Sad to hear this morning of the death of Sir Colin Davis. I think it's fair to say that he was the greatest British conductor of his generation. Apart from Mackerras I can't think of anyone else who runs him close. Tod Handley? Perhaps, but Handley never really got the chance to test himself on the biggest of stages whereas Davis ruled the roost at the LSO and worked extensively abroad, particularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
I'm struggling to recall the occasions on which I saw Davis conduct. I know I did, because I can visualise him, dapper, economical of movement, controlled. But it was his records that made an impression on me, and particularly his records of Berlioz, and of Sibelius symphonies, many of which I had on vinyl, with their distinctive covers of Edvard Munch paintings.
Davis was a great Sibelius conductor, who not only realised what a great composer the Finn was but - and this is not by any means the same thing - knew how to perform his work, faithful to the scores without being inflexible. For me, even Karajan and Rattle didn't always understand Sibelius - I think with horror of Karajan's bruising end to the Fourth Symphony, a heavy fortissimo against Sibelius's notated mezzo-forte (all the colder for its restraint), or his excessive lingering on the C Major resolution of the the last bar of the Seventh.
Davis didn't make that kind of mistake.
Who will replace him? Rattle's is a good claim, particularly with his work in new music. But whereas I feel that Rattle is self-evidently a great rehearsal conductor, he doesn't always make reliable musical decisions in standard repertoire. Clearly he is very very good though, or he wouldn't have survived so long in Berlin.
On Saturday night we went into Manchester to watch the Halle play Haydn. Mark Elder reminds me a little of Colin Davis - the same economy, the same wonderfully appropriate gestures. Clearly he needs to do more new music (particularly more music by Nicholas Simpson), but he does the standard repertoire really well, has an open mind, and must be there or thereabouts. Rattle is languishing in Berlin. Elder is here in Manchester. RIP Sir Colin. Regis est mortuus. Vivat rex senior.
