Word: szell
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell...
...nose. Before a performance of the Brahms D minor piano concerto, Conductor Leonard Bernstein turned to the audience and made a short speech, dissociating himself from his soloist's unorthodox view of the piece. At his Cleveland Orchestra debut in 1957, he tangled with the irascible maestro George Szell over his use of the soft pedal in a Beethoven concerto; Szell never performed with him after that, but saluted: "That nut's a genius...
...opera conductor and administrator, most recently at the Hamburg State Opera. He had a reputation as a 20th century music specialist, a distinction that has little appeal at the American box office. By contrast, the Cleveland Orchestra is one of the proudest in the land. George Szell, who led it from 1946 until his death in 1970, made it into a rich, breathtakingly precise ensemble. His standards were upheld in the '70s by Lorin Maazel, who resigned to become director, briefly, of the Vienna State Opera. Would Dohnányi be right...
...answer is yes. After an inevitable letdown during the two-year hiatus between Maazel and Dohnányi, when various guest conductors took over, the future looks bright. The new partnership is currently basking in acclaim, inspiring hopes of a return to the glory days of Szell. Ticket sales are up: Severance Hall, the orchestra's home, is 95% subscribed. The orchestra, possessing the richest, most European sound of any U.S. ensemble, is playing at the top of its formidable form again. No one is happier than Dohnanyi. Says he: "Being the chief of an orchestra like this...
Although the Clevelanders played well under the rather remote Maazel, neither they nor the city renewed the intense personal commitment they had to Szell and may have with Dohnányi. "We're still on our honeymoon," cautions Kenneth Haas, the orchestra's general manager. "But there is no way you can escape the electricity among the musicians...