This week we’ve said goodbye to two figures who have been absolutely central to the music world for as long as I can remember. The other day, the great Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderstr öm passed away. Now, too, the scholar H.C.Robbins Landon, author of renowned tomes about Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, at the age of 83.
The Guardian has been quick to respond to both, with a touching personal reminiscence of Söderström from Martin Kettle here (though I promise him that not all music critics wear anoraks…) and an obit of Robbins Landon here.
As a tribute to both, here is the quartet from Beethoven’s Fidelio, starring Söderström as Leonora. With Elizabeth Gale, Ian Caley and Curt Appelgren, in the old classic Peter Hall production at Glyndebourne, LPO conducted by Bernard Haitink.