Word: nikisch
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...existence, the Berlin has had only four principal music directors, each a master. Hans von Bülow, an eminent pianist and one of the first great conductors, exposed the fledgling orchestra to the great composers of the day, among them Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Grieg. His successor Arthur Nikisch, who led the Philharmonic from 1895 to 1922, inspired a rapturous comment from the demanding Tchaikovsky. "He doesn't conduct," said the composer. "He seems to surrender himself to some mysterious magic force." Wilhelm Furtwängler instilled in the orchestra a sense of musical adventure, leading mercurial performances that...
...music making took on a greater spaciousness. In works from Beethoven through Mahler, Karajan knows few peers, and no superiors. In honor of the orchestra's centenary, Deutsche Grammophon in September released a six-volume, 33-disc set of memorable recordings, tracing the Philharmonic from the Nikisch days through Karajan's latest digital recordings...
Died. Wilhelm Backhaus, 85, German patriarch of concert pianists and the century's foremost interpreter of Beethoven; of a heart attack; in Villach, Austria. When Backhaus was eight, the noted pianist-composer Arthur Nikisch wrote to him that "whoever plays the great Bach so well when so young will surely make his way later on." The assessment was overly modest. In a career spanning three generations, Backhaus won acclaim for his masterful interpretations of virtually all the great composers. But his deepest dedication was to Beethoven, whose sonatas he played with great clarity of style and breadth of emotion...
...chapter in the history of the art. Before the great age of conductors, Composer Robert Schumann spoke of the orchestra as a republic, not subject to higher authority. But the giants of the last generation, following such 19th century models as Richard Wagner, Hans von Bülow, Artur Nikisch and Gustav Mahler, acted...
...conducting (which is, for many, a more valuable visual aid than some are willing to admit) and certain liberties he may take with an orchestral score. Those who may feel they are not supposed to like such things need to remember what Brahms once said to Conductor Arthur Nikisch after Nikisch's fiery interpretation of the Brahms Violin Concerto: "So-it can be done that...