Rainer Kussmaul

With his broad artistic outlook, Rainer Kussmaul was one of a rare breed of violinists who managed to embrace both modern symphonic and specialised Baroque repertory. Born in Germany in 1946, he led the Berlin Philharmonic between 1993 and 1998, and, with colleagues from the orchestra, formed the Berlin Baroque Soloists in 1995. He was equally at home in chamber music, co-founding the Stuttgart Piano Trio in 1968. Kussmaul performed on old but modernised violins—an Antonio Stradivari (1724) and Andrea Guarneri (1692)—relishing the rhetorical drama and sonorous demands of 19th- and 20th-century composers, but sensitive to the transparent tone and disciplined articulation required by 18th-century repertory. It was a delicate balancing act which underpinned his success as a teacher at the Freiburg Music Conservatory where, in later years, he specialised in Baroque violin. Despite leaving a fairly modest discography, as a teacher his legacy was extensive, having shaped many outstanding violinists of the younger generation. He died in 2017 at the age of 70.