A grand old man in the truest sense of the word, conductor Herbert Blomstedt passed away yesterday in the ripe age of 99. He never retired and had his last concert less than six months ago. I have attended his concert twice; the first one was roughly about five years ago, when he conducted Anton Bruckner´s Fourth symphony and Franz Schubert´s first symphony. Real core repertoire then. His conduncting showed no signs of diminishing vitality; his Bruckner was a fiery affair and Schubert a delightfully classical, crisp affair. By that time Blomstedt was still fit as a fiddle, walking unaided and standing during the whole concert. My next Blomstedt concert was almost exactly two years ago, when he conducted Mahler´s Ninth symphony. Blomstedt is no Mahler specialist, but his last years he had been touring with this work, and the concert had a valedictory feel about it. There was an odd memory lapse in Mahler though, but the orchestra pulled through after a few bars of undecidedness. I had a feeling that that would be the last time Blomstedt would be heard live in Finland.
So Blomstedt was a man of core repertoire, known mainly for his Bruckner, Schubert and Beethoven, but he also recorded well-kmown cycles of Sibelius and Nielsen symphonies and works of Paul Hindemith. Hie made some very beautiful Bruckner, most notably his Bruckner Seventh with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Sixth with the San Francisco Symphony. The Bruckner Seventh is a luminously beautiful affair; the playing is as beautiful as it gets and the early Denon recording is nothing short of spectacular. His Schubert and Beethoven symphony cycles are also done in Dresden, and the Schubert cycle is among the very finest alongside Wand and Abbado, and Beethoven among the finest big band cycles alongside Wand and Szell. The recording of Beethoven fourth is currently my favourite account of the work, and the late seventies´ Staatskapelle my favourite orchestra of any age with its silky strings, perky woodwinds and distinctively Eastern brass sonority.
Herbert Blomstedt is the one who finally sold me Carl Nielsen´s music. His Nielsen cycle from San Francisco is ebullient and life-affirming, showing the other side of the conductor´s personality. If he is held just as a beauty worshipper his Nielsen springs surprise. On the other hand, I need my Sibelius rougher, with more edge and sense of danger than Blomstedt could offer, beautiful as it is though. And his Hindemith recordings are really state-of-the-art, making fullest possible justice to this composer who was very highly regarded during his lifetime but has somewhat fallen off the radar as somewhat academic. Blomstedt also championed music of his fellow Swede Franz Berwald and did fine recordings of Carl Orff´s Carmina Burana and Brahms´ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the fabulous San Francisco Symphony Choir.
Herbert Blomstedt was a real ambassador of Sweden, and I would honour him by using the words of probably the best known Swedish musical merchandise that is Abba. Thank you for the music, Maestro.
