RIP Seiji Ozawa

[Garyhead]

While not Prog……he was a giant in the classical world! He passed on the 6th but the news just broke today publicly. Heart failure at 88.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Ozawa

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

He was indeed a great conductor... but as a San Franciscan, I have bad feelings about him. He came to the SFSO with promises of how long he'd stay. In a short period of time thereafter, he was splitting his time with Boston, then moved there and abandoned SF entirely.

[Garyhead]

He had issues with management. He wanted a few musicians in the SFO. And they refused to offer them tenure. A conductor needs to have some say over the musicians. Gerald Schwarz had the same problem with the Seattle Symphony.

[StarThrower]

Schwarz did some great work in Seattle. I have some of his recordings. While not a huge Ozawa fan, I've always admired the man. He recorded a decent Mahler cycle and some good Bartók and Stravinsky. And he was pretty much a household name in classical music. That doesn't really happen anymore.

[Mister Triscuits]

He recorded a decent Mahler cycle

His Mahler 8 was outstanding.

[StarThrower]

His Mahler 8 was outstanding.

Agreed! I'm a big fan of M8 so I've collected quite a few. I bought my wife the Ozawa Philips box and was delighted to find that it included a complete Mahler cycle.

[Garyhead]

Schwarz did some great work in Seattle. I have some of his recordings. While not a huge Ozawa fan, I've always admired the man. He recorded a decent Mahler cycle and some good Bartók and Stravinsky. And he was pretty much a household name in classical music. That doesn't really happen anymore.

There was a revival in Seattle in the 80's & 90's. Gerald Schwarz had musical connections to NYC and the ear of the Delos Record Label. Seattle was kind of like a community orchestra until Schwarz took them to a new level. Soon recordings were abundant and the musicians union was having heartburn over recording royalties but those recordings were putting them on the map! Seattle Opera had Speight Jenkens as director. I was a season ticket holder to the Symphony & Opera. Speight used to give a lecture before curtain.....his enthusiasm was contagious. The Seattle NPR station used to have both directors on the air before the runs for a talk.
All gone now......the NPR station interviews TV watchers and computer game players. I no longer attend the Symphony or the Opera. While Seattle is only 45 miles away....it seems like a lifetime in traffic as you have to arrive during rush hour......and those in charge of Seattle have let the city turn into a Sh**hole so I will refrain from spending $$$ up there.

Oh.....but I'm getting off topic now..... Ozawa came on the scene like Tilson-Thomas....younger faces arriving when Ormandy was still at the top. And like Dudamel is now....the up-and-coming youngins.

The local classical station this morning was playing Boston recordings. I grabbed my phone to see if Ozawa was still alive just out of curiosity. Before I could get to Wikipedia the on air host announced his death.

I was in the outer orbit of all this stuff 45 years ago. My ex was a classical musician studying in Philadelphia. It was an education listening to conversations / debates between students who were going to spend their lives in the Classical music world. She spent 4 years at Temple and 3 years at the Curtis Conservatory. One perk of Curtis was she could get free tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra and while they were nose-bleed seats at the Academy Of Music, the rafters were packed with music students.

[StarThrower]

Not to be nitpicky but his name is Gerard Schwarz.

[Garyhead]

Not to be nitpicky but his name is Gerard Schwarz.

Thank you…..corrected. This is why I love PE ….always striving to “get it right!”

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

He had issues with management. He wanted a few musicians in the SFO. And they refused to offer them tenure. A conductor needs to have some say over the musicians. Gerald Schwarz had the same problem with the Seattle Symphony.

In SO's favor, he did establish the SFS's permanent Chorus. Previously, they had picked up various local choruses when they needed one.

[Garyhead]

I think these past years we have seen the job title change from “Conductor” to “Artistic Director”. Kinda seems like they have more leeway in steering the direction of the orchestra.