Frans Bruggen died.

[Harry]

Today Frans Bruggen died, he was 79! RIP.

[kishnevi]

 

[Henk]

Enjoying some of his latest performances these days. Till the end of his career he kept performing music brilliantly. A great conductor who was however modest about himself. Will play some Haydn conducted by him today, a composer, if I remember well, whom he liked to conduct the most and is surely among his best work, but no flaws anyway in his work, a conductor fully dedicated to the music with his own orchestra.

[Brian]

Aw. Such a talented conductor.

The Beethoven symphonies and violin concerto being released again in a box this month has suddenly become a memorial to his work.

[Marc]

Very sad news, though not entirely unexpected.

He's one of my favourite performers.
An inspired and inspiring musician, both on the recorder and as a conductor of baroque/classical music.

He will be greatly missed.

Rest in peace.

[North Star]

His Beethoven VC with Zehetmair is a great recording, and also the only disc of his I recall having. Time to revisit it..

[Gurn Blanston]

So many great recordings to remember him by, I'm blessed to have so much of it too. I'll be listening.

R.I.P.

   

[Carnivorous Sheep]

It appears that Frans Bruggen died. I personally enjoyed his work on Beethoven and Schubert immensely, and this is sad news.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/news/conductor-frans-br%C3%BCggen-has-died

[Mookalafalas]

just talking about his Haydn not 2 minutes ago.  This is sad, indeed.

[HIPster]

Rest in peace.

He left an excellent recorded legacy, as many have previously mentioned.

One of my most recent purchases was his superb reading of the Monteverdi Vespers.  I am now playing this recording in memorial.

[Holden]

This has prompted me to listen to him for the first time in the LvB VC. Instant impression is that he avoids the syrupy effect that many conductors seem to go for in this work - I wonder if that's to do with the non-existent vibrato from the strings of this orchestra. ....and surprisingly I hear Zehetmair using it his passage work - go figure! I wonder what the HIP purists think. I really like this performance of the VC, it might become a favourite.

Coupled on this CD is the Pastoral. This is my favourite LvB symphony and I've always disliked the way the HIPsters have mauled the piece by playing it way too fast. Bruggen eschews this approach and while the stroll through the countryside is a bit brisk it's not the quick jog that many period instrument groups make it with no time to breathe let alone smell the roses. The pacing of the rest of the movements is very well judged, helped by superbly accurate and meaningful playing by every member of this orchestra. Anima Eterna/van Immerseel are comparably mediocre in comparison the O18C in this work. Looks like I'll have to investigate the other symphonies

[Que]

It is so sad, but he was extremely frail for some time...

Another member of the HIP pioneers around Leonhardt has passed, an important era in the performance of Classical music is drawing to a close... Anner Bijlsma (80) is fortunately still with us.

I saw that in Octber an 80th anniverseray concert had been planned in the Concertgebouw, a pity that Frans could not make it anymore.....

For collectors I hope that the Netherlands-only 75th anniversary box set will be rereleased.

Q

[Old Listener]

just talking about his Haydn not 2 minutes ago.  This is sad, indeed.

Bruggen's Paris symphonies set is a favorite of mine.  No. 82 is especially good. 

A recording of 86 coupled with 88 on a single CD (Philips 426 169-2) is even better than the performance of 86 is the set.  My first choice for 86 of all the recordings I've heard. 

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=142646

[Mandryka]

There are some tremendous recordings, even from later on in his career. His first recording of the B minor mass seems to me really well balanced beween heart and  head, just the right amount of expression. From his Haydn I like very much the London Symphonies, from his Mozart I like his Gran Partita - he had a special relation with wind music of course. As recorder player he made some real special recordings with Leonhardt - Rameau and Bach concertos.

Sometimes his interpretive choices were astonishing to me. In Ich habe genug with Max von Egmond, he plays the cantata as if it's a celebration of Death. I'm sure other people have treated it in the same way by for me it was a really revealing moment, when I first heard it.

Even though he had been very ill, he was only quite recently making some outstanding music. There's a Haydn 101 from Cologn in 2011 which I think is really special, he even manages to make the minuet sound good. Not everyone agrees with me about this, but you can judge for yourself because it's on symphonyshare.


He was a tremendous accompanist. There is, for example, an unforgettable performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto 24 with Bezuidenhout, from Paris in 2010, again on symphonyshare.

[Wakefield]

It's a sad news.

But honestly said, I have been fearing this kind of news for some time. I mean it's a complete generation which is definitively beginning to say goodbye. People born between 1925-1935 to say some dates.

Leohnhardt died in 2012, now Brüggen, both of them were wonderful gentlemen and musicians.

I hope Paul Badura-Skoda (1927), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929), Jörg Demus (1928), just to mention three form the top of my mind, will still live many years.

P.S.: Now reading a previous post by Que, I'm aware I forgot to mention Anner Bylsma (1934)... an inexcusable mistake, indeed. 

[Que]

Queen Beatrix awarded conductor and flutist Frans Brüggen with the Medal of Honor for Arts and Science. (2010)

Q

[Marc]

Frans Brüggen in 1967, playing Telemann:

http://www.youtube.com/v/vQatlvFvGdM

[Gurn Blanston]

Frans Brüggen in 1967, playing Telemann:

Nice, thanks!

[Pat B]

Nice, thanks!

+1

[Marc]

And this, ending with his last [?] encore (Rameau), a very moving clip ....

http://www.youtube.com/v/s8mc5LHAW_Y#t=511