Pinned Post
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I had a thought recently – potentially dangerous – actually it was a few months ago*: there are now quite a few entries posted on the Column, gathering to close-on 10,000 overall, and although the Search facility works perfectly well, I wondered about collecting under by-name headings some of the numerous posts relevant to particular musicians that reflect my admiration for their artistry that has been accrued over numerous years.
The idea of Column Honorees was therefore born. I must stress that it is an as-and-when project.
Starting with conductors.
*I have been waiting for the right moment to launch the Honorees. It seems to me that Valentine’s Day is as good a time as any; after all, we all love music, right? And, over time, and through concerts and recordings, we build our personal list of musicians whom we especially appreciate and stay with due to particular communication/insights on their part, with us being on and open to their wavelength. Of course, when a musician is deceased if well-represented through recordings then the relationship must remain as caught by microphones. However, if one is fortunate enough, as I have been, to interview various musicians, attend rehearsals and/or (invariably democratic) recording sessions, for they all offer a privileged opportunity to get to know and observe that person.
So, dear readers, the first four Column Honorees, each of whom have illuminated and enriched my musical appreciation, and I am sure will continue to do so, are…
Herbert Blomstedt
Sergiu Celibidache
Eugene Ormandy
Leonard Slatkin
Whichever posts I have selected/and will select for the above (an ongoing and time-consuming duplication), they will also remain as originally added to this site, untagged with the Honoree nomenclature (too much work!).
The next Honorees, also conductors, will be three in number, are decided upon and will follow in due course… and will be announced on this page. Place your bets as to their identities.
I have encountered a few unsuspected difficulties with the Honorees project. As best as I can explain, if you click on a musician who I have nominated as an Honoree, you then need to click on the photo of him or her – or whatever the image is – in order to view the individual posts. And, when I am posting something new regarding an Honoree, I will either tag it, or not, but manually add that post to where I thought it would go, or not! I know, this is confusing! Apologies. Col