# Raymond Leppard (1927 - 2019) - RIP



## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

From Presto Classical - 

"The British conductor, harpsichordist and composer Raymond Leppard, who was the driving-force behind the revival of Monteverdi’s and Cavalli’s operas in the mid-twentieth century, has died aged 92.
Leppard was born in London on 11th August 1927 and studied music at Trinity College Cambridge (where he was subsequently made a Fellow and Director of Music), initially focusing on the harpsichord and viola and making his first forays into conducting with the Cambridge Philharmonic Society. 

He made his London debut at Wigmore Hall (conducting his own Leppard Ensemble) in 1952 and went on to form a close relationship with the Goldbrough Orchestra, which would be re-branded as the English Chamber Orchestra in 1960; his many recordings with the group included Handel’s Ariodante (with Janet Baker in the title-role), a Grammy Award-winning collection of baroque trumpet concertos with Wynton Marsalis, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the late Jessye Norman. The latter recording (made in 1985) is a fine illustration of Leppard’s full-blooded, almost Romantic approach to seventeenth-century opera, something which he had begun to cultivate in the late 1950s whilst working as a lecturer at Trinity; his imaginative realisations of hitherto neglected operas by Monteverdi and Cavalli did much to revive international interest in the composers, and the first staging of his version of L’incoronazione di Poppea at Glyndebourne in 1962 paved the way for a string of groundbreaking productions and recordings of works including Cavalli’s La Calisto and L’Ormindo (both now available on Australian Eloquence) and Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, which was also staged at Glyndebourne in the early 1970s.

Unlike the proponents of the historically-informed performance movement which began to flourish a decade or so later, Leppard’s lush and unapologetically anachronistic realisations were primarily concerned with drama rather than stylistic authenticity, and though his discography includes many acclaimed recordings of Bach and Handel he was never keen to be pigeonholed as a baroque specialist – he was also active as a composer in his own right, with credits including the score for Peter Brook’s 1963 film Lord of the Flies, and his repertoire at Glyndebourne included the Festival’s first staging of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen in 1975 and the world premiere of Nicholas Maw’s 1970 opera The Rising of the Moon. An acclaimed series of Arnold Bax’s symphonies on Lyrita and an album of ‘Romantic American Masterpieces’ (including music by Barber, George Chadwick, Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael) are among the many highlights of his vast discography, which runs to almost two hundred recordings.

Leppard was primarily based in the United States from the mid-1970s onwards, and became a US citizen in 2003; he was appointed Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1987 (a position which he held for fourteen years), and also appeared regularly with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. He was made a CBE in 1983, and received honorary degrees from the University of Indianapolis, Butler University and the University of Bath, where he spent much of his childhood.

Leppard died on 22nd October in Indianapolis, where he had lived for the last few decades of his life, and is survived by his husband, Dr. Jack Bloom. His warm, witty contribution to John Bridcut’s recent documentary on Dame Janet Baker (in which he reflects in wonder on her interpretation of ‘Dopo notte’ on their Ariodante recording) was one of his last public appearances.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Cavalli: La Calisto*

*Link to complete album - *

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kgaDWbZPbFWUUT8yVpF2hHiVO4Y-fTwrE

"Leppard conducts a superb cast with Janet Baker in one of her greatest roles as the Goddess Diana, Ileana Cotrubas a touching Calisto and James Bowman in his prime as Endimione."


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I'll always remember Leppard for his outstanding recording of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.:clap:


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Handel: Ariodante
*
*Dame Janet Baker (Ariodante), Edith Mathis (Ginevre), Norma Burrowes (Dalinda), James Bowman (Polinesso), David Rendall (Lurcanio), Samuel Ramey (Il Re di Scozia), Alexander Oliver (Odoardo)
English Chamber Orchestra, London Voices, Raymond Leppard*

*Link to complete album (75 videos) -*

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kArKm8_tFTS_jvVo0PmOmuuzsnQot4bRw


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*American Dreams - Romantic American Masterpieces*

*Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Raymond Leppard*

*Link to complete album (7 videos) - *

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n5Wt5taC-rswa56kceVfoPTKSiViAt9Ls

*Works*

Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Canning, T: Fantasy on a Hymn by Justin Morgan
Carmichael, H: Prayer and Cathedral Vision
Carpenter, J A: Sea-Drift
Chadwick: Noel
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches
Foote: Suite in E major, Op. 63
Gershwin: Lullaby for Strings


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria*

*Frederica von Stade (Penelope), Richard Stilwell (Ulisse), Patrick Power (Telemaco), Ann Murray (Minerva), Claire Powell (Giunone), Alexander Oliver (Iro), Keith Lewis (Giove)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Raymond Leppard*

*Link to complete album (35 videos) - *

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kQIVDccCTzHhLaJ0pE8psPMCOURf6OtMA

Back another two centuries, to 1640 and a late masterpiece by the first great figure in opera history: Claudio Monteverdi and his IL RITORNO D'ULISSE IN PATRIA - "The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland". Raymond Leppard conducted a production at Glyndebourne in the early 1970s, based on his own edition of the textually problematic work - there are gaps in the only surviving score.

Revived in 1979, the production - which has gone down in the annals of opera legend - was recorded by CBS.

Gramophone's reviewer declared the performance "gloriously vivid in humanity and splendour … The humanity lies in the expressive music for Penelope and Ulysses, sung with noble restraint and sincerity by Frederica von Stade and Richard Stilwell. Von Stade has probably never had a role that draws so fully upon her special character as an artist … The beauties of voice and character are exactly matched - as with some other great operatic performances of the past, the identity is complete."

This is the first CD release of this magnificent recording.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

It was based on earlier performances with Dame Janet Baker, which was released on video and later on DVD.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I always liked Leppard's Beethoven 9th with the RPO. It has done the rounds on the budget labels over the years but is still a fine performance.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Bulldog said:


> I'll always remember Leppard for his outstanding recording of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.:clap:


I just ordered this very recording a couple of days ago. I'm looking forward to hearing but I suppose now it will take on more of a melancholic note.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

BachIsBest said:


> I just ordered this very recording a couple of days ago. I'm looking forward to hearing but I suppose now it will take on more of a melancholic note.


You're in for a treat when you hear Ileana Cotrubaș.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

We were honored to have Leppard here in Indianapolis.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

One I hold dear in my collection.









Conducted, of course, by the inestimable Raymond Leppard.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)




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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

One of his notable recordings


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

^^^ it is indeed a very fine version of Das Lied, and emphatically not just because it's Janet Baket.


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