OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: Elisabeth Soderstrom, Swedish soprano, 7 May 1927 – 20 November 2009

Elisabeth Soderstrom by note stand

Elisabeth Soderstrom plays Melisande

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OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: H. C. ROBBINS LANDON, American Musicologist, 6 March 1926 – 20 November 2009

H. C. Robbins Landon with Collin Matthews (left) and Charles Rosen (centre) in 1997

H. C. Robbins Landon at his home in Southern France

H. C. Landon Robbins in 1997

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OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: MERCEDES SOSA, Argentinean folk singer, 9 July 1935 – 4 October 2009

MERCEDES SOSA, Argentinean folk singer

Mercedes Sosa on 25 November 2003

Mercedes Sosa at the Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France, on 24 February 1975

 

OBITUARY PICS: ALICIA DE LARROCHA, Spanish pianist, 23 May 1923 – 25 September 2009

Alicia De Larrocha

Alicia De Larrocha

Alicia De Larrocha

Thinkin’ bout Alicia – From Slipped disc by Norman Lebrecht

Long before I listened to records for a living, I remember coming out of a store with an album I had chosen purely for the sum of its parts.

Unlike any compilation known to buffs, it combined a harpsichord concerto by Bach with a keyboard work of Haydn’s and a Mozart piano concerto, the 12th in A major, K414. I am not sure if it has ever been reissued on CD.

The conductor was David Zinman, the orchestra the London Sinfonietta and the soloist – who clearly dictated the quirky, uncommercial choice – the Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, who has just died at the age of 86.

What burst off the project was the creative intelligence behind it and, the moment I heard the tender yet steely touch of its soloist, I was converted for life into a de Larrocha fan. She was quite unlike any other pianist, with a tone all her own and a taste that had to be taken on its own terms. Unmatchable in Granados, Albeniz and Turina, she brought a lilt of light and heat to non-Iberian music – Chopin, Schumann and Mozart, most of all.

She was treated with great reverence at Decca and left a discrete and indelible legacy on that label until it was corporatised in 1990. Herbert Breslin, her US manager, once said: There are two kinds of repertory Alicia plays … Things she plays extremely well, and things she plays better than anyone else.’ I would not dispute a word of that assessment.

Allan Kozinn captures her well in a New York Times obit.

OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: HILDEGARD BEHRENS, German opera singer, 9 February 1937 – 18 August 2009

Hildegard Behrens as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’. Bayreuth, 1983

Hildegard Behrens as Rusalka in DVORAK’s ‘Rusalke’. Bavarian State Opera, 1981

Hildegard Behrens in Richard Wagner ’s Walküre at Bayreuth

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OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: LES PAUL, American guitarist and guitar inventor, 9 June 1915 – 13 August 2009

Les Paul with a guitar and harmonica in a sailor outfit in the late 1920s

Les Paul with his wife, the vocalist and guitarist, Mary Ford

1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard

1989 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top 1956 reissue

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OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: AERONWY THOMAS-ELLIS, 3 March 1943 – 27 July 2009.

AERONWY THOMAS-ELLIS, daughter of poet Dylan Thomas, 3 March 1943 – 27 July 2009. Thomas’ memoir, My Father’s Places is set to be published on 10th August.

Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis, June 1981 aged 38 years old at her home in New Malden, Surrey, UK

Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis, June 1981 aged 38 years old at her home in New Malden, Surrey, UK

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Obituary Pics: George Russell, jazz composer, dies 27 July 2009

George Russell, American jazz composer and conductor

George Russell, American jazz composer and conductor

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Obituary pics: Merce Cunningham, American dance choreographer,dies 26th July, 2009, age 90

Merce Cunningham, 1995

Merce Cunningham, 1985

Obituary pics available online for high res download at www.lebrecht.co.uk

OBITUARY PICS from LEBRECHT: BETTY ALLEN, American opera singer and educator, 17 March 1930 – June 2009

Virgil Thomson and Betty Allen preparing for the New York Philharmonic 's performance of Thomson 's opera 'Four Saints in Three Acts'.

 

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