Yakov Kreizberg
Encyclopedia
Yakov Kreizberg was a Russian-born American conductor
.
. He began studying piano at age 5. He attended the Glinka Choir School, where he began composing at age 13 and studied conducting with Ilya Musin. "Musin had an incredible system" Kreizberg recalled. The student would conduct and Musin would play at the piano, criticizing; then the roles were reversed, and Musin would comment again. Musin would use Beethoven
sonatas, which contain "a world of feeling and expression," to teach conducting various articulations such as staccato, legato, phrasing, breathing. "Only after a while he gave me the first orchestral work, Beethoven's first symphony, saying: 'Remember everything you've done, but now do it with strings, oboes and horns.' " Kreizberg described himself as "essentially self-taught. What Musin taught was a foundation; everything else I learned from master classes of very good and bad conductors. From the bad, I learned what not to do."
By the time he was allowed to emigrate, he had composed numerous works. The Soviet authorities, however, would not allow any handwritten paper to be taken out of the country so he had to leave his compositions behind. The experience was so frustrating that he gave up composition and decided to become a conductor.
(also a student of Musin's), and graduated in 1981. One of his first public appearances as conductor was on March 30, 1980, when he led an orchestra at the Marble Collegiate Church
in a performance of Haydn's Symphony no. 88. (He was still listed under the surname of his birth, Bychkov, which he would change within the year to his mother's maiden name, Kreizberg, to avoid comparisons with his older brother.) For his graduation concert he led the Mannes Orchestra in a concert on March 6, 1981. Kreizberg did his graduate studies in conducting with Gustav Meier
at the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor, becoming the first student to earn a doctorate in both orchestral and operatic conducting, and winning the school's Eugene Ormandy Prize. He spent summers at Tanglewood
continuing his conducting studies with Erich Leinsdorf
, Seiji Ozawa
, and Leonard Bernstein
, the most influential of the three. He received a scholarship at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute
, where he continued work with Bernstein and was invited back to be assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas
. From 1985 to 1988 he was director of the orchestra at Mannes, and also taught conducting to only a few students such as Miriam Burns, currently head of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra
. During this period he also conducted concerts of the New York City Symphony.
In 1986 Kreizberg won first prize in the American Symphony Orchestra
's Stokowski Conducting Competition. This resulted in a March 2, 1986 concert at Carnegie Hall
with the orchestra which included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's Clarinet Concerto
, Paul Hindemith
's Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5
. Of the performance of the Tchaikovsky, Will Crutchfield
said "It was a lucid look at the symphony more than an experience of it; still, lucidity is a considerable virtue, and Mr. Kreizberg seems to possess it, along with those of poise and good judgement for balance. It will be interesting to hear more of him." The concert was repeated the following week (March 9) at Newark Symphony Hall
.
An accomplished pianist, Kreizberg earned a living accompanying vocal students and accompanied productions such as Theatre Opera Music Institute's 1981 production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
's Mozart and Salieri
. He accompanied and toured with Roberta Peters
in the late 1980s. In a 2005 interview, Julia Fischer
recalled playing Franz Schubert
's Fantasia in F minor for four hands at the piano with Kreizberg. He accompanied her on the piano for their recording of Tchaikovsky's Sérénade mélancolique released in 2007.
and Mönchengladbach
from 1988 to 1994, where he conducted operas such as Der Fliegende Hollander, Eugene Onegin
, Káťa Kabanová
and an important revival of Aribert Reimann
's opera-oratorio Troades (which the composer received enthusiastically). He was 27 years old, the youngest GMD ever appointed in Germany. In a contemporary profile, a critic, noting that others had referred to Kreizberg's "giant talent" ("Riesentalent"), complimented Kreizberg's career path in starting with provincial opera houses in order to give the conductor time and space to develop. During this time he also had engagements at Theater Aachen
and Opéra National de Lyon
.
He was GMD of the Komische Oper Berlin
from 1994 to 2001, where he worked closely with Harry Kupfer
. His repertoire included (year indicates first performed in that year): La Traviata
(1994); Der gewaltige Hanrei, Die Entführung aus dem Serail
, Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus
(1995); Falstaff
, Don Giovanni
, Così Fan Tutte
, Lucia di Lammermoor
(1996); Pique Dame
, Fidelio
(1997); König Hirsch
(1998); Carmen
(1999); La Clemenza di Tito
, La bohème
, The Tale of Tsar Saltan
(2000). During his tenure, he led 10 new opera productions, numerous revivals, 2 ballets, and 38 concerts with the orchestra. In 1994, he led Berthold Goldschmidt
's Der gewaltige Hanrei in its first staging since 1932. In his Opera News review of the Goldschmidt, James Helme Sutcliffe wrote: "...new music director Yakov Kreizberg conducted a scintillating performance of the obsessively contrapuntal score..." For his work at the Komische Oper, he was awarded the Kritikerpreis für Musik in 1997 by the Verband der deutschen Kritiker e. V., the German music critics association. After much political wrangling, he stepped down from his post as GMD of the Komische Oper in 2001 due to job cuts, inability to fill vacancies, and "disastrous inflexibility and incompetence."
Kreizberg conducted three productions for Glyndebourne
: Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Leos Janacek
's Jenůfa
(1992), Deborah Warner
’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's Don Giovanni
(1995, available on DVD), and Lehnhoff’s production of Janacek's Káťa Kabanová (1998). Of the 1992 Jenůfa, one critic wrote: "Above all, it was the electrifying conducting of Yakov Kreizberg, making his British operatic debut, which made this production so outstanding." Of his Glyndebourne experience conducting Janacek, Kreizberg said: "[ I've ] had marvelous experiences performing some of his operas under the best conditions in the world, namely at the Glyndebourne Festival in England. Working with marvelous directors and first-rate orchestras and the very best singers that there are for this repertoire and having lots and lots and lots of rehearsal time, I've been a bit spoiled. But it's been a great experience doing this sort of thing."
He also conducted opera with the Canadian Opera Company
(Cosi Fan Tutte
in 1991, Don Giovanni in 1992), English National Opera
(Der Rosenkavalier
in 1994), Chicago Lyric Opera (Don Giovanni, 1995-96 season), Bregenz Festival (Kurt Weill
's Der Protagonist
and Royal Palace
with the Vienna Symphony in 2004), De Nederlandse Opera
(Tchaikovsky's Iolanta
in 2004), and the Royal Opera House
(Giuseppe Verdi
's Macbeth
in 2006).
In speaking of his operatic work, Kreizberg said "Working in opera is the single best experience a conductor can get. Without it, he will never develop into what he could be. Singers, good and bad, teach you to be more flexible and to learn things a symphony orchestra will never teach you."
He made his debut at the The Proms
conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra
on Aug. 3, 1993, and returned each year from 1994 to 2000. His final performance at the Proms was on Aug. 5, 2008.
In parallel with his Berlin post at the Komische Oper, he was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
from 1995 to 2000. "His five-year tenure with the Bournemouth SO lifted it to a higher plane. Under his rigorous training, the sound quality and ensemble were impressive." He led the orchestra to a Carnegie Hall debut (on April 17, 1997) as well as performing at Vienna's Musikverein and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. With Bournemouth he gave the premiere of Peteris Vasks
's Symphony No. 2 on July 30, 1999 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of The Proms. He also performed the United Kingdom premiere of Berthold Goldschmidt's Passacaglia op.4 on July 25, 1996 in the presence of the composer (just months before he died).
Also in the United Kingdom he conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
(1992), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(1993), the BBC Symphony Orchestra
(1993, 1995), the Philharmonia Orchestra
(1994), and the Australian Youth Orchestra
(their 1994 appearance at the Royal Albert Hall).
His first appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra
was on March 15, 2003, when he conducted Gustav Mahler
's Symphony no. 2
. His last appearance with the orchestra was at the Barbican on June 15, 2006, when he performed Ludwig van Beethoven
's Piano Concerto no. 5
with Stephen Hough
, and Dmitri Shostakovich
's Symphony no. 11
. Beginning in the late 1990s and continuing for several years, he was Music Director and Chief Conductor of Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra
.
In Europe at various times he led the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
, Norddeutscher Rundfunk
, Bamberg Symphony, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
, Oslo Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich
, Orchestre de Paris
, Russian National Orchestra
(engagements in 2004 and 2006), and the Czech Philharmonic.
From 2003, Kreizberg was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
. At the time of his death, he was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
. He recorded regularly for Pentatone Classics, working with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, Vienna Symphony and the Russian National Orchestra. His first disc with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
(Bruckner Symphony No.7) was nominated in two categories at this year’s Grammy Awards. He made several concerto recordings with Julia Fischer
. Kreizberg was scheduled to step down from both the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras in 2011. During the 2008/09 season, Kreizberg was Artist-in-Residence at the Alte Oper Frankfurt (the first time a conductor has been presented with this honour). In October 2007, Kreizberg was appointed Music Director and Artistic Director of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, effective with the 2009-2010 season, for an initial contract of 5 years. Also in 2007, he was awarded the ‘Ehrenkreuz’ by the Austrian President in recognition of his achievement in the Arts.
In the United States, he made his New York Philharmonic
debut on May 19, 1999. On various occasions he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra
, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(first engagement in 1992), Los Angeles Philharmonic
(which he first conducted in 2000), National Symphony Orchestra (engagements in 2001 and 2008), San Francisco Symphony
, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
(last time in 2007), Oregon Symphony
(2003 and 3 engagements in 2005),
and the Minnesota Orchestra
. He conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra
in over 30 concerts between 1999 and 2007, and took over a 2003 tour of North and South American with the orchestra when Wolfgang Sawallisch, then its music director, was too ill to travel. On two occasions he came close to being appointed music director of a US orchestra, first in Philadelphia, then in Minnesota.
In Asia he has worked with the NHK Symphony Orchestra
, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
as well as the Pacific Festival in Sapporo. Japan.
Of contemporary music, Kreizberg conducted works by Judith Bingham
, Jonathan Harvey
, Hans Werner Henze, Siegfried Matthus
, Aribert Reimann
, Peteris Vasks and others. He also led lesser-known works by Ernst Krenek
, Franz Schmidt
, Kurt Weill
, Karol Szymanowski
, and Igor Markevitch
.
His final recording was a Decca release with Fischer of tone poems for violin and orchestra.
His final concert took place on February 14, 2011, conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw
in Amsterdam
. The program consisted of Glinka
’s Overture
to Russlan and Ludmilla, Prokofiev
’s Violin Concerto No.2
with soloist Alexander Sitkovetsky
, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
.
"Conducting" said Kreizberg, "is not just about conducting, but is about one person. You have to somehow get a hundred people over to your side. Most importantly[you must ask yourself] : What kind of person are you? How to do you present that? What is your standard? You can fool a lot of people, but not an orchestra."
Kreizberg died on 15 March 2011 in Monaco
, after a long illness, aged 51.
His maternal great-grandfather, also named Yakov Kreizberg, was a conductor of opera at Odessa Opera.
He was the brother of the conductor Semyon Bychkov.
He met his future wife, conductor Amy Andersson, while they were both students at the University of Michigan. They married in New York City on April 24, 1988 and spent their honeymoon at that year's Bayreuth Festival
. At summer festivals in Weikersheim
in 2001, 2003, and 2005, they were able to conduct operas on opposite nights, watching each other's conducting of La Traviata
, Carmen
, and La Boheme
. They had two sons.
He selected the following recordings for the "Music That Changed Me" column:
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:
's opera König Hirsch
at the Komische Oper, a critic noted: "The evening's most exciting aspect was the orchestra's brilliant playing under music director Yakov Kreizberg." A Gramophone review of the Don Giovanni video referred to him as "the fiery Yakov Kreizberg". And for Verdi's Macbeth, performed in 2006 at the Royal Opera House: "...there was plenty of drama in the music, thanks to the efforts of conductor Yakov Kreizberg and a vocally meaty cast on stage," and: "Thanks to Yakov Kreizberg the Orchestra and Chorus obviously relished the score which sparkled and never lost the blood-and-thunder drama." In reviewing his recording of Dvorak's 8th symphony, one critic tried for a deeper understanding of Kreizberg's ability at producing a dramatic performance: "His slow presentation of the opening melody followed by a fiery allegro sets up a nice dynamic contrast. He plays the crucial dramatic pauses in the second movement effectively, and he builds the climaxes slowly and grandly without making it sound like Götterdämmerung. The fourth movement is excellent. Kreizberg generates plenty of excitement without becoming hysterical (though the French horns could have benefited from a tighter leash)....Kreizberg 's approach to the tone poems is similar, and The Wild Dove is special. He again presents some tremendous dramatic contrasts, but the lighter, dance-like sections don't go as well in The Noon Witch. This is probably the best recording of The Wild Dove in terms of performance and sound...These are fine performances with excellent sound..."
Even in Mozart reviewers found plentiful drama: "Yakov Kreizberg launches the Sinfonia concertante in emphatic style: a no-nonsense tempo, lashing sforzando accents, a powerful forward impetus. Mozart's thrilling take on the slow-burn "Mannheim crescendo" has an almost ferocious intensity, enhanced by the recording's wide dynamic range."
Kreizberg apparently had a special affinity for Shostakovich's music. For his debut with the New York Philharmonic, he conducted Shostakovich's 11th Symphony: "The performance was riveting. Kreizberg, Russian-born and now living in Germany, has a remarkable baton technique using mostly very small, clear motions; conducting from memory, he seemed to become one with the music and the musicians, who played magnificently."
In the last year of his Bournemouth tenure: "After the interval Kreizberg conducted, from memory, the greatest live performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony I have ever heard. Utterly faithful to the letter of the score, which is so rarely the case, he and the Bournemouth Orchestra were fully at one with the spirit of this original masterpiece. This was great conducting and exceptionally fine orchestral playing which almost literally took my breath away: a magnificent achievement." In a 2007 review with the Philadelphia Orchestra: "Several years ago Yakov Kreizberg conducted Shostakovich's 11th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra in one of the most dramatic and incendiary live performances I have ever heard."
The manager of the Bournemouth orchestra recalled: "He had made a huge reputation for himself with this work because of his clear passion for it and his ability to mold an ensemble of intense musical and dramatic presence."
and Royal Palace
: "Yakov Kreizberg drew highly-detailed performances from the superb Vienna Symphony, catching all the bite, drive and lyricism of these neglected masterpieces. " Concerning a 2003 performance of Mahler's First Symphony with the Oregon Symphony: "Kreizberg is an interpreter of big ideas, communicated in detailed exactness. He has two of the most expressive hands in the business, and he radiated rhythm from the podium. It added up to a kind of poetry of precision, with highly expressive results."
In the section on Kreizberg in his book Maestros in America: conductors in the 21st century, Roderick L. Sharpe summarized:
[to] the orchestral accompaniment is evident in his finely balanced recording. In the First Concerto one feels the cello, pounding away at the ferocious double-stops, buoyantly pitched against the orchestra, the woodwind responding with incisive rhythmic precision..."
Daniel Müller-Schott: "The first time we met was in 2005 in the States to perform the Dvorák Concerto. From that moment I felt we had a wonderful connection, one that would continue for years. After that we recorded the Brahms Double Concerto with Julia Fischer, which was fantastic, so when the possibility arose to record the Shostakovich, I felt he would be perfect."
In an interview in Gramophone, Julia Fischer was asked whether her collaboration with Kreizberg was beneficial: "It helps amazingly in my life. Young artists today stop seeing their teachers regularly very early, and go to tour the world. I now see my teacher every four or six months. And Yakov kind of fills that role for me. He sees me every month and goes through all the repertoire with me. When I play with him I play my best, and we both know so well from each other what we want."
Even regarding the relationship of conductor to orchestra, Kreizberg said: "It’s like a...relationship—it’s give-and-take, it’s being open minded and being flexible because nothing in life is ever quite the way you imagine it to be."
Florian Zwiauer (concertmaster of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra) summed up Kreizberg: “He is a musician’s conductor.”
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
In the Soviet Union
Yakov Kreizberg (born Yakov Bychkov) was born in LeningradSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. He began studying piano at age 5. He attended the Glinka Choir School, where he began composing at age 13 and studied conducting with Ilya Musin. "Musin had an incredible system" Kreizberg recalled. The student would conduct and Musin would play at the piano, criticizing; then the roles were reversed, and Musin would comment again. Musin would use Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
sonatas, which contain "a world of feeling and expression," to teach conducting various articulations such as staccato, legato, phrasing, breathing. "Only after a while he gave me the first orchestral work, Beethoven's first symphony, saying: 'Remember everything you've done, but now do it with strings, oboes and horns.' " Kreizberg described himself as "essentially self-taught. What Musin taught was a foundation; everything else I learned from master classes of very good and bad conductors. From the bad, I learned what not to do."
By the time he was allowed to emigrate, he had composed numerous works. The Soviet authorities, however, would not allow any handwritten paper to be taken out of the country so he had to leave his compositions behind. The experience was so frustrating that he gave up composition and decided to become a conductor.
In the United States
He emigrated to the United States in 1976, and attended the Mannes College The New School for Music, where he continued his conducting studies under his brother, Semyon BychkovSemyon Bychkov
Semyon Mayevich Bychkov is a Russian-Born conductor.-Childhood and studies in Russia:Born in Leningrad to Jewish parents, Bychkov studied at the Glinka Choir School for ten years and later at the Leningrad Conservatory with Ilya Musin...
(also a student of Musin's), and graduated in 1981. One of his first public appearances as conductor was on March 30, 1980, when he led an orchestra at the Marble Collegiate Church
Marble Collegiate Church
The Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in North America. The congregation, which is part of the Reformed Church in America, is now located at 272 Fifth Avenue at the corner of West 29th Street in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan,...
in a performance of Haydn's Symphony no. 88. (He was still listed under the surname of his birth, Bychkov, which he would change within the year to his mother's maiden name, Kreizberg, to avoid comparisons with his older brother.) For his graduation concert he led the Mannes Orchestra in a concert on March 6, 1981. Kreizberg did his graduate studies in conducting with Gustav Meier
Gustav Meier
Gustav Meier is the director of the Orchestra Conducting Program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He is also Music Director of the in Connecticut.-Biography:...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
at Ann Arbor, becoming the first student to earn a doctorate in both orchestral and operatic conducting, and winning the school's Eugene Ormandy Prize. He spent summers at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
continuing his conducting studies with Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
, Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
, and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, the most influential of the three. He received a scholarship at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute
Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute was a summer training program held in Los Angeles, California for conservatory aged orchestral instrumentalists and conductors...
, where he continued work with Bernstein and was invited back to be assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
. From 1985 to 1988 he was director of the orchestra at Mannes, and also taught conducting to only a few students such as Miriam Burns, currently head of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra
Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra
The Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1979, with Nicholas Harsanyi as director. Harsanyi was a noted violist and a student of Béla Bartók, who later even played chamber music with Albert Einstein at Princeton. After Nicholas Harsanyi's death, the baton was handed on to several guest...
. During this period he also conducted concerts of the New York City Symphony.
In 1986 Kreizberg won first prize in the American Symphony Orchestra
American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...
's Stokowski Conducting Competition. This resulted in a March 2, 1986 concert at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
with the orchestra which included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Clarinet Concerto
Clarinet Concerto (Mozart)
Mozart's Clarinet concerto in A major, K. 622 was written in 1791 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler.It consists of the usual three movements, in a fast–slow–fast form:# Allegro# Adagio# Rondo: Allegro...
, Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
's Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5
Symphony No. 5 (Tchaikovsky)
The Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888 and was first performed in St Petersburg at the Hall of Nobility on November 6 of that year with Tchaikovsky conducting. It is dedicated to Theodore Avé-Lallemant.-Structure:A typical...
. Of the performance of the Tchaikovsky, Will Crutchfield
Will Crutchfield
Will Crutchfield is a noted American conductor, musicologist, and vocal coach. He is currently the Director of Opera at the Caramoor International Music Festival and a frequent guest conductor at the Polish National Opera...
said "It was a lucid look at the symphony more than an experience of it; still, lucidity is a considerable virtue, and Mr. Kreizberg seems to possess it, along with those of poise and good judgement for balance. It will be interesting to hear more of him." The concert was repeated the following week (March 9) at Newark Symphony Hall
Newark Symphony Hall
Newark Symphony Hall at 1020 Broad Street in Newark, New Jerseywas built in 1925 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was known for many years as The Mosque Theater.-Design and construction:...
.
An accomplished pianist, Kreizberg earned a living accompanying vocal students and accompanied productions such as Theatre Opera Music Institute's 1981 production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Mozart and Salieri
Mozart and Salieri
Mozart and Salieri is a one-act opera in two scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1897 to a Russian libretto taken almost verbatim from Alexander Pushkin's 1830 verse drama of the same name....
. He accompanied and toured with Roberta Peters
Roberta Peters
Roberta Peters is an American coloratura soprano.One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York...
in the late 1980s. In a 2005 interview, Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist.-Biography:Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother, Viera Fischer , came from the German minority in Slovakia and immigrated from Košice, Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972...
recalled playing Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's Fantasia in F minor for four hands at the piano with Kreizberg. He accompanied her on the piano for their recording of Tchaikovsky's Sérénade mélancolique released in 2007.
Opera
Kreizberg was appointed General Music Director (GMD) of the United Municipal Theaters of KrefeldKrefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
and Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach , formerly known as Münchengladbach, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border....
from 1988 to 1994, where he conducted operas such as Der Fliegende Hollander, Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, Káťa Kabanová
Káta Kabanová
Káťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka, based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová...
and an important revival of Aribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann is a German opera composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of King Lear was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who sang the title role....
's opera-oratorio Troades (which the composer received enthusiastically). He was 27 years old, the youngest GMD ever appointed in Germany. In a contemporary profile, a critic, noting that others had referred to Kreizberg's "giant talent" ("Riesentalent"), complimented Kreizberg's career path in starting with provincial opera houses in order to give the conductor time and space to develop. During this time he also had engagements at Theater Aachen
Theater Aachen
Theater Aachen is a theatre in Aachen, Germany. It is the principal venue in that city for operas, musical theatre, plays, and concerts. It is the home of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. Construction on the original theatre began in 1822 and it opened on 15 May 1825...
and Opéra National de Lyon
Opéra National de Lyon
Opéra National de Lyon is an opera company in Lyon, France which performs in the Nouvel Opéra, a modernized version in 1993 of the original 1831 opera house.The inaugural performance of François-Adrien Boïeldieu's La Dame blanche was given on 1 July 1831...
.
He was GMD of the Komische Oper Berlin
Komische Oper Berlin
The Komische Oper Berlin is an opera company in Berlin, Germany, which specializes in German language productions of opera, operetta and musicals....
from 1994 to 2001, where he worked closely with Harry Kupfer
Harry Kupfer
Harry Kupfer is a German opera director. He studied theatre in Leipzig and directed his first opera, Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka, in 1958....
. His repertoire included (year indicates first performed in that year): La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(1994); Der gewaltige Hanrei, Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
, Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(1995); Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Così Fan Tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
(1996); Pique Dame
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
, Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(1997); König Hirsch
König Hirsch
König Hirsch is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to an German libretto by Heinz von Cramer after a fable by Carlo Gozzi.-Performance history:...
(1998); Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
(1999); La Clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio...
, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Rimsky-Korsakov)
The Tale of Tsar Saltan is an opera in four acts with a prologue, seven scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on the poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin...
(2000). During his tenure, he led 10 new opera productions, numerous revivals, 2 ballets, and 38 concerts with the orchestra. In 1994, he led Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England...
's Der gewaltige Hanrei in its first staging since 1932. In his Opera News review of the Goldschmidt, James Helme Sutcliffe wrote: "...new music director Yakov Kreizberg conducted a scintillating performance of the obsessively contrapuntal score..." For his work at the Komische Oper, he was awarded the Kritikerpreis für Musik in 1997 by the Verband der deutschen Kritiker e. V., the German music critics association. After much political wrangling, he stepped down from his post as GMD of the Komische Oper in 2001 due to job cuts, inability to fill vacancies, and "disastrous inflexibility and incompetence."
Kreizberg conducted three productions for Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne is a country house, thought to be about six hundred years old, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is also the site of an opera house which, with the exception of its closing during the Second World War, for a few immediate post-war years, and in 1993 during the...
: Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Leos Janacek
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
(1992), Deborah Warner
Deborah Warner
Deborah Warner CBE is a British director of theatre and opera known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Büchner, and Henrik Ibsen, and for her long-term working relationship with the Irish actress Fiona Shaw.-Early years:Warner was born in Oxfordshire,...
’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
(1995, available on DVD), and Lehnhoff’s production of Janacek's Káťa Kabanová (1998). Of the 1992 Jenůfa, one critic wrote: "Above all, it was the electrifying conducting of Yakov Kreizberg, making his British operatic debut, which made this production so outstanding." Of his Glyndebourne experience conducting Janacek, Kreizberg said: "[ I've ] had marvelous experiences performing some of his operas under the best conditions in the world, namely at the Glyndebourne Festival in England. Working with marvelous directors and first-rate orchestras and the very best singers that there are for this repertoire and having lots and lots and lots of rehearsal time, I've been a bit spoiled. But it's been a great experience doing this sort of thing."
He also conducted opera with the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
(Cosi Fan Tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
in 1991, Don Giovanni in 1992), English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
(Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
in 1994), Chicago Lyric Opera (Don Giovanni, 1995-96 season), Bregenz Festival (Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's Der Protagonist
Der Protagonist
Der Protagonist is an opera in one act by Kurt Weill op. 15. The German libretto was written by Georg Kaiser based on his own play of the same name of ....
and Royal Palace
Royal Palace
** Palace of Nakhchivan Khans, Nakhchivan* Belgium: Royal Palace of Brussels* Brazil** Paço Imperial** Paço de São Cristóvão** Summer Palace* Bulgaria: Royal Palace, today housing the National Art Gallery* Cambodia: Royal Palace of Cambodia* China...
with the Vienna Symphony in 2004), De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera , in Amsterdam, is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Het Muziektheater, a modern building designed by Cees Dam which opened in 1986....
(Tchaikovsky's Iolanta
Iolanta
Iolanta, Op. 69, is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish play Kong Renés Datter by Henrik Hertz. The play was translated by Fyodor Miller and adapted by Vladimir Zotov...
in 2004), and the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
(Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
in 2006).
In speaking of his operatic work, Kreizberg said "Working in opera is the single best experience a conductor can get. Without it, he will never develop into what he could be. Singers, good and bad, teach you to be more flexible and to learn things a symphony orchestra will never teach you."
Symphonic work
Concurrently with his appointment as GMD in Krefeld-Mönchengladbach, he was conductor of the Niederrheinsche Sinfoniker. During his tenure, the orchestra's reputation grew so that these concerts easily sold out. Kreizberg instituted special annual concerts devoted to an individual composer - a series that was so successful that the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker continued the practice after he left.He made his debut at the The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
on Aug. 3, 1993, and returned each year from 1994 to 2000. His final performance at the Proms was on Aug. 5, 2008.
In parallel with his Berlin post at the Komische Oper, he was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is an English orchestra. Originally based in Bournemouth, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole in 1979....
from 1995 to 2000. "His five-year tenure with the Bournemouth SO lifted it to a higher plane. Under his rigorous training, the sound quality and ensemble were impressive." He led the orchestra to a Carnegie Hall debut (on April 17, 1997) as well as performing at Vienna's Musikverein and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. With Bournemouth he gave the premiere of Peteris Vasks
Peteris Vasks
Pēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player with Vitautas Sereikaan at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and played in several...
's Symphony No. 2 on July 30, 1999 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of The Proms. He also performed the United Kingdom premiere of Berthold Goldschmidt's Passacaglia op.4 on July 25, 1996 in the presence of the composer (just months before he died).
Also in the United Kingdom he conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society is a society based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, that organises concerts and other events mainly in the field of classical music. The society is the second oldest of its type in the United Kingdom and its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic...
(1992), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
(1993), the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
(1993, 1995), the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
(1994), and the Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an Australian organisation for young musicians. It operates the flagship Youth Orchestra as well as Camerata Australia, Young Australian Concert Artists and Young Symphonists. It also runs several other activities including master classes, outreach programmes and...
(their 1994 appearance at the Royal Albert Hall).
His first appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
was on March 15, 2003, when he conducted Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Symphony no. 2
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
. His last appearance with the orchestra was at the Barbican on June 15, 2006, when he performed Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Piano Concerto no. 5
Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his last piano concerto. It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil...
with Stephen Hough
Stephen Hough
Stephen Andrew Gill Hough is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality .-Biography:...
, and Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's Symphony no. 11
Symphony No. 11 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 11 in G minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1957 and premiered by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Natan Rakhlin on 30 October 1957...
. Beginning in the late 1990s and continuing for several years, he was Music Director and Chief Conductor of Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra
Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra
The Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra is a program of Jeunesses Musicales International. It was founded in 1949 by Igor Markevitch but its permanent structure dates back to 1970, when Gilles Lefebvre consolidated the world’s first youth orchestra...
.
In Europe at various times he led the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...
, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne is a German orchestra based in Cologne. The orchestra was founded in 1947 by Allied occupation authorities after World War II, as the orchestra of Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunk . The orchestra later acquired the names of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and...
, Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
, Bamberg Symphony, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...
, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...
, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, in German Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks is the internationally renowned orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk , based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the three principal orchestras in the city of Munich, along with the Munich Philharmonic...
, Oslo Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich
Tonhalle Orchester Zurich
Tonhalle Orchester Zürich is a symphony orchestra founded in 1868 in Zürich Switzerland, where it established its residence in the neue Tonhalle in 1895....
, Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel.-History:In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture,...
, Russian National Orchestra
Russian National Orchestra
The Russian National Orchestra premiered in Moscow in 1990.It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican and in Israel....
(engagements in 2004 and 2006), and the Czech Philharmonic.
From 2003, Kreizberg was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based primarily in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The NedPhO was formed in 1985 from the merger of three orchestras, the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra Utrecht and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra...
and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The NKO is part of the Stichting Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest , along with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra . The core of the NKO is a group of at least 20 string instrumentalists...
. At the time of his death, he was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
. He recorded regularly for Pentatone Classics, working with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, Vienna Symphony and the Russian National Orchestra. His first disc with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
(Bruckner Symphony No.7) was nominated in two categories at this year’s Grammy Awards. He made several concerto recordings with Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist.-Biography:Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother, Viera Fischer , came from the German minority in Slovakia and immigrated from Košice, Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972...
. Kreizberg was scheduled to step down from both the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras in 2011. During the 2008/09 season, Kreizberg was Artist-in-Residence at the Alte Oper Frankfurt (the first time a conductor has been presented with this honour). In October 2007, Kreizberg was appointed Music Director and Artistic Director of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, effective with the 2009-2010 season, for an initial contract of 5 years. Also in 2007, he was awarded the ‘Ehrenkreuz’ by the Austrian President in recognition of his achievement in the Arts.
In the United States, he made his New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
debut on May 19, 1999. On various occasions he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
(first engagement in 1992), Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
(which he first conducted in 2000), National Symphony Orchestra (engagements in 2001 and 2008), San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
(last time in 2007), Oregon Symphony
Oregon Symphony
The Oregon Symphony is an American orchestra based in Portland, Oregon. Founded as the Portland Symphony Society in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States...
(2003 and 3 engagements in 2005),
and the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
. He conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
in over 30 concerts between 1999 and 2007, and took over a 2003 tour of North and South American with the orchestra when Wolfgang Sawallisch, then its music director, was too ill to travel. On two occasions he came close to being appointed music director of a US orchestra, first in Philadelphia, then in Minnesota.
In Asia he has worked with the NHK Symphony Orchestra
NHK Symphony Orchestra
The in Tokyo, Japan began as the New Symphony Orchestra on October 5, 1926 and was the country's first professional symphony orchestra. Later, it changed its name to Japan Symphony Orchestra and in 1951, after receiving financial support from NHK, it took its current name...
, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall...
as well as the Pacific Festival in Sapporo. Japan.
Of contemporary music, Kreizberg conducted works by Judith Bingham
Judith Bingham
Judith Bingham is a British composer and mezzo-soprano singer.Born in Nottingham in 1952 and educated at High Storrs Grammar School for Girls in Sheffield, she attended the Royal Academy of Music , where her teachers were Malcolm MacDonald, Eric Fenby, Alan Bush and John Hall , and Jean...
, Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey is the name of:*Jonathan Harvey , British composer*Jonathan Harvey , U.S. Representative from New Hampshire*Jonathan Harvey , British playwright...
, Hans Werner Henze, Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus is a German composer and opera director living in Berlin and is one of Germany's most often performed contemporary composers.- Biography :Matthus attended secondary school in Rheinsberg, followed by studies at the Hochschule für Musik...
, Aribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann is a German opera composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of King Lear was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who sang the title role....
, Peteris Vasks and others. He also led lesser-known works by Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
, Franz Schmidt
Franz Schmidt
Franz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
, Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
, and Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch was a Ukrainian, Italian, and French composer and conductor.- Origin :Igor Markevich was born in Kiev, to an old family of Ukrainian Cossack starshyna ennobled in the 18th century...
.
His final recording was a Decca release with Fischer of tone poems for violin and orchestra.
His final concert took place on February 14, 2011, conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. The program consisted of Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
’s Overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
to Russlan and Ludmilla, Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
’s Violin Concerto No.2
Violin Concerto No. 2 (Prokofiev)
The Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63, written in 1935 by Sergei Prokofiev, is a work in three movements:#Allegro moderato#Andante assai#Allegro, ben marcato...
with soloist Alexander Sitkovetsky
Alexander Sitkovetsky
Alexander Sitkovetsky is a British violinist.-Family:Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow to a musical family; his father being guitarist and composer Alexander Sitkovetsky of the Autograph fame, mother Olga Sitkovetsky being a pianist, his great uncle and aunts being violinist Julian Sitkovetsky and...
, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Sheherazade , Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights, this orchestral work combines two features common to Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colourful...
.
He has since[1992] been consistently praised for an impeccable stick technique that is taut, precise, well-articulated, and high disciplined. There is never any question that he has prepared each performance thoroughly and meticulously, with every phrase and nuance considered. The resulting interpretations exhibit clear and imaginative ideas and a firm grasp of structure. His podium manner, the opposite of flamboyant, is not without charisma, and his deferential manner to soloists goes hand-in-hand with his reputation as an expert accompanist of both instrumentalist and singers. Reviewers have remarked on the sensitivity, passion, intensity, and immediacy of his performances. But the emotion is always held tautly in check, and it is this sense of control that has led other critics to find his readings cold and lacking atmosphere and spontaneity at times. This criticism aside, his achievements cannot be overrated."
"Conducting" said Kreizberg, "is not just about conducting, but is about one person. You have to somehow get a hundred people over to your side. Most importantly
Kreizberg died on 15 March 2011 in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, after a long illness, aged 51.
Personal
His father, May Bychkov, was a doctor in the Soviet Union who published prolifically on numerous medical subjects. His parents were Jewish.His maternal great-grandfather, also named Yakov Kreizberg, was a conductor of opera at Odessa Opera.
He was the brother of the conductor Semyon Bychkov.
He met his future wife, conductor Amy Andersson, while they were both students at the University of Michigan. They married in New York City on April 24, 1988 and spent their honeymoon at that year's Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. At summer festivals in Weikersheim
Weikersheim
Weikersheim is a town in the Main-Tauber district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Tauber, 9 km east of Bad Mergentheim, Weikersheim is the location of the famous castle Schloss Weikersheim....
in 2001, 2003, and 2005, they were able to conduct operas on opposite nights, watching each other's conducting of La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, and La Boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
. They had two sons.
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 FodorEugene FodorEugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr. was the first American violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.Fodor was born in Denver, Colorado. His first ten years of study were with Harold Wippler...
, violin, New Philharmonia, Peter MaagPeter Maag-Life:He was born on 10 May 1919 in St. Gallen, Switzerland and died on 16 April 2001 in Verona, Italy.His father, Otto, was a Lutheran minister and his mother, Nelly, a violinist who performed in the Capet Quartet as second violinist. His great uncles were conductors Emil and Fritz Steinbach. ...
, conductor - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
- Violin Concerto in E minor - Eugene Fodor
- Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1 - Emil GilelsEmil GilelsEmil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.-Biography:...
, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny MravinskyEvgeny MravinskyYevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky was a Russian/Soviet conductor.-Life and career:Mravinsky was born in Saint Petersburg. The soprano Yevgeniya Mravina was his aunt. His father died in 1918, and in that same year, he began to work backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre. He first studied biology at...
, conductor - Mozart: Symphony no. 40 - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo ToscaniniArturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, conductor - Schubert: Symphony no. 8 - Royal Concertbegouw Orchestra, Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
, conductor - Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no. 2 - Van CliburnVan CliburnHarvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. is an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at age 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War....
, piano, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz ReinerFritz ReinerFrederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
, conductor
The body of the article mentions several different favored soloists and conductors, such as David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....
playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Franz Konwitschny
Franz Konwitschny
Franz Konwitschny was a German conductor and violist.He started his career on the viola, playing in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1925, he moved to Vienna, where he played the viola with the Fitzner Quartet. He also began teaching at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium...
conducting Wagner, and Paul Kletzki
Paul Kletzki
Paul Kletzki was a Polish conductor and composer.Born Paweł Klecki in Łódź, Poland, he later adopted the German spelling Paul Kletzki. He joined its Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of fifteen. After serving in the First World War, he studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw before moving...
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.
Dramatic power
Many reviews of Kreizberg's performances and recordings often attribute his unique qualities to his ability imbue music with dramatic power. Already in one of his earliest recordings, Goldschmidt's Chronica, it was noted "Kreizberg's Chronica has a zip that's missing elsewhere in the program..." At a performance of Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
's opera König Hirsch
König Hirsch
König Hirsch is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to an German libretto by Heinz von Cramer after a fable by Carlo Gozzi.-Performance history:...
at the Komische Oper, a critic noted: "The evening's most exciting aspect was the orchestra's brilliant playing under music director Yakov Kreizberg." A Gramophone review of the Don Giovanni video referred to him as "the fiery Yakov Kreizberg". And for Verdi's Macbeth, performed in 2006 at the Royal Opera House: "...there was plenty of drama in the music, thanks to the efforts of conductor Yakov Kreizberg and a vocally meaty cast on stage," and: "Thanks to Yakov Kreizberg the Orchestra and Chorus obviously relished the score which sparkled and never lost the blood-and-thunder drama." In reviewing his recording of Dvorak's 8th symphony, one critic tried for a deeper understanding of Kreizberg's ability at producing a dramatic performance: "His slow presentation of the opening melody followed by a fiery allegro sets up a nice dynamic contrast. He plays the crucial dramatic pauses in the second movement effectively, and he builds the climaxes slowly and grandly without making it sound like Götterdämmerung. The fourth movement is excellent. Kreizberg generates plenty of excitement without becoming hysterical (though the French horns could have benefited from a tighter leash)....Kreizberg 's approach to the tone poems is similar, and The Wild Dove is special. He again presents some tremendous dramatic contrasts, but the lighter, dance-like sections don't go as well in The Noon Witch. This is probably the best recording of The Wild Dove in terms of performance and sound...These are fine performances with excellent sound..."
Even in Mozart reviewers found plentiful drama: "Yakov Kreizberg launches the Sinfonia concertante in emphatic style: a no-nonsense tempo, lashing sforzando accents, a powerful forward impetus. Mozart's thrilling take on the slow-burn "Mannheim crescendo" has an almost ferocious intensity, enhanced by the recording's wide dynamic range."
Kreizberg apparently had a special affinity for Shostakovich's music. For his debut with the New York Philharmonic, he conducted Shostakovich's 11th Symphony: "The performance was riveting. Kreizberg, Russian-born and now living in Germany, has a remarkable baton technique using mostly very small, clear motions; conducting from memory, he seemed to become one with the music and the musicians, who played magnificently."
In the last year of his Bournemouth tenure: "After the interval Kreizberg conducted, from memory, the greatest live performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony I have ever heard. Utterly faithful to the letter of the score, which is so rarely the case, he and the Bournemouth Orchestra were fully at one with the spirit of this original masterpiece. This was great conducting and exceptionally fine orchestral playing which almost literally took my breath away: a magnificent achievement." In a 2007 review with the Philadelphia Orchestra: "Several years ago Yakov Kreizberg conducted Shostakovich's 11th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra in one of the most dramatic and incendiary live performances I have ever heard."
The manager of the Bournemouth orchestra recalled: "He had made a huge reputation for himself with this work because of his clear passion for it and his ability to mold an ensemble of intense musical and dramatic presence."
Attention to detail
Another aspect that many critics noted was Kreizberg's attention to detail, often in a way that they found unique. In one of his earliest reviews in the German press, a critic described his approach to Reimann's opera Toades as reflecting "superiority, concentration, conceptual analysis, breathing together of music and scene, of instrumental and vocal groups, and precision in detail." One critic commenting on Julia Fischer's recording of Russian violin concertos: "She was ably partnered throughout by Yakov Kreizberg, who led the Russian National Orchestra with splendid energy and an attention to detail." Concerning Kurt Weill's operas Der ProtagonistDer Protagonist
Der Protagonist is an opera in one act by Kurt Weill op. 15. The German libretto was written by Georg Kaiser based on his own play of the same name of ....
and Royal Palace
Royal Palace
** Palace of Nakhchivan Khans, Nakhchivan* Belgium: Royal Palace of Brussels* Brazil** Paço Imperial** Paço de São Cristóvão** Summer Palace* Bulgaria: Royal Palace, today housing the National Art Gallery* Cambodia: Royal Palace of Cambodia* China...
: "Yakov Kreizberg drew highly-detailed performances from the superb Vienna Symphony, catching all the bite, drive and lyricism of these neglected masterpieces. " Concerning a 2003 performance of Mahler's First Symphony with the Oregon Symphony: "Kreizberg is an interpreter of big ideas, communicated in detailed exactness. He has two of the most expressive hands in the business, and he radiated rhythm from the podium. It added up to a kind of poetry of precision, with highly expressive results."
In the section on Kreizberg in his book Maestros in America: conductors in the 21st century, Roderick L. Sharpe summarized:
He has since been consistently praised for an impeccable stick technique that is taut, precise, well-articulated, and highly disciplined. There is never any question that he has prepared each performance thoroughly and meticulously, with every phrase and nuance considered. The resulting interpretations exhibit clear and imaginative ideas and a firm grasp of structure. His podium manner, the opposite of flamboyant, is not without charisma, and his deferential manner to soloists goes hand-in-hand with his reputation as an expert accompanist of both instrumentalists and singers. Reviewers have remarked on the sensitivity, passion, intensity, and immediacy of his performances. But the emotion is always held tautly in check, and it is this sense of control that has led other critics to find his readings cold and lacking atmosphere and spontaneity at times. This criticism aside, his achievements cannot be overrated.
As a collaborator
Kreizberg frequently received near-superlative reviews as a collaborator, probably because of his extensive experience accompanying singers from his time in college and continuing during his professional career as an opera conductor. In Julia Fischer's recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto: "It's a beautiful performance, reinforced by Kreizberg 's sensitive accompaniment and a more beautiful-sounding wind section than I thought I'd ever hear in a Russian orchestra." In a review of the recording of Shostakovich cello concertos: "Yakov Kreizberg recently notched up a notable success as a sympathetic concerto partner for Julia Fischer and Daniel Müller-Schott in Brahms's 'Double'. A similar level of preparation with regardDaniel Müller-Schott: "The first time we met was in 2005 in the States to perform the Dvorák Concerto. From that moment I felt we had a wonderful connection, one that would continue for years. After that we recorded the Brahms Double Concerto with Julia Fischer, which was fantastic, so when the possibility arose to record the Shostakovich, I felt he would be perfect."
In an interview in Gramophone, Julia Fischer was asked whether her collaboration with Kreizberg was beneficial: "It helps amazingly in my life. Young artists today stop seeing their teachers regularly very early, and go to tour the world. I now see my teacher every four or six months. And Yakov kind of fills that role for me. He sees me every month and goes through all the repertoire with me. When I play with him I play my best, and we both know so well from each other what we want."
Even regarding the relationship of conductor to orchestra, Kreizberg said: "It’s like a...relationship—it’s give-and-take, it’s being open minded and being flexible because nothing in life is ever quite the way you imagine it to be."
Florian Zwiauer (concertmaster of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra) summed up Kreizberg: “He is a musician’s conductor.”
CDs
- 1997:
- Berthold Goldschmidt, Clarinet Concerto, Sabine MeyerSabine MeyerSabine Meyer is a German classical clarinetist.-Biography:Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist...
, orchestra of the Komische Oper, Berlin, Decca ('Entartete Musik' series) - Berthold Goldschmidt, Chronica, in: The Goldschmidt Album, orchestra of the Komische Oper, Berlin. Decca ('Entartete Musik' series)
- Berthold Goldschmidt, Clarinet Concerto, Sabine Meyer
- 2003: Franz SchmidtFranz SchmidtFranz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
: SymphonySymphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
No. 4 in C / Orchestral MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
from Notre DameNotre Dame de ParisNotre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics - 2004:
- Franz LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
: Piano concertos 1 and 2, Alfredo Perl, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oehms Classics - Sergei ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
, Alexander GlazunovAlexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
, Aram KhachaturianAram KhachaturianAram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
: Violin Concertos, Julia FischerJulia FischerJulia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist.-Biography:Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother, Viera Fischer , came from the German minority in Slovakia and immigrated from Košice, Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972...
and the Russian National OrchestraRussian National OrchestraThe Russian National Orchestra premiered in Moscow in 1990.It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican and in Israel....
, SACDSuper Audio CDSuper Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
Surround SoundSurround soundSurround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
RecordingRecordingRecording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
, PentaTone Classics - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
: PreludesPrelude (music)A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
& Overtures, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- Franz Liszt
- 2005:
- Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Violin Concertos KVKöchel-VerzeichnisThe Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....
216, 218, Julia Fischer and the Netherlands Chamber OrchestraNetherlands Chamber OrchestraThe Netherlands Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The NKO is part of the Stichting Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest , along with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra . The core of the NKO is a group of at least 20 string instrumentalists...
, SACDSuper Audio CDSuper Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
Surround SoundSurround soundSurround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
RecordingRecordingRecording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
, PentaTone Classics - Anton BrucknerAnton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
: Symphony No. 7, Vienna Symphony OrchestraVienna Symphony Orchestra-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
, PentaTone Classics - Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
: SymphonySymphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
No. 9; Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
: Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)Romeo and Juliet is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The...
, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics - Tour de FranceTour de FranceThe Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
Musicale, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- 2006:
- Johann Strauss IIJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
: Waltzes, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, PentaTone Classics - Peter Illich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D, Sérénade mélancolique, Valse-Scherzo, Op.34, Julia Fischer, Russian National Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- Johann Strauss II
- 2007:
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Concerto for violin, Double concerto for violin and violoncello, Julia Fischer, Daniel Müller-Schott , Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia concertantein E flat, K.364, Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in C, K.373, Concertone for 2 Violins and Orchestra in C, K.190, Julia Fischer, Gordan Nikolic, Hans Meyer, Herre-Jan Stegenga, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- Johannes Brahms
- 2008:
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8, The Wild Dove, The Noon Witch, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
: Violoncello concertos no. 1 and 2, Daniel Müller-Schott, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orfeo
- 2009: Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7, Golden Spinning Wheel, op. 109, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, PentaTone Classics
- 2010: Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
: The FirebirdThe FirebirdThe Firebird is a 1910 ballet created by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
, PulcinellaPulcinellaPulcinella, ; often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry....
, The Rite of SpringThe Rite of SpringThe Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
, Petrouchka, Renata Pokupic, Kenneth Tarver, Andrew Foster-Williams, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, OPMC Classics - 2011: Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
: Daphnis et ChloéDaphnis et ChloéDaphnis et Chloé is a ballet with music by Maurice Ravel. Ravel described it as a "symphonie choréographique" . The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from an eponymous romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from around the 2nd century AD...
, Claude DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faunePrélude à l'après-midi d'un faunePrélude à l'après-midi d'un faune , commonly known by its English title Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration...
, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Rundfunkchor Berlin, OPMC Classics - 2011: Julia Fischer Poème, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Decca.
DVDs
- Mozart: Don Giovanni with Gilles Cachemaille, Steven Page, Hillevi Martinpelto, Adrianne Pieczonka, John Mark Ainsley; Glyndebourne Festival Opera (first released 1999)
- Prokofiev: CinderellaCinderella (Prokofiev)Cinderella is a ballet, Op. 87, composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. It is one of his most popular and melodious compositions, and has inspired a great many choreographers since its inception. The piece was composed between 1940 and 1944. Part way through writing it he...
with Françoise Joullié and the Lyon National Opéra Ballet, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Kultur (first released 1986),