# Gunther Schuller - RIP



## EDaddy

Principal French Horn player for the CSO in the 50s, Gunther put his horn down in '57/8 to pursue his dream of becoming a composer. An innovative and influential composer/arranger in his own right, he bridged classical elements with Jazz with a very original voice. He passed away today at the age of 89.

RIP Gunther. Your music spiced up my Classical and Jazz collection for many years and to this day.


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## SixFootScowl

He also wrote a book, The Complete Conductor, where he compared many conductors' recordings of a select set of works.


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## EDaddy

Florestan said:


> He also wrote a book, The Complete Conductor, where he compared many conductors recordings of a select set of works.


I bet that would be a great read.


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## MrTortoise

The work I'm most familiar with that Mr Schuller was a part of was Charles Mingus's last composition 'Epitaph'. Schuller found this among Mingus's papers and made sure that it got the performance and recording it so richly deserved.

Mr. Schuller was a one of the great men of American music. He will be missed.


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## SixFootScowl

EDaddy said:


> I bet that would be a great read.


I took it out of the library. I could read some of the more general introductory chapters but the rest was over my head. I do recall spending more time in the section on one of Beethoven's symphonies and he named only about three conductors out of several dozen (so I recall) who really played the symphony as the score indicates. One of them I remember was Haitink. Another I think was Kleiber but I can't remember which (father or son). He really tore into many of the conductors especially those who claimed to go original, such as Hanover Band, but he said, were way off from the score. Fascinating to me, moreso I suspect, to someone who has a greater understanding of music.


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## Triplets

I loved The Red Back Book


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## starthrower

I started a thread a couple of days ago that includes the NY Times obit, and a mini-documentary on Gunther Schuller.
http://www.talkclassical.com/38701-gunther-schuller-dead-89-a.html


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## Manxfeeder

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm familiar with his work in general, but it just occurred to me, I've never heard any of his pieces. Back when I was a pretentious music/jazz student, he didn't fit in any firm categories, so I ignored him. 

What is a good introduction to his music?


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## Vasks

His classic early orchestral masterpiece: 7 Studies on Themes of Paul Klee










His more recent orchestral disc: Of Reminiscences & Relections/The Past is the Present/Organ Concerto










_Besides studying with him for two weeks 30 years ago I got to be his personal chauffeur for a day. On the way to his event in daylight he was busy working, but on the way back in the wee dark hours we talked a lot. I'll never forget this wonderful musician_


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## Manxfeeder

Thanks! I'm listening now.


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## millionrainbows

Yes, thanks EDaddy for this thread. *Gunther Schuller* was one of my favorite music men. This Cd of far-out jazz standards is an indication of where his head was at. Don't miss his conducting of Ives' Short Pieces as well.


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## Bluecrab

RIP. A great loss to modern music. Columbia University's radio station, WKCR FM, is doing a memorial broadcast of his music right now. You can listen online free here:

http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/wkcr/


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## EDaddy

This one was in my collection for a time while I was exploring the freer and more abstract side of Jazz. It's "presented by" John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. This is some pretty outside stuff so be forewarned. Not for the faint of heart. Probably right up your alley, millionrainbows.


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## millionrainbows

EDaddy said:


> View attachment 71721
> 
> 
> This one was in my collection for a time while I was exploring the freer and more abstract side of Jazz. It's "presented by" John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. This is some pretty outside stuff so be forewarned. Not for the faint of heart. Probably right up your alley, millionrainbows.


You are spot-on. I was listening to this on vinyl in 1972.


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## Albert7

Such a great composer you are, Gunther. We will miss you very much.


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## millionrainbows

This is a very good mastering.


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## millionrainbows

*The Modern Jazz Quartet: Third Stream Music (Wounded Bird).

From the liner notes:

Gunther Schuller...has been heralding the arrival of what he calls "a third stream" of music - a music that is neither jazz nor classical, but that draws upon the techniques of both. As examples, he has cited works of George Russell, John Lewis, Bill Russo, John Benson Brooks and himself.

These works do not endeavor to mix classical and jazz devices together in the type of artificial fusion aimed at by the "symphonic jazz" composers. Rather they are successful attempts to create music in which the two idioms remain distinct, but complement each other in a way that heightens the qualities of each.

...and isn't this in the best spirit of "post-modernism," in which music is allowed to "be itself"?

*


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