Sir Charles Mackerras, a hero of mine and one of the great conductors of our or any other time, is dead from cancer. He was 84.
(h/t Alex Ross)
When I was in London back in 2004, he was on the podium for the greatest concert of my life, in which he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in Janacek's Glagolitic Mass at Royal Festival Hall. He was already an old man who couldn't even walk without a haunching shuffle. But it was the most incredible performance I've ever witnessed, and I'm not as ashamed as I probably should be to admit that many tears were brought to my eyes that night. After the concert he had a CD signing in the RFH lobby, and after a whiskey or two I braved the line and when it came my turn I worked up the nerve to say "I hope one day I can conduct any composer half as well as you conduct Janacek." To which his response was "WHAT?" So I came a bit closer to him and said "I HOPE ONE DAY I CAN CONDUCT ANY COMPOSER HALF AS WELL AS YOU CONDUCT JANACEK." But he still couldn't hear me and muttered half-heartedly "Yeah Janacek's....a....great composer." And I was so nervous as I was talking to him that as I walked away I smudged half his signature. That's as close as I'll get to Sir Charles, but if you have to have only one, I can't complain.
(The Glagolitic Mass, Sir Charles conducting the death and resurrection section - in the blood-curdling original version.)
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