Kurt Sanderling, who has died aged 98, was a connoisseurs’ conductor, highly regarded for his interpretations of Beethoven and Shostakovich.
Forced out of Germany by the Nazis, he made his career in Russia until, in 1960, he returned to what was then East Germany. He did not work extensively in the West until the 1970s, when orchestras were deeply impressed by his combination of clarity and dramatic force. They found him to be an old-school disciplinarian, but above all a musician of modesty and integrity.
Kurt Sanderling rehearsing with the Orchestre de Paris
For example, he once told The Philharmonia, of which he eventually became conductor emeritus, that he was “utterly ashamed” of his performance at a rehearsal with them. On another occasion, praising the orchestra’s rendition of a Mozart symphony, he refused to take the credit himself: “It is the spirit of Klemperer in your playing. I have nothing to say.” Otto Klemperer was chief conductor of the Philharmonia from 1959 to 1972.
Kurt Sanderling was born at Arys, East Prussia, on September 19 1912. Educated privately, he began his career at the age of 18 as a répétiteur at the Berlin Städtische Oper, assisting Klemperer, Erich Kleiber and Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1936 he left Germany for Moscow.
After making his debut with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra shortly after his arrival, Sanderling became its conductor until 1941, when he moved to the Leningrad Philharmonic as joint chief conductor with Yevgeny Mravinsky.
After nearly 20 years of successes with an orchestra of international class, he returned to East Germany in 1960 as chief conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He was a superb trainer and soon raised its standards.
He visited Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, Salzburg and Leipzig as a guest conductor, and made his London debut in 1970 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He returned in 1972 to conduct the New Philharmonia, as it was then named. From 1964 to 1967 he was chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. In 1991 he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic on its tour of Britain and Europe.
Although he ignored the marketing industry he was in demand worldwide and visited the United States and Australia.
The Philharmonia in 1980 asked him to record the Beethoven symphonies with them, and among those who attended the sessions were Simon Rattle and the pianist Mitsuko Ushida, who said she was “stunned” by the clarity of Sanderling’s music-making.
“It is not,” she explained, “a mechanical clarity or a pure intellectual analytical clarity, but a clarity of what is being said in the music.” When she played a Beethoven concerto with him, she noticed in rehearsing the slow movement that “he changed the sound completely” by the few words of advice he gave to the strings.
Sanderling was a detailed rehearser, repeating passages again and again until he obtained the result he wanted. But the orchestral players respected him because they knew he knew his job. He was an outstandingly fine interpreter of Sibelius and Mahler, in addition to Beethoven and Brahms.
But it was perhaps in Shostakovich that all his qualities fused into one magnificent artistic entity, in which the chill terror at the heart of the music was mercilessly exposed.
Sanderling’s 85th birthday was celebrated in London at the Wigmore Hall in September 1997 with a chamber concert given by Mitsuko Ushida with members of the Philharmonia and his own family. Three nights later he conducted the Philharmonia in Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. He shared with Klemperer the honour of being elected the only non-playing members of the Philharmonia.
In September 2002 he was appointed CBE, and in the same month was awarded Berlin’s highest honour, the Ernst-Reuter Plaque. He had retired from the concert circuit the previous May.
Kurt Sanderling, who died on September 17, two days short of his 99th birthday, married first, in 1941, Nina Bobath, with whom he had a son, the conductor Thomas Sanderling. With his second wife, Barbara Wagner, whom he married in 1963, he had twin sons, Michael, a cellist and conductor, and Stefan, who in 2002 became music director of the Florida Orchestra.
Although he ignored the marketing industry he was in demand worldwide and visited the United States and Australia.
The Philharmonia in 1980 asked him to record the Beethoven symphonies with them, and among those who attended the sessions were Simon Rattle and the pianist Mitsuko Ushida, who said she was “stunned” by the clarity of Sanderling’s music-making.
“It is not,” she explained, “a mechanical clarity or a pure intellectual analytical clarity, but a clarity of what is being said in the music.” When she played a Beethoven concerto with him, she noticed in rehearsing the slow movement that “he changed the sound completely” by the few words of advice he gave to the strings.
Sanderling was a detailed rehearser, repeating passages again and again until he obtained the result he wanted. But the orchestral players respected him because they knew he knew his job. He was an outstandingly fine interpreter of Sibelius and Mahler, in addition to Beethoven and Brahms.
But it was perhaps in Shostakovich that all his qualities fused into one magnificent artistic entity, in which the chill terror at the heart of the music was mercilessly exposed.
Sanderling’s 85th birthday was celebrated in London at the Wigmore Hall in September 1997 with a chamber concert given by Mitsuko Ushida with members of the Philharmonia and his own family. Three nights later he conducted the Philharmonia in Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. He shared with Klemperer the honour of being elected the only non-playing members of the Philharmonia.
In September 2002 he was appointed CBE, and in the same month was awarded Berlin’s highest honour, the Ernst-Reuter Plaque. He had retired from the concert circuit the previous May.
Kurt Sanderling, who died on September 17, two days short of his 99th birthday, married first, in 1941, Nina Bobath, with whom he had a son, the conductor Thomas Sanderling. With his second wife, Barbara Wagner, whom he married in 1963, he had twin sons, Michael, a cellist and conductor, and Stefan, who in 2002 became music director of the Florida Orchestra.
No comments:
Post a Comment