Exclusive recordings from world famous Italian conductor to be broadcast in Jordan

AMMAN — On the occasion of World Music Day, marked annually on June 21, Jordanians will have the chance to relish the melodies of acclaimed Italian conductor Francesco Mander, whose concert selection will be aired in the Kingdom for the first time ever.

Following a request to Mander’s widow Annemarie, the Italian embassy in Amman will give the Jordanian public a taste of a unique selection of recordings from the artist, which will be aired on Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Business & Culture Radio Station, the leading broadcaster in Jordan for classical music.

"This is a bridge between Italy and Jordan under the sign of music, which falls on the occasion of World Music Day this Wednesday," said Federico Vidic, head of the cultural section at the Italian embassy, adding “this is truly an exceptional release as these recordings will be broadcasted for the very first time ever, and it will take place here, in Jordan.”

The recordings, which will be aired daily on 102.7FM, are scheduled to start from July, an embassy official told The Jordan Times. 

'A musical genius'

Often described as "one of the greatest musical geniuses of the 1950s-70s", Mander performed in the main theatres and concert halls across the globe, being acclaimed by orchestras and some of the most important soloists of the 20th century alike, Vidic noted. 

Appointed as conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, the artist gave concerts around the world, from London, Paris and Milan to Moscow, Sydney, Chicago, Johannesburg and Buenos Aires, among others.

In the 1960s, Mander recorded several LPs and conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall where he performed a repertoire ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Elgar, among many others. He later developed that repertoire extensively in the 1970s, as director of the Johannesburg National Symphony Orchestra, Vidic told The Jordan Times.

"Mander was a very demanding conductor. He loved saying that 'Mozart’s subtle humour cannot be revealed by a bad performance: the solution is to give only top-quality concerts, especially where the audience is most unprepared and does not have effective terms of reference,'" the official stated ahead of Music Day.

The composer worked with a variety of great soloists which include David Oistrakh, Wilhelm Kempff, Arthur Rubinstein, Martha Argerich, Christian Ferras, Pierre Fournier, John Ogden, Claudio Arrau, to only name a few, Vidic continued.

"There are no better words than those used by Mander in 1968 when he affirmed that 'music is sentiment and thought, the highest form of art, and art is the essential that reflects all civilisation. It is the Universal on this earth. This is our life, so this is our art, because they are inseparable. Art, literature and music cannot be separated from life,'" Vidic commented, stressing that "this is the best way to explain the message that the Italian embassy in Amman would like to share with the friends of music of Jordan".