Word: conductors
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Such commonsensical candidness has endeared Solti to musicians; that endearment goes a long way toward explaining his success. Without the loyalty and respect of his musicians, no conductor can long preside over an orchestra-much less produce great music. Musicians are notoriously independent, as the old saw about the French flutist demonstrates. Ordered by a conductor to play in a certain style, the musician said: "Very well, I'll play it his way at rehearsal, but just wait till the concert. After all, man ami, it's my flute." With Solti, it is different. Says Orchestre de Paris...
...musicians ever look at a conductor in exactly the same way. Where Friedman sees the metaphysical and Nilsson a mellower Solti, Flutist Debost sees the diabolical: "There is something of the wolf or the Hun about Solti. As he conducts, his eyes turn into cracks, his ears become pointed, and you can sort of imagine him riding a horse bareback across the steppes...
Dirty Jobs. As a prodigy of the piano, says Solti, "it was absolutely logical that I should become a pianist." Instead, at age 18 he went to work at the Budapest State Opera to become a conductor. Why? "I can only say that deep in your heart, if you are a sensitive person, you know what your strength is. And I knew mine was conducting...
Outraged. Though Solti first visited the U.S. in 1953 to conduct the San Francisco Opera, it was not until 1960 that he was offered an American orchestra. The experience was a disaster. Solti was hired by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as chief conductor, only to learn that a young conductor from India named Zubin Mehta had been chosen as his assistant-without his consent. Solti quit. Nothing against Mehta, says Solti, but a matter of principle. "If I had given in on this one point, it would never have been the same. I wasn't happy then...
Buffalo drew national attention to itself by the simple expedient of grabbing the hottest young conductor anywhere, Michael Tilson Thomas, 27, who drew his own national attention as associate conductor of the Boston Symphony. Though the Buffalo is not yet hale and hardy, Thomas appears to be winning the orchestra's fight for the youth audience...