orchestrated by Victor Kissine (in e.g. the Kremer/Zinman NHK YT video, and in the Henle Gidon Kremer edition) works even better (in my opinion).
https://slippedisc.com/2011/07/gidon-kremer-why-i-quit-the-celebrity-ratrace/ He once wrote this memorable letter to Martin Engstroem…
He’s amazing. Hats off to him.