# Your dead conductor collection...



## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

I guess by the time most of us get to the end of our lives – if we live to be old – many of the musicians we heard in our youth have passed away. I’ve only been attending concerts & operas for 35 years or so, but already I’ve assembled a list of dead conductors - whom I heard live - which is nearly 50 names long! The conductor’s often the oldest one on stage, so maybe it’s not so surprising that it’s such a long list (compared to instrumentalists or singers).

So, alphabetically:
Miltiadis Caridis
Stuart Challendar
Carlo Felice Cillario
Sergui Comissiona
Colin Davis
Franz Paul Decker
Edward Downes
Jean Fournet
Myer Fredman
Louis Fremaux
Raphael Fruhbeck de Burghos
Carlo Maria Giulini
Vernon Handley
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Richard Hickox
Christopher Hogwood
John Hopkins
Hiroyuki Iwaki
Jansug Kakhidze
Eri Klas
Henry Krips
Erich Leinsdorf
Lorin Maazel
Charles Mackerras
Neville Marriner
Kurt Masur
Eduardo Mata
Jorge Mester
Karl Osterreicher
Carlos Paita
Albert Rosen
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Kurt Sanderling
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Kenneth Schermerhorn
Giuseppe Sinopoli
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Georg Solti
Horst Stein
Yevgeny Svetlanov
Jeffrey Tate
Emil Tchakarov
Klaus Tennstedt
Marcello Viotti
Hans Vonk
Heinz Wallberg
Walter Weller
Stig Westerberg

Truly frightening! Although, on a wine forum I frequent, in a music discussion, one poster revealed they were taken – as a 11-year-old, in an event they clearly recalled – to hear Furtwangler conduct at the Royal Festival Hall in 1954, so it’s not hard to find connections going back in time.
I fact, I once played violin (in my community orchestra) under the baton of Wilfred Lehmann, who studied with the Australian composer Alfred Hill, who had played violin in the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Brahms and Grieg, no less.

Thankfully, my list of living conductors is twice this length (at least that I con document with programmes) but still it’s pretty sobering.
So, come on. Who have you heard who’s no longer with us? Karajan? Bernstein? (I saw him in 89 at a concert where his music was played but he didn’t conduct).
Anyone here hear Bohm? Jochum? Boult? Klemperer? Or indeed Furtwangler, Reiner, Szell…?
Do tell.
cheers,
Graeme


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

It is probably true to say that the majority of commercial recordings are of conductors who are no longer with us.


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## Biffo (Mar 7, 2016)

Of the list in the OP I heard -

Colin Davis
Edward Downes
Louis Fremaux
Carlo Maria Giulini
Vernon Handley
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Erich Leinsdorf
Lorin Maazel
Charles Mackerras
Neville Marriner
Kurt Masur
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Kurt Sanderling
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Georg Solti
Yevgeny Svetlanov
Jeffrey Tate
Klaus Tennstedt

Additionally -

John Barbirolli (sadly only once) 
James Loughran
Eugen Jochum
Claudio Abbado 
John Pritchard
David Willcocks
Reginald Goodall
Pierre Boulez
Paul Kletzki

I am sure there are lots of others I have forgotten. Karajan and Bernstein visited London while I was living there but their concerts were invariably sold out before I even knew they were happening.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Ah, well I heard Loughran too, but he's still alive (86)! Barbirolli, wow!
I tried desperately to hear Karajan, but he died just before I got to Europe to haunt music festivals in the summer of 89.
Ceilbidache dodged me via the same sold-out factor you encounted with Karajan & Bernstein, and as for Kleiber's 1990 Otello at Covent Garden, well, the box-office was like some humanitarian disaster area. And even Domingo pulling out didn't change the situation...
I must say, for live concerts, London or Berlin are the places to be.
cheers,
GG


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

The ones that I can remember early on a Monday morning...

Claudio Abbado
John Barbirolli
Pierre Boulez
Colin Davis
Carlo Maria Giulini
John Lanchbery
Charles Mackerras
Kurt Sanderling
Georg Solti


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## Biffo (Mar 7, 2016)

GraemeG said:


> Ah, well I heard Loughran too, but he's still alive (86)! cheers,
> GG


Yes he is! I checked to see if he was dead before posting and obviously made a mistake, not sure how.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*Rozhdestvensky* is alive and well!

Unfortunately I haven´t been to many live concerts, but the conductors, besides him, included

- Ole Schmidt
- Kurt Sanderling
- John Frandsen

The majority of my music collection is with dead conductors though - I almost only collect recent recordings because of some included, lesser known repertoire.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Oh! So he is. Good on him. I was supposed to hear Wand conduct Bruckner 5 once. He pulled out with flu or something and Gennadi stood in. BBC Symphony I think. Great performance - I still remember it, notwithstanding the crappy accoustics of the Royal Festival Hall for Bruckner.

Actually, there's another thread. People you never heard but had a ticket to hear. I missed Ozawa and Fischer-Deiskau this way, in addition to Wand. Plus, inevitably, the odd Tennstedt concert or two, although it least I caught him at other times.

Six months ago, Martha Argerich was all set to make her Australian debut, believe it or not. I considered her reputation at the start of the year, and thought...nah, don't bother. Plus, is was Beethoven 1, so not exactly the dream piece. I thought the odds were with me.
Come June, sure enough, she cancels....
cheers,
Graeme


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

One other dead conductor who I saw more than I wanted to was Lukas Foss. On a couple of occasions he substituted for someone who I did want to see.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Solti
Bernstein
Szell 
Abbado 
Giulini
Barenboim
Steinberg
Ormandy 
Dorati
Munch 
Karajan 
Skrowacewski 
Rozhd'sky
Svetlanov 
Tennstedt.....
Probably forgetting a few.....


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Rozhdestvensky is, as already mentioned, still alive. So is Barenboim, who has a good deal of conducting in 2018 too.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I had opportunity to hear Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a concert program on Nov. 10, 2013. The emotional concert opened with the American premiere of “Symphony of Sorrows” by Leonardo Balada. The conductor was 80 years old. On June 12, 2014, the maestro succumbed to cancer. That was a symphony of sorrows for me. Frühbeck de Burgos has long been a favorite conductor; I've collected many of his recordings over the years and it was a joy to finally experience him live in concert. Now, sadly missed.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Wow I'm impressed, and certainly can't match the lists posted so far. But I did see Berglund conduct Sibelius several times. 

Speaking of deceased conductors reminded me of Previn's story of one of his first conductor gigs. The soloist was Wilhelm Kempff, the concerto was, I think, the Schumann A minor. Nervous as anything, Previn tried to make small talk as they waited to take the stage. "It's the first time I have conducted this piece at a concert. You must have played it so many times". "Oh yes, many times". "Do you remember the first time? Who was conducting?". "Gustav Mahler". That did not help Previn's nerves in the slightest!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I saw Karajan with the BPO in London in 1988, it was the last time he came to England I believe 
He was very frail and had to be helped onto the podium.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Other no longer living conductors in my collection include a lot of Ks, 

such as Carlos and Erich Kleiber, Knappertsbusch, Kubelik, Kempe, Franz Konwitschny , 
the Czech Jaroslav Krombholc, Serge Koussevutzky, Kiril Kondrashin , Joseph Keilberth ,

as well as for other letters , the three great English Bs Beecham, Boult and Barbirolli ,
Sir Malcolm Sargent, Nikolai Malko . George Szell, Eufen Ormandy , Eugen Jochum ,
the Czech Frantisek Jilek,  Jascha Horenstein , Robert Heger, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, 
Richard Hickox, Vernon Handley , Edward Downes , Pierre Boulez, 
the Czech Zdenek Chalabala, another Czech Zdenek Kosler (pronounced Koshler ) ,
Hans Rosbaud, Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner, Herbert Kegel, Artur Rodzinski,
Fritz Reiner, Fritz Busch , Clemens Krauss, Richard Strauss , Richard Kraus (no relation to Clemens),
the Russian Igor Golovschin, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski ,
George Pretre,Sir Georg Solti , Karajan , Abbado, Antal Dprati, Ferenc Fricsay , 
Toscanini , Karel Sejna, Vaclav Neumann, Vaclav Talich , Klaus Tennstedt, 
Kurt Masur , Kurt Sanderling, Mstislav Rostropovich , Erich Leinsdorf ,
Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Willem Mengelberg . William Steinberg,
and others .


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

You heard Felix Weingartner? Died in 1942?
Surely not!
I was referring to conductors you heard in concert, not in your recording collection, just by the way...
Graeme


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## distantprommer (Sep 26, 2011)

Graeme ends his posting with

>So, come on. Who have you heard who’s no longer with us? Karajan? Bernstein? (I saw him in 89 at a concert where his music was played but he didn’t conduct).
Anyone here hear Bohm? Jochum? Boult? Klemperer? Or indeed Furtwangler, Reiner, Szell…?
Do tell.<

In my case, yes to all those you just mentioned directly above as well as very many, most, on your long alphabetical list. 
More names to add in my case: 

Claudio Abbado, 
John Barbirolli,
Thomas Beecham,
Eduard van Beinum,
Sergiu Celibidache, 
Carlos Chavez,
Ferenc Fricsay,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Christopher Hogwood, 
Carlos Kleiber, 
Kirill Kondrashin,
Rafael Kubelík,
Eugene Ormandy,
Malcolm Sargent, 
Frank Shipway,
Leopold Stokowski,
George Szell,
Igor Stravinsky (conducting his own works),
Bruno Walter

There may be more, but this is what I can remember at this moment.


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## distantprommer (Sep 26, 2011)

One other I just remembered and should be added to my list:

Jiří Bělohlávek


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I heard Bohm conduct..."Salome" at old MetOpera house....Birgit Nilsson 8n the title role....c1965?? Heard Szell conduct Cleveland, late 60s


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Nonsense post about my music library with my recordings. I didn't read properly the OP (to have heard live). I'm very sorry for you wasting your time in this insignificant contribution.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Oh Prommer, that's a heck of a list.
Carlos Kleiber, eh? Where and when?
And Furtwangler! How was he?
Concert-going back to the 50s is an impressive achievement...

Here in Sydney I played violin in an orchestra for many years with a fellow-violinist who's now in her 80s.
As a teenager in London in - I think - 1948 she heard what must have been one of the last recitals given by Ginette Neveu before she boarded her plane.

Granate, I don't quite follow your list. You heard Knappertsbusch conduct Parsifal in 1951? Live?
Graeme


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## distantprommer (Sep 26, 2011)

GraemeG said:


> Oh Prommer, that's a heck of a list.
> Carlos Kleiber, eh? Where and when?
> And Furtwangler! How was he?
> Concert-going back to the 50s is an impressive achievement...
> ...


I was fortunate to grow up in Amsterdam and London. This allowed me to go to very many excellent concerts, especially at the Concertgebouw as well as at the Proms during the fifties and later. My family were very much into CM and we had an almost open invitation to attend concerts in Amsterdam. I made much use of this.

Every summer I would go to as many Proms as I could, not missing a single year ever. In my younger years it meant joining the Queues outside the RAH. Ah, those were the days.


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