Erich Kunzel of Cincinnati Pops dies at 74 (1 Viewer)

[Danny Tse]

Thank you for the music, maestro. RIP

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090901/ENT03/308120005/Erich+Kunzel+dies+at+74

 

[Craig S]

Sad news indeed. I have several of his Telarc pops CDs and they're all delightful. R.I.P., Maestro Kunzel.

 

[BrettV]

That is a real shame. I, too, have the telarc SACDs and they are some of my favorite in the collection.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Really sorry to hear this.

I own about a *dozen* of his CDs, including "Disney Spectactular", "Bond and Beyond", "Big Band Hit Parade", "Happy Trails", "Round-Up", "Epics", "Ein Straussfest", "Star Tracks (1 and 2)", "Hollywood's Greatest Hits" and so on. His interpretations of these great themes and songs were always exciting!

In fact, I was listening to "The Terminator" track on his "Great Fantasy Adventure" album when I stumbled onto this thread.

Needless to say, I'm *really* going to miss him!

 

[Paul.S]

A good piece bearing terrible news. Thanks, Danny.

I was unaware of his earlier career efforts in opera and that it was Fiedler who played a role in bringing him to pops.

He was a very significant conductor to me in my earliest CD-buying days circa 1984-1985. The Star Tracks and Time Warp CDs of those years not only were oft amongst the speaker-taxing demo material I had in hand when I went to hi fi stores, but they kicked off a 20-year (mostly) love affair with that series of sci fi/action/adventure film score compilations. I had my issues with some of the arrangements with more recent offerings such as Mega Movies, but they were always spirited performances of course featuring stunning sound quality. They were the only re-records I ever consistently embraced. And what a grand John Williams interpreter Erich is! Dare I say the E.T. cues from Star Tracks trump the original perfs.

Kunzel broadened the exposure and appeal of live and recorded symphonic music--bravo.

Terrifying that he had a clean bill of health 15 months ago, was apparently diligent with check ups due to his father's having died of cancer and was diagnosed just four months ago.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The NY TImes also ran a nice piece on Kunzel.

I loved the story about Raindrops Keep Fallin'...