On his birthday anniversary, here’s Leonard Bernstein in 1966 to conduct probably my favorite symphony, the Symphony No. 5 by Jean Sibelius. I once heard him lead this glorious music at Carnegie Hall, around the time he made his Deutsche Grammophon recording with the Vienna Philharmonic. I’m happy to say, I never got over it. By 1987, Bernstein learned to really savor the nobility of the climactic “swan theme.”
Later, I nearly heard him conduct the Sibelius 1st in Philadelphia, with the student orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music, but it was toward the end of his life, and sadly he had to cancel due to illness.
I’ve lost track of the Carnegie program, but I’m sure I’ve got it somewhere. Here’s a record of what else was on the concert.
When sifting through the musical obituaries, my eyes usually settle on the composers, conductors, and star performers. Less glory is allotted to orchestra musicians, whose artistry often is not properly appreciated until it’s too late. I mean, their importance is understood, if perhaps a tad taken for granted, but wider fame and adulation usually elude them. This, despite the quality of their performances having such a profound impact on listeners.
It’s only days after I saw that David Cripps died that it finally registers who he was. Cripps served as principal horn of the London Symphony Orchestra during the halcyon years of 1974 to 1983. So it is Cripps’ horn that set me dreaming as an 11 year-old as I wore out the grooves on my original two-LP set of the soundtrack to “Star Wars.” That’s Cripps conjuring the romance of far horizons in “Princess Leia’s Theme” and the music for Tatooine’s binary sunset. As was often the case, John Williams tailored much of his music recorded with the orchestra during that era by drawing on his intimate working knowledge of the LSO’s principal performers.
During his time with the orchestra, Cripps also appeared as soloist in repertoire ranging from the Mozart and Strauss Horn Concertos to Benjamin Britten’s “Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.” I assume that’s him in the slow movement of André Previn’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ “A London Symphony” and as principal horn at the other links provided below.
Cripps joined the LSO as a section player in 1970. Previn served as the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1968 to 1979. He was succeeded by Claudio Abbado, who held the post until 1988.
Cripps spent the latter part of his career in the U.S. He died in Tucson on Saturday. He was an unsung hero, in a way, having touched so many beyond the concert hall who never knew his name, thanks to the medium of the movies.
Cripps talks “Star Wars”
“Princess Leia’s Theme”
Binary sunset
Vaughan Williams, “A London Symphony,” Mov’t. II: Lento
Mendelssohn, Nocturne from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Claudio Abbado would have been 90 today. Funny, I still think of his appointment as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic as being fairly recent. Seeing this video – obviously from video tape – makes me realize just how long ago it was! 1989! He certainly had some big shoes to fill, in the wake of Karajan. I don’t know that I ever entirely bought in to the marriage, though the first time Abbado conducted the orchestra was all the way back in 1966.
For me, and I imagine for most, his best, or rather his most consistent recordings, date from his London years, or at any rate before Berlin. That’s not to say he wasn’t still capable of great work. And I’m just going by the recordings I’ve heard. I never had the privilege to hear him live.
After years of ill health (he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000), Abbado died in 2014 at the age of 80.
I don’t pretend to have heard everything, but here are some of my favorite Abbado recordings:
Debussy: Three Nocturnes; Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2; Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy (w/Boston Symphony Orchestra)
Debussy: La Damoiselle élue (w/soprano Maria Ewing and the London Symphony Orchestra)
Schubert: Rosamunde: Complete Incidental Music (w/Chamber Orchestra of Europe)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3, etc. (w/Martha Argerich and the Berlin Philharmonic)
Mussorgsky works for orchestra and chorus (w/London Symphony Orchestra)
I am less well-versed in his recordings of contemporary works by Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, etc.
I am also not as familiar with many of his opera recordings (beyond Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” and Schubert’s “Fierrabras”), but some of them are said to be very fine indeed. I would think Debussy’s “Pelleas and Melisande” is a safe bet, and Berg’s “Wozzeck” is regarded as a classic. But some of his Verdi recordings (“Macbeth,” “Simon Boccanegra”) have been ecstatically reviewed.
Some of the recordings I recommend are from after 1989, but of those, none of them are in Berlin. Even the one Berlin recording is from well before he was chief conductor there.
Great video of Argerich and Abbado, in all their glory, live in concert
Well, whaddya know? Just when you thought there wasn’t an award he hasn’t already received, John Williams has been knighted.
On Queen Elizabeth II’s final awards list, Williams was granted the honorary title of KBE (Knight of the British Empire). Of course, in order to be formally addressed as “Sir,” he would have to become a British citizen.
Musically, Williams has been a lifelong anglophile. He has also been a frequent collaborator with the London Symphony Orchestra.
His scores to “Star Wars,” “The Fury, “Superman,” “Dracula,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Monsignor,” “Return of the Jedi,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” and “Revenge of the Sith” were all recorded with the LSO.
Furthermore, there would be no “Star Wars” or “Williams sound,” for that matter, without the influence of Sir William Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir Edward Elgar, and Gustav Holst.
“You have chosen… wisely.”
A brief history of Williams’ special relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra
Longtime followers of this page know that I tend to go a little berserk around the time of Sibelius’ birthday. In fact, for the past few years, I’ve honored “Eight Days of Sibelius,” from the start of the month to December 8 – conveniently, the actual anniversary.
Well, this year, somehow, it slipped by the wayside. I always have Sibelius’ birthday firmly in mind, but I forgot all about the “Eight Days.” Which is why you may have gotten slammed yesterday by multiple Sibelius posts, which I hope at least you found interesting or informative. There’s just so much Sibelius material to share, and I’m always setting it aside, making a mental note to save it for December. Trouble is, the memory isn’t so well-oiled as it used to be!
With that in mind, I hope you won’t turn up your nose at a little leftover birthday cake. I mentioned in one of my posts yesterday that Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony is a personal favorite. I haven’t always found Leonard Bernstein to be the ideal interpreter of Sibelius’ symphonies, but I still can’t pass up a live performance. I saw Bernstein conduct it at Carnegie Hall once, back in the 1980s, and it was a fabulous occasion, to be able to hear Lenny work his magic like some grizzled Kalevala wizard.
Here he is, with the London Symphony Orchestra, in 1966:
A sublime, ennobling start to any day – even if the interpretation may not always be my particular glass of vodka.
