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June 4th is the birthday of late Russian conductor Yevgeni Mravinsky (1903-1988).
(About Mravinsky (Wikipedia))
↓
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Mravinsky
Due to a certain fortune, I, who was very young then,
could know him in person when he repeatedly visited Japan
with his Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1970s.
Every year, on June 4th, I recall him not only because it is his
birthday but also because I have a wonderful memory of a secret
birthday party in Japan in 1979, when he happened to be in
Japan on his birthday.
We held a small party for him in a hotel room of the Silk Hotel
in Yokohama. He was really pleased with the party and told us
of his memory in childhood.----He was a son of a Russian aristocrat
family before the Russian Revolution. He and his parents were persecuted
by the communists government after the Russian revolution.
Mravinsky told us how he had been celebrated on his birthdays in
his childhood by his parents, saying he had been an overprotected child.
He told us about God and told about Glazounov, the Russian
composer who influenced him in his childhood.
I recall the night he told us about his sweet memeory of
his childhood in pre-revolution Russia and Glazounov on
June 4th every year.
Happy Birthday
NOriNishioka
Youtube: Mravinsky conducting Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQhzfTwwMlU
Youtube: Mravinsky conducting Schostakovich's 5th symphony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5oZcDqDDF4
My book about Mravinsky ("Mravinsky: Gakuya no Sugao"(2003) in Japanese)
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%A0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E2%80%95%E6%A5%BD%E5%B1%8B%E3%81%AE%E7%B4%A0%E9%A1%94-%E8%A5%BF%E5%B2%A1-%E6%98%8C%E7%B4%80/dp/4947637854/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244087153&sr=1-3
