Sir Charles Mackerras!

Greetings!:

Yet again, in the name of the House of Old-School, I extend further best wishes and congratulations on a birthday, this one being of my favourite conductor
as regular visitors to this house already know, Sir Charles Mackerras, this being his 81st!

Believe it or not, this conductor, usually associated with England nowadays though he is widely travelled, was actually born in Schenectady, New York, on
this date in 1925 of Australian parents.  If I am not mistaken, he returned to Australia at an early age, and I do know that his early musical studies
were in Sydney and later, _MOST_ importantly, in Prague, where his lifelong love of Czech music began.  He came to England in either the late 1940's or
early 1950's, and there, as the Website of his Managers, Askonas Holt (please see my favourite links for their Web address), tells us, a production of
the early-20th-Century Moravian/Czech composer, Leos Janacek's, opera, _Katya_ _Kavanova_, which the future Sir Charles conducted at what was then called
Sadlers Wells Opera (later English National Opera), won critical acclaim.  I recall hearing an interview on the Web with Sir Charles in which he told us
that he participated in productions of the comic operas of that famous English team of Gilbert and Sullivan during his school days, and one of the earliest
manifestations of him also loving those operas was a ballet which he arranged from the music of these, _Pineapple_ _Poll_, which was premiered also in
the early '50's.  His first recording of it was also the first commercial recording he ever made, and, fortunately for those of us who admire his work,
he has been making recordings ever since to use an avowedly-unoriginal phrase!  According to a review of some orchestral music from Verdi's operas which
a man on Amazon, with whom I have recently begun corresponding, wrote, as well as one of a collection of early recordings of ballet music released to honour
Sir Charles's 80th birthday last year, this latter on the _Gramophone_ _Magazine_'s Website (
www.gramophone.co.uk), he
would sometimes be asked to step in for conductors who were indisposed for whatever reason, and this helped build up his reputation for the future.  He
would go on to become Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera in the late 1960's (he was there when I started corresponding with him in 1969, and this
correspondence would continue for much of the next 35 years), but, before that, he would start on another famous aspect of his career, the performance
and recording of Baroque (the period in music history from roughly 1600 to 1750), and later Classical (as I wrote in an earlier post, this latter period
goes roughly from 1750 to the early years of the next Century), music in a style as close as could be determined to that in which this music was first
performed.  In 1959, he made a famous late-night recording of Handel's _Music_ _For_ _The_ _Royal_ _Fireworks_ with a band of wind, brass and percussion
players from various London orchestras.  This is the scoring in which Handel wrote this work and which he apparently preferred, though there is still some
question as to whether it was performed thus in the composer's lifetime.  Then, in 1966, he made one of three landmark recordings of Handel's _Messiah_
which were made around that time, the other two having been conducted by the then-future Sir Colin Davis and the now-late Dr. Robert Shaw.  Of those three,
the then-future Sir Charles's probably came closest to what was then believed to have been Handel's manner of performing his oratorios, though one could
perhaps question the amount of vocal and instrumental ornamentation which was added in that version, and further discoveries pertaining to Handelian practice
have been made since then.  Yet, despite this and perhaps some speeds being slower in it than one expects nowadays, and though I admittedly no longer play
it (I played it last for the 80th birthday), there is still some vital music-making in this recording, notably from the chorus, the Ambrosian Singers,
and particularly from the higher-voiced soloists, the now-late Miss Elizabeth Harwood (soprano), the then-future Dame Janet Baker (mezzo soprano), and
counter-tenor Mr. Paul Esswood.  In that same year he also recorded Purcell's (an English composer who lived in the later part of the century before Handel
came to England from Germany via Italy) music for Dryden's _The_ _Indian_ _Queen_, and though this too may now be somewhat outdated, I still like to play
it on his birthday, and hope to do so again during a break from this writing.  While in Hamburg, he made another Purcell recording which I still also like,
of that composer's famous opera, _Dido_ _And_ _Aeneas_ (has its female title role ever been sung more movingly than by the now-late Miss Troyanos, perhaps
even more so than on a subsequent recording she made of this opera under another conductor?).  And, with some of the same forces he used on his _Messiah_
recording, he later recorded Purcell's 1692 _Ode_ _On_ _St._ _Cecilia's_ _Day_ (the Patron Saint of Music whose day is 22 November).  Upon returning to
England in, if memory serves, 1969, he took up appointment as Music Director of what again would soon become English National Opera, and it would be there
that I met him in person during my first visit to England in 1977 at productions of Puccini's beloved _La_ _Boheme_ and French composer Massenet's opera,
_Werther_.  My third meeting with him was also during that same visit, at a concert he gave for the BBC of Haydn's _Nelson_ _Mass_ and Stravinsky's ballet,
_Appolon_ _Musagette_.  I recall that the members of the ENO Orchestra were in some sort of dispute with the Company at that time, and one of our conversations
was interrupted by someone he described as a "recalcitrant cellist."  His long-time wife, Lady Judy Mackerras, was quite vivacious in those days, but was
somewhat more subdued during conversations I had with her a few years ago.  She seems _MOST_ capable at helping to manage his affairs!  By the bye, I now
have, thanks to the Chandos Opera-In-English Series, a recording of that production of _Werther_ as recorded at the Coliseum, ENO's home, but with a different
tenor than the one I heard when I was there.  Dame Janet Baker sang the female lead in this opera, Charlotte, in both performances.  Sir Charles would
later become Music Director of Welsh National Opera, and presumably, while there, he first worked with a then-young Welsh bass-baritone called Mr. Bryn
Terfel!  He also, with the WNO orchestra and sometimes the chorus, made some _SUPERB_, in my opinion, recordings of works by four English composers, notably
a series of works by a composer Sir Charles seemed to particularly be championing in those days, Delius.  I have already mentioned his disc of Elgar's
youth-oriented music, featuring Mr. Terfel, in my 31-August post.  Suffice it to say that, in addition to Mr. Terfel's contributions in the Suite from
_The_ _Starlight_ _Express_, I especially enjoy Sir Charles's accounts of the two _Dream_ _Children_, and in particular the first of these!  There were
also recordings of five Gilbert-and-Sullivan operas, though, apart from _Trial_ _By_ _Jury_ which is all sung, these omitted Gilbert's spoken dialogue.
 Yet most of the musical performances are _EXCELLENT_, notably the recording of their most famous opera, _The_ _Mikado_!  Sir Charles made other Elgar
recordings with the London orchestras, his account of that composer's _Second_ _Symphony_ being a particular personal favourite!  He made two recordings
of Elgar's best-known large-scale orchestral work, the _"Enigma"_ _Variations_, and I personally prefer the first of these which he made on the EMI Label.
 It is coupled with the composer's Symphonic Study based on Shakespeare's accounts of the historical Falstaff, and, though it is now deleted, you _MIGHT_
be able to find it on Amazon since a copy of it was on offer there the last time I checked.  There was also that recording of Britten's _Gloriana_ mentioned
in that 31-August post.  But Sir Charles did not exclusively confine his performances and recordings to England and the UK!  In Vienna he made a series
of recordings of his beloved Janacek's (pronounced yanachek) operas, and these garnered much just critical acclaim (one of these was of that composer's
next-to-last opera, _The_ _Makropoulos_ _Case_, but a new recording of this, from ENO and in Sir Charles's new performing edition of that opera's score,
is due for release next year again as part of Chandos OIE, he having recorded Janacek's earlier opera, _Jenufa_, for that series a few years ago, etc.).
 In the late '80's and into the '90's, Sir Charles would record much Mozart, though he had recorded a little of his work previously.  There would be all
of his Symphonies with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, some of the Piano Concerti performed by an Irish pianist, Mr. John O'Connor, with the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra, and most of his important operas with that same orchestra, all of these recordings being for the American Telarc Label, as were his Gilbert-and-Sullivan
series.  He also made a fine recording of Handel's _Water_ _Music_ and some _SUPERB_, again in my view, accounts of some of Haydn's best-known Symphonies
with the New-York-based Orchestra of St. Luke's, though not the most famous of them, the "Surprise."  There would also be more Handel orchestral music
with the English Chamber Orchestra, with which he had made that landmark _Messiah_ and three other Handel oratorios, though these latter are also now somewhat
outdated as per performance practice.  Yet I still have and play his account of _Judas_ _Maccabaeus_ since it is still probably the best version of that
popular oratorio we currently have.  In the late '80's he also began to work and record with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a London-based
orchestra playing on instruments of the late-18th and early-19th Centuries, notably Schubert's last two symphonies, the famous _8th_, the "Unfinished,"
having been completed for another conductor by an English Schubert scholar called Mr. Brian Newbold (spelling hopefully correct).  In the '90's Sir Charles
was Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and made some _MARVELLOUS_ recordings with them, particularly a disc of Richard Strauss
tone poems, two Mahler (a late-19th/early-20th-Century Austrian composer and near-contemporary of the German Strauss) symphonies and a straightforward
set of all of the Beethoven symphonies relying on the scholarship of a current Beethoven authority, Mr. Jonathan Del Mar, as well as a Telarc recording
of that composer's only opera, _Fidelio_, the _Violin_ _Concerto_ on EMI with Miss Monica Huggett and the OAE and a disc for the Hyperion Label of Beethoven's
ballet, _The_ _Creatures_ _Of_ _Prometheus_.  And we must not overlook another set I particularly like, a landmark series of the Brahms symphonies, again
for Telarc, which offers them with the approximate size of orchestra Brahms preferred, just under 50 players, and incorporating information left by his
pupils as to how he wanted these works to be played.  He continued to conduct and record Czech music, with several recordings of music by one of its most
popular representatives, Dvorak (it would be difficult to accurately write how that should be pronounced, but hopefully at least some of you know it anyway
and can thus assist those who do not).  Besides that forthcoming recording of _The_ _Makropoulos_ _Case_, one of his most recent recordings of Czech music
has also been previously mentioned, Miss Susan Gritton's favourite among her recordings as of earlier this year, an English-language version, again for
OIE, of Smetana's comic opera, _The_ _Bartered_ _Bride_!  His Mozart disc with Mr. Terfel, _Tutto_ _Mozart_, has also been recently released, and he is
to record this month, if he has not yet done so, yet another OIE contribution, of Humperdinck's (not the popular singer of some years ago, but his German
namesake) ever-popular opera, _Hansel_ _And_ _Grettel_.

There is _MUCH_ else I could cover, including a _WONDERFUL_ disc of excerpts from Wagner's _Gotterdammerung_ (Twilight of the Gods) from the '70's, etc.,
but I hope I have managed to represent what this conductor's artistry has meant to me since the late '60's.  If I recall anything else I should have covered,
I will try to add it as a comment to this post.  Hopefully Sir Charles had a fine, though presumably not as elaborate as his 80th, 81st birthday!

Gratefully and joyfully submitted,

J. V.