Charles Mackerras at 100

Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) was born 100 years ago on 17th November. The US born Australian conductor spent much of his life in the UK, and was a popular conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, as well as making many appearances with them and other orchestras at the Edinburgh International Festival.

He was also associated throughout his career with Czech music, and it’s that strand which BBC Radio 3 has chosen to highlight in its 100 years celebrations.  On Saturday 15th November at 6pm, there’s a recording of Mackerras’s performance of Janáček’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ at the State Opera Vienna, with Lucia Popp as the Vixen.  Monday is designated Mackerras Day when presenters of Breakfast and other shows will introduces recordings. In Radio 3 in Concert, Martin Handley introduces two performances by Mackerras in Czechoslovakia. He conducts the Czech Philharmonic Chorus and the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra in Janáček’s ‘Glagolitic Mass’ from the 2004 Janáček Festival in Brno, and then Smetana’s ‘Má vlast’ with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from the 1999 Prague Spring Festival.

Linn Records have re-released a five CD set of Mackerras’s Mozart recordings with the SCO – the later Symphonies and the Requiem, highly recommended, while other Mackerras recordings with the SCO are available from the SCO shop. During lockdown, I wrote an article about Mackerras’s links with Edinburgh for the EMR ten years after Mackerras’s death in 2010. It’s available online, and the film clip and audio links are still working. See Charles Mackerras and Edinburgh — Edinburgh Music Review