Coming from Sydney to London with an ambition to conduct, his scholarship to study in Prague led to a passion for Czech music. Christopher Breunig has the story
Recently, I have been entertaining myself by watching the online reviews by the American critic David Hurwitz (he's executive editor of the subscription site Classics Today – where all the most interesting reviews are for 'insiders only'…).
This month we review: Yves Saelens, Lucile Richardot, Het Collectief/Reinbert De Leeuw, BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson, Ida Ränzlöv, The Mozartists/Ian Page and Philharmonia Orchestra/Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
Admired by his colleagues yet unpredictable for managers, he was a perfectionist who lived in his father's shadow. Christopher Breunig looks back at this reclusive genius
Iam very slow on the uptake. But now I know what's wrong: the quavers are too low on nicotine. They need a little bit more tar – they have to be a bit more venomous…' And: 'the side-drum has to edge its way in. It has to be very conspiratorial, a schizophrenic back and forth between sentimental and rumbustious'. Not the sort of rehearsal instructions orchestral players would be used to – but then, Carlos Kleiber was different.
This month we review: Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder, Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin/Bernhard Forck, Sinfonia Of London/John Wilson and Cleveland Orchestra/Franz Welser-Möst.
The most urbane of English podium figures, he delighted audiences as much as he antagonised orchestral players. Christopher Breunig ponders his relevance today
Herbert von Karajan? A sort of musical Malcolm Sargent.' It was a typical Beecham putdown, even though he admired his younger colleague's skill with choral forces, and was assisted by him in 1932 when Beecham was creating his London Philharmonic Orchestra.
This month we review: R Strauss, Paul Lewis, Rodrigo, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Falla, Franck, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner.
Written under duress during four months in spring 1937, this would become his most popular work. Christopher Breunig sets out the background and suggests recordings
New pieces by composers Harrison Birtwistle or Peter Maxwell Davies, say, will have received polite applause and a few boos from the audience at their premieres. But no government response.
A child prodigy from Budapest, lured to the States with a false promise, he took over a top orchestra and stayed with it for 44 years. Christopher Breunig gives an outline
It's a nice story, but discredited, that the young Hungarian musician, Jenő Blau, changed his surname because he'd sailed to New York in 1921 on the SS Normandie. Ormandy himself told his Philadelphia lead violinist Anshel Brusilow that his French grandmother had changed her name from Goldberg to Or-mont, while other sources say that Ormandy was his second forename anyway.
This month we review and test releases from: Behzod Abduraimov, Lucerne SO/James Gaffigan, Nicola Benedetti, LPO/Vladimir Jurowski; Petr Limonov, Derek Smith Trio, Luxembourg PO/Gustav Gimeno and Duisburger Philharmoniker/Jonathan Darlington.
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