Yakov Kreizberg - Influences

Influences

In an interview with Stewart Collins in BBC Music Magazine, Kreizberg recalled that his musical upbringing in the Soviet Union limited his ability to hear music other than that officially sanctioned. Once he emigrated to the United States he began to learn many new composers and conductors.

He selected the following recordings for the "Music That Changed Me" column:

  • Mendelssohn:
    • Violin Concerto in E minor - Eugene Fodor, violin, New Philharmonia, Peter Maag, conductor
    • A Midsummer Night's Dream - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
  • Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1 - Emil Gilels, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Mravinsky, conductor
  • Mozart: Symphony no. 40 - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, conductor
  • Schubert: Symphony no. 8 - Royal Concertbegouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
  • Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no. 2 - Van Cliburn, piano, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, conductor

The body of the article mentions several different favored soloists and conductors, such as David Oistrakh playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Franz Konwitschny conducting Wagner, and Paul Kletzki conducting Schubert.

In 2006 Gramophone asked him who was the conductor he most admired:

The conductor I most admire and respect is Leonard Bernstein. He had a phenomenal musical talent. Not only was he a great conductor but also a wonderful composer, fabulous pianist, and a powerful educator of young audiences. One could agree or disagree with his approach to a particular score but ultimately he was so unbelievably passionate about music, and so convincing in his reading of the piece, that one couldn't help but feel that his way of interpreting it was the only right way. He even made works that, generally speaking, were not considered the most important seem like masterpieces.

Read more about this topic:  Yakov Kreizberg

Famous quotes containing the word influences:

    Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it.
    Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)

    I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on in everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide.
    Hope Edelman (20th century)

    Do not seek anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all dissipation.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)