“If you watch him,” offers conductor Antonio Pappano, “you see everything is keen, controlling every detail and gesture and how it tells a story. . . .His gypsy downbeat is so quick, it growls. Everything is raised up, intense, quicksilver, transparent. When he senses something is not alive, his radar hones in--it’s frightening.”.
You can't say it any better than that,really.
A very great talent, snuffed out tragically at a young age, and barely known today: you mention his name and usually get blank stares. When I was a teenager his recordings (almost exclusively DGG) were still available and I grew up listening to them, although they were already being supplanted in the catalog and in stores by the Von Karajan and Bohm versions. In addition to a broad symphonic repertoire there were recordings of FIDELIO (Rysanek!), DON GIOVANNI (Fischer-Dieskau) and even a stirring Verdi MESSA DA REQUIEM.
Posted by: Oroveso | May 30, 2010 at 06:56 PM
He was the conductor on a lot of my childhood classical tapes... and he obviously did something right. Thanks for that clip!
And thanks for the info, Oroveso.
Posted by: yappy | May 30, 2010 at 07:46 PM
I remember , in particular, the Fidelio. I never liked German opera growing up, but Fidelio ws on my listenable list. Those LP's were precious to me and as a young person I thought the spelling of his name was "cool"!!
It's so nice to know that he IS remembered for his contribution to music... and by a conductor!
Posted by: vale | May 31, 2010 at 07:35 AM
His Messa da Requiem (the live one) is stunning and one of the best (really!)!
Posted by: Gerard | May 31, 2010 at 08:09 AM