Another historic concert this week. This time featuring the New York Philharmonic, guest conducted by the legendary Kurt Sandlering and featuring the Korean violinist Young-Uck Kim in the 2nd violin concerto by Karol Szymanowski.
The concert begins with the Prelude: Dawn Over The River Moscow from Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky and arranged b Shostakovith, followed by the Szymanowski violin concerto and concluding with the C Major “Great ” Symphony by Schubert.
Below is an excerpt from the Music Under Soviet Rule site – the article is from 1991:
Kurt Sanderling was born in at Arys in what was formerly East Prussia in 1912, and at 85, the oldest living conductor to have worked with Shostakovich (as of 1991).
Sanderling was principal conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra between 1960 and 1977. Recently Berlin Classics has been reissuing digital remasterings of some Shostakovich symphony recordings he made with the BSO between 1977 and 1989, including the Eighth. Normally not disposed to answer questions about his interpretations, he allowed Hans Bitterlich (with him, above) to interview him in connection with the Berlin Classics series. Some of his answers appear below.
Sanderling began his Soviet conducting career in 1937, later becoming assistant to Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1941, a post he held for the next nineteen years. In 1960 the Soviet authorities sent him to East Berlin to develop the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in competition with Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic. Sanderling has won a considerable reputation in the West since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and is still active with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ernest Fleischmann, former manager of the London Symphony Orchestra and now executive director of the LAPO, spoke about Sanderling to Norman Lebrecht in 1991:
“I think back to Pierre Monteux, who played viola in string quartets for Brahms, had firsthand relationships with Debussy and Stravinsky, conducted the first and 50th-anniversary performances of The Rite of Spring. He gave something very indefinable and absolutely lasting to the LSO – in the same way that Sanderling is giving to our orchestra. I see a parallel, and we are the richer for it.”
About Young-Uck Kim, via the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Webpage:
Young Uck Kim, one of the world’s most acclaimed violinists, has enjoyed three decades of international celebrity and today continues to captivate audiences as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He was violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio from 1998-2002. Born in Seoul, South Korea, he entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 1961, where he studied with the legendary Ivan Galamian. Since his 1963 debut in a nationally televised performance with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Kim has earned a worldwide reputation as one of the great violinists of our day.
In recent seasons Kim has appeared in recital across the United States and as soloist with virtually every American orchestra, including those of Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington, D.C. He performs extensively throughout Europe, as well as in the Far East, where he has annual engagements in Hong Kong, Japan and his native Korea. He has collaborated with many great conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Christoph Eschenbach, Herbert von Karajan, Erich Leinsdorf, Kent Nagano, Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas and Franz Welser-Most, among others.
In addition to recitals and orchestral tours, Kim’s schedule regularly includes special projects to which he is deeply committed. He has collaborated with such artists as Peter Serkin, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Previn and Eschenbach on a wide variety of programming.
Click the play button and relax – this is a memorable concert.
Gordon: I remember hearing the Met’s b’cast of Kovanchina. Don’t recall conductor but I am guessing Stokie, who conducted the NY Phil’s Mahler 8 on an Easter Sunday. I might add that I used to be a pal of Martin Bookspan with whom I went to a NY Phil Concert.
I have missed you and hope you are still faring well. Wish I could offer more than the few bucks I signed up for.
First heard Schubert 9 on the RCA Toscanini/NBC. A marvel of its day.
Hi Irwin:
Good to see you here and thank you so much for your contribution! It’s really appreciated. It takes a lot of time and effort to put these up (certainly more than I anticipated when I started) so the support is gratefully received! I should make an appearance on Tuesdays at some point. It would make perfect sense; you friends with Martin Bookspan – his is a voice I certainly miss. Things are well – life is life and I’m in it for the ride! Thanks so much again. G.