Father and Son Mozart: Kurt and Ken-David Masur conduct the Boston Symphony, with Gerhard Oppitz Playing Mozart’s C Minor Piano Concerto, K. 491, by Michael Miller
Gerhard Oppitz Plays Mozart’s C Minor Piano Concerto, K. 491, Ken-David Masur Conducting the BSO. Photo Hilary Scott.
Sunday, July 22, 2.30 pm
Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Kurt Masur and Ken-David Masur, conductors
Gerhard Oppitz, piano
All-Mozart – Program
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Ken-David)
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491 (Ken-David)
Symphony No. 36 in C, Linz (Kurt)
I have read that Kurt Masur has shared concerts with his estimable son, Ken-David, several times over the past year or so, before his fall from the podium in April caused an interruption in his concert schedule. This concert at Tanglewood is, I believe, the only appearance he will make until his broken shoulder blade heals entirely. Mr. Masur is looking forward to a full recovery, and we can only wish him a rapid and complete one. Meanwhile, Ken-David is in his second summer as a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Last summer, he made a strong impression on me with Beethoven’s Leonore No. 3 Overture with the TMC Orchestra in Ozawa Hall. Unfortunately I missed his other concerts then, but this year I have heard more, with some very challenging pieces among them, including Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto and Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques. Everything augurs an important career ahead for Ken-David Masur and a cherishable contribution to our musical lives. Few conductors even of the older generation have had a thorough grounding in the German classics and in the German classical style of orchestral playing. His father Kurt, from whom he learned the art, was considered a rara avis when he first became known in the West, since at the very least he knows the scores inside and out, and his conducting was highly valued at a time when a younger generation of conductors was taking over, who knew Mahler and Ravel better than Beethoven. Kurt Masur’s art has many other virtues as well, above all his deep insight into works like the Missa Solemnis and the Symphonies of Bruckner and Brahms, not to mention Gershwin and Shostakovich. He is one of our great conductors, a worthy successor of Weingartner and Klemperer.

