On Wednesday, the eminent English conductor, musicologst and harpsichordist, died at the age of 73. He passed away at his home in Cambridge, England, after an illness that had lasted several months. This Sunday, in the first hour of the show (Noon- 1:00 PM) host Christopher Wolf will pay tribute to Hogwood with music and an interview Hogwood did in 1990 talking about the founding of the Academy of Ancient Music.

The Los Angeles Times reporter David Ng wrote:

An exacting maestro who devoted as much energy to lectures and writing as to performance, Hogwood brought a verbose intellectualism to the world of early music. He wrote extensively on German composer George Frideric Handel and gave long lectures as well as master classes in Europe.

Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music, one of England's premier Baroque ensembles, in 1973, with help from the Decca recording label, and created approximately 200 albums with its musicians.

The Academy of Ancient Music embodied what would eventually become Hogwood's lifelong pursuit — the advocacy and preservation of a certain style of performance, often called "historically informed performance," that dated to the 17th and 18th centuries.

Musicians in the group typically perform on museum-quality instruments, some of which are centuries old, and often stand while playing in the Baroque style.

Hogwood stepped down as the ensemble's music director in 2006 and assumed the title of emeritus director.

As a conductor, Hogwood received the most international exposure for his renditions of popular Baroque pieces, particularly Handel's "Messiah." His 1985 recording of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" was a commercial success whose sales rivaled those of pop releases.

Hogwood guest-conducted ensembles around the world and made a handful of stops in Southern California over the years.

"Original instruments were not feeble," Hogwood told The Times in 1993 while in Costa Mesa for a performance with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. "There is this illusion that they somehow were little waifs and strays. They were lusty instruments."

Hogwood was part of the music world's Baroque elite, an informal group of jet-set conductors that includes Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie and John Eliot Gardiner.

 

 

Tune in toe Symphonic Sunday every Sunday from Noon - 3:00 PM with host Christopher Wolf.