Lorin Maazel, an Intense and Enigmatic Conductor, Dies at 84

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Lorin Maazel, a former child prodigy who went on to become the music director of the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera and several other ensembles and companies around the world, and who was known for his incisive and sometimes extreme interpretations, died on Sunday at his home in Castleton, Va. He was 84.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, said Jenny Lawhorn, a spokeswoman for Mr. Maazel. In recent days, he had been rehearsing for the Castleton Festival, which takes place on his farm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/arts/music/lorin-maazel-brilliant-intense-and-enigmatic-conductor-dies-at-84.html?_r=0

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. RIP. Great conductor. Started conducting at age SEVEN, invited by Toscanini, says the obit.

I was lucky enough to see him conduct the Cleveland Orchestra live back in 1976 or 1977 when they came through town and I scored a free ticket from the conductor of my local amateur orchestra I was playing in.

The Cleveland Orchestra is noted for its creamy string sound. They played a Brahms symphony, so all of us string players were in heaven! Gorgeous sound they made!

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2. Maazel was a friend and colleague.

A very nice and generous man - a great human being and a helluva musician. I'll miss him.

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4. Wow, I'm impressed. That's cool.

What struck me about the NYTimes obit was that people seemed to think his performances varied a lot, sometimes cold, sometimes on fire. I have no idea. I only saw him live once when the Cleveland Orchestra came through town and played a Brahms symphony, showing off that lustrous string sound. We fiddlers in the audience were in heaven!! When I say "fiddler" I mean violin, viola, cello or bass. Any of the classical string instruments.

I just have a CD of him conducting Mahler's First with the Vienna Philharmonic.


Only connection I ever had with a conductor, other than playing under them in a bunch of college, community, summer camp orchestras, was that a guy I went to law school with was Max Goberman's nephew. Max was musical director on West Side Story (The good version-original Broadway cast with Carol Lawrence) and a friend of Lenny's.

He told me how Uncle Max wanted to record all the Haydn symphonies on Odyssey but he died when he was only about one-third through them.

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