Lorin Maazel (1930–2014)

New York Philharmonic

The death, at his home in Virginia, of Lorin Maazel follows the losses in short succession of three other leading conductors of the post-Bernstein/ Karajan era: Colin Davis (1927–2013), Claudio Abbado (1933–2014), and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (1933–2014). I had meant to post, a few weeks ago, a short piece on Claudio Abbado and the youth-orchestra movement (European Union Youth Orchestra, 1978; Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, 1986), flourishing long before Dudamel and El Sistema—but that will need to come along later.

Maazel was the only American of this bunch: raised in Pittsburgh (though born in Neuilly/s/S), educated there, and at length conductor of three of the nation’s great orchestras: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and New York. His last chapter centers on the Castleton Festival that he organized at his farm in rural Rappahannock County—paid for with the sale of his eighteenth-century violin. It was the project of a remarkable heart and mind: “more than a labor of love,” he said: “a labor of joy.” The published mission of his foundation is “to nurture children, foster art, and reclaim the human spirit.”

Here are a some memorial essays not to miss:

• Charles T. Downey, in Ionarts, July 14, 2014
• Robert Siegel on NPR, July 14, 2014 (including audio from a conversation in 2009)
• Norman Lebrecht, in Slipped Disc, July 14, 2014
• Anne Midgette, in the Washington Post, July 13, 2014
• David Nice, in The Guardian, July 13, 2014

                                                                                                   —DKH