Word: hm
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...Sometimes he stalks the streets of Vienna, scowling and conducting to himself to avoid greeting passersby. He admits to a great "mania to convince everybody about everything," and many of his outspoken opinions are less than gracious. His hottest public feud is with gifted Opera Conductor Karl Böhm, who, he thinks, has an "impossible" technique and is too lax with singers. Partly because of these traits, partly because of the didacticism of his approach, Swarowsky has never made great headway as a practicing conductor. It is only when he conducts his classes-scherzo, andante, furioso and rondo-that...
...stage was virtually stripped clean of scenery. Choristers stood in rigid rows like drill teams awaiting inspection; principal singers stirred hardly at all, and when they did, it was with the slow, deliberate movements of dream figures. The audience loved it, loudly bravoed Conductor Karl Böhm and Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig. But the real star of the evening was not there: Richard Wagner's grandson Wieland...
...glory they get mostly guffaws. After an hour or so of this, most previewers were badly rattled. Some tried plugging their ears, but then the action looked completely incomprehensible. Some tried closing their eyes, but then they could still hear the lines-e.g., "Fifty kilometers to Paris? Hm. That's about 30 miles." Finally, a few coony old film critics discovered the only way to get through this movie with a minimum of discomfort: close both eyes and ears, and think about something pleasant-like chasing Director Clement around the Bois de Boulogne in a 30-ton Sherman...
...obvious that law would always play second fiddle under Böhm. In the '20s he worked under Bruno Walter, then moved up to become music director at the opera houses in Darmstadt, Hamburg and Dresden. In Vienna during World War II, Böhm, a Roman Catholic, secretly harbored a Jewish industrialist for a year and a half while he continued conducting. In 1954, he was appointed general manager of the Vienna State Opera, resigned a year and a half later to become one of the most sought-after conductors on the international circuit...
...Today, still remarkably spry for his years, Böhm jets between continents to conduct about 80 performances a year, is already booked through 1970. A high-domed, bookish-looking man, he is known among musicians as a conductor long on native talent but short on patience. He is a stickler for punctuality, keeps a collection of 15 clocks ticking in perfect unison in the bedroom of his Vienna apartment. At rehearsals, he can be a demanding despot, responding to mistakes by roaring "Wot! Wot! Wot!" But his dictatorial ways are all in service of the music. He feels...