Martin Turnovsky, Czech conductor who frequently found himself in conflict with the authorities – obituary
Regarded as unreliable by the communist regime, at first he was banned from leaving the country, then later banned from returning
Martin Turnovsky
Martin Turnovsky, who has died aged 92, was an old-school Czech conductor known for his good taste, sound scholarship and decent manners. The communist regime, however, regarded him as unreliable and for several years he was not permitted to leave his homeland; having done so, it was then more than 20 years before he could return.
Turnovsky had won the 1958 international conducting competition at Besançon in France, but his pro-western attitude led to the withdrawal of his passport. Soon afterwards he was dismissed from an orchestral post in Brno and sent to a minor orchestra in Teplice. It was not until 1965 that he could travel, recording Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Ivan Moravec in Vienna and visiting Canada and
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