Christopher Raeburn (31 July 1928 in London – 18 February 2009 in Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire) was an English record producer of international renown. Milnes R. Obituary for Christopher Raeburn. '' Opera'', May 2009, pp. 546–547

Life and career

Raeburn was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and Oxford. Turning down a commission during his National Service, Raeburn was posted to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

as a clerk with the Royal Signals. While serving at Tel Litwinsky, he witnessed a terrorist attack on the base's cinema. Always interested in the theatre, he visited many plays, operas and concerts during his posting. On demobbing in 1948, Raeburn travelled across Egypt to

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, returning to England by ship. At Oxford Raeburn had taken part in drama work and had been employed at the Mermaid Theatre, including the production of Dido and Aeneas with Kirsten Flagstad and

Arda Mandikian Arda Mandikian (1 September 1924 – 8 November 2009) was a Greek-Armenian soprano opera singer. Mandikian launched her career in England. She took on leading roles in London and Edinburgh. In the 1980s she became the assistant director of the Gre ...

. He took a position with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

in 1954. He took a leave of absence from Decca for a Leverhulme Scholarship to do research on

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

in Vienna.Myers P. Christopher Raeburn and James Lock – obituaries. ''

Classic Record Collector ''Classical Recordings Quarterly'' (formerly ''Classic Record Collector'') was a quarterly British magazine devoted to vintage recordings of classical music, across the range of instrumental recordings, chamber music, orchestral, vocal and opera. ...

'', Summer 2009, pp. 8–10 He was a Vienna reviewer for Opera magazine (sometimes using a nom de plume) during his time in that city. Raeburn worked for

for more than five decades specialising in producing albums of classical music, and in particular opera. He was on the production team for the first studio recording of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Ring Cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

'' with conductor

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

. His work also led to collaborations with several internationally renowned artists, including

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. She possessed ...

Renata Tebaldi Renata Tebaldi ( , ; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. O ...

, Mirella Freni,

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide répertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner a ...

, Marilyn Horne, Montserrat Caballé, Leontyne Price,

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

, Herbert von Karajan,

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...

, Plácido Domingo,

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his de ...

, Teresa Berganza and Angelika Kirchschlager. Many of his recordings have won

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. Raeburn worked with Vladimir Ashkenazy and

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

, and produced Hans Hotter's last lieder recitals. His last recording was made with Cecilia Bartoli, whom he signed with Decca in 1986, for her 2007 Decca tribute CD of music associated with Maria Malibran. Raeburn stated that he always strove to achieve a 'theatrical' atmosphere in the opera recordings that he produced. Raeburn's recognitions included the

Franz Schalk Gold Medal The Franz Schalk Gold Medal is a distinction of the Vienna Philharmonic awarded since 1963. It is named after the conductor, first director of the Vienna State Opera and co-founder of the Salzburg Festival Franz Schalk, whose 100. birthday was cel ...

from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Midem Lifetime Achievement, and ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' magazine's Special Achievement Award for his "unswerving honesty, integrity and expertise". Raeburn took speaking parts (under the pseudonym ''Omar Godknow'') in the audio recordings of

Giuditta ''Giuditta'' is an operatic ' (German for ''musical comedy'') in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by and Fritz Löhner-Beda. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a l ...

, Die Fledermaus and

Il segreto di Susanna ''Il segreto di Susanna'' (English: ''Susanna's Secret'', German: ''Susannens Geheimnis'') is an intermezzo in one act by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to an Italian libretto by Enrico Golisciani. The premiere of the opera was in German, in a translation ...

which he produced. He was twice married and divorced; the godparents of his three daughters were Leontyne Price,

Tom Krause Tom Gunnar Krause (5 July 1934 − 6 December 2013) was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles. Early life Born in Helsinki, Tom Krause studied medicine for three years with the intention of becoming a psyc ...

and Marilyn Horne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raeburn, Christopher 1928 births 2009 deaths English record producers Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford People educated at Charterhouse School 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Corps of Signals soldiers 20th-century British businesspeople

Life and career

See also

References