Word: beecham
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Thomas Beecham, explosively opinionated conductor of the London Philharmonic, exploded again, this time not with a bang but a phfft. In May, recently home from a U.S. tour, he had called Hollywood "a universal disaster compared to which Hitler, Himmler and Mussolini were trivial." Now he qualified his damnation, decided that it was "the last word in triviality and morbidity...
...Thomas Beecham, chin-whiskered conductor of the London Philharmonic, who sounds off at the drop of a demiquaver, steamed into the port of Southampton from his latest U.S. junket, and sounded off: "Hollywood is a universal disaster compared to which Hitler, Himmler and Mussolini were trivial and fleeting incidents. . . . All the arts in America are a gigantic racket run by unscrupulous men for unhealthy women...
...Minor ("Unfinished") (DM 1039). To issue a new recording of such a popular work as the Schubert "Unfinished" is always a risky venture because of the large number of previous performances. Koussevitzky's interpretation must necessarily be compared, for the most part unfavorably, with the older readings by Beecham and Walter, but dynamic balance, a restrained direction, and a great deal of feeling make this performance one of the best Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony have ever done. The recording is excellent...
...trade given to wackiness and jeering illiteracy, Art French more than held his own. Sir Thomas Beecham, then conducting the Seattle Symphony, tangled with him when French started clicking pictures from a front-row seat. Terrible-tempered Sir Thomas stopped the orchestra, turned on French. "You go home," he barked. French went; he had his picture. He sassed Rumania's Queen Marie when she asked him: "Don't you ever shave?" Retorted French: "Say, I been following you for the last coupla days at 60 miles an hour. When d'ja think I'd have time...
...Beecham is certainly the recognized authority in Mozart; only Bruno Walter is ever compared to him today. Koussevitzky's divergences from Beecham are emphatic; while Mozart's scores are not perfectly annotated and allow much leeway, he appears on several occasions to have violated the composer's instructions. Get the scores, compare recordings, and notice Koussevitizky's distortion of dynamic balance, listen carefully to his general phraseology...