Nikolaus Harnoncourt just passed away

[adriano]

Harnoncourt was also promoting and discovering a lot of unsung music!
He just passed away.
He was one of that handful of conductors from whom I have learnt most. I worked with him at the Zurich Opera for over 20 years. Thanks to him, I learnt so much about Mozart and Bach. He was a great personality with an immense culture (and this not only of music). He belonged to the old guard of Great Masters; his recordings are exemplary and epoch-making. He had an increadible hearing: he always carried with him a harpsichord tuning key and could tune immediately during reherasals to whatever "temper" was requested or adjust wrongly tuned instruments.

[Ilja]

A great loss; I never heard anything by Harnoncourt that left me unaffected.

[Alan Howe]

I liked and disliked his recordings in virtually equal measure. At his best he was sublime, at his worse almost perverse. A great musician, though, for sure.