The world yesterday lost one of the real gentleman giants of the podium, Sir Charles Mackerras. A cosmopolitan, yet modest man, Mackerras achieved during his sixty year career a distinction of consistently fine musicianship and the singular dedication towards presenting a composer's intentions as best he could within the confines of the "here and now." I know of no conductor who possessed as vast a repertoire and was as singularly convincing as Sir Charles. His loss, I think, will take sometime for us to come to terms with.
Of my favorite recordings, I always come back to Sir Charles' Dvorak. from the Hamburg 8th of the late 60's to his incredible 6th recorded in Prague about 10 years ago, he was always so convincing, so right, so FUN. If you have not heard Mackerras' Dvorak, this is a great place to start in order to assess this man's greatness as an intepreter and presenter.
My little remembrance is this Philip World Series lp of ballet suites by Rameau and Gluck. I transferred it sometime ago but was not totally pleased with the sound. However, it is what I have available at the moment and I do not believe it is available elsewhere in a cd format. Mackerras leads the mid 60's LSO in Castor and Pollux and Orfeo ed Euridice; let's not forget that Mackerras actually began his career as a "specialist" in Baroque/Early classical and Czech music. These suites are quite delightful in their own right and a nice memorial to Mackerras's inerrant good taste is a beautiful "Dance of the Blessed Spirits."
Rest in Peace Sir Charles. You did your part to bring a litle beauty, good taste, and decency to this troubled world.
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