Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur, who has died aged 88, was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 until 2007 and of the New York Philharmonic from 1991 to 2002; but his reputation as one of the outstanding conductors of the latter half of the 20th century was based on his 26 years, from 1970, as chief conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, founded in 1743 and steeped in tradition.

Never a jet-setting maestro in those years, Masur became frontpage news at the time of the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989. He was not a Communist Party member but was a friend of the East German dictator Erich Honecker. He had used this friendship to persuade Honecker, who was not particularly musical, to build the New Gewandhaus hall, one of the finest in Europe, which was opened in 1981.

On October 9 1989, two days after Gorbachev’s visit to East Germany for the 40th anniversary of the GDR when 70,000 Leipzigers took to the streets in protest, huge crowds massed in front of the Gewandhaus. Honecker warned them to disperse, reminding them of what had happened in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, a few months earlier. But Masur decided to let them into the hall. He read a speech which he and five others had drafted urging the protesters and police to show restraint. This was followed by the first open political debate East Germany had known. Born July 18 1927, died December 19 2015