Randow Bear

Randow Bear (1998)

Bär von Randow (born November 10, 1931 in Beijing ; † August 25, 2017 in Siegen ), (baptized as Bär-Brüne von Randow) was a violist , orchestra director and head of the orchestra department at Westdeutscher Rundfunk .

Life

Born on November 10, 1931 in Beijing, China, the second son of the diplomat Elgar von Randow , he attended schools in Potsdam and Berlin-Wannsee , but left them to devote himself entirely to studying music at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin , where he initially played the violin , then studied viola .

Then in January 1958 he got a job as a violist in the then newly founded Siegerland Orchestra in the small Siegerland town of Hilchenbach , where he also took over the management of the affiliated orchestra school in October 1958.

In 1961 he moved to the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland . There he found, however, that his skills were not enough for a solo career. When the Siegerland Orchestra offered him the newly vacant position of artistic director in 1963 at the instigation of the orchestra's long-time conductor, Rolf Agop , (with whom he had a lifelong friendship), he accepted. The young harpist Ulla Laban also introduced herself to the Siegerland Orchestra . He hired her and soon a serious relationship developed; they married in 1965. This marriage resulted in a daughter and three grandchildren.

Randow was the artistic director of the Siegerland Orchestra for ten years. Under his aegis, tours in Europe and Africa (ten West African countries with 20 concerts and four recordings by African television stations) were carried out. He was also the spiritus rector for the introduction of so-called talk concerts, through which a greater understanding of new music should be achieved. He was also responsible for making records . He promoted young composers through composition commissions and young soloists through a special series of concerts. The orchestra also became the permanent representative of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra in the local opera house and at ballet evenings and also made radio recordings.

As a result, he was well known in the relevant music world, and in 1974 he received the call to take over the “Orchestra and Choir” department in West German Radio. On March 31, 1974, he left the Siegerland Orchestra and went to Cologne.

In Cologne, too, Bär von Randow was very successful for years, until in August 1989 a severe stroke threw him off course and deprived him of language. Although he recovered initially and learned to speak a little again, this was the end of his working life.

Bär von Randow lived for many years after that and died - 86 years old - in Siegen on August 25, 2017.

literature

• Bär von Randow: The youth orchestra. Analysis and model. In: Musica. 1974.