Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Conductor

Eugene Ormandy Underrated Maestro

What’s the big deal about this guy, Jenő Blau? Well, you probably know him better by his adopted name, Eugene Ormandy.

Ormandy, a Hungarian-born violinist, who had studied with Jenő Hubay (for whom he was named), became a naturalized American citizen in 1927. He ultimately wound up directing the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years. In that capacity, he became one of the world’s most-recorded conductors.

However, in some respects, he remains a vastly underrated one. Sure, he was a superb interpreter of 19th century and post-romantic classics, but he also championed much contemporary music and new works written by his adopted countrymen. Also, if there was a more sensitive accompanist in the concerto repertoire, I don’t know of him.

Join me this afternoon, from 4 to 6 EST, as we honor Eugene Ormandy on the anniversary of his birth (in 1899), on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

November 18, 2016
Rediscovering Weingartner: Conductor & Composer

Felix Weingartner (1863-1942) is best-recognized as a conductor. However, he considered himself equally, if not more so, a composer. He was one of a number of prominent conductors of the day who fit the Mahler paradigm. However, the works of Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer and any number of other famed figures of the podium are very seldom heard.

Weingartner held many conducting posts over the years. He succeeded Mahler as principal conductor of the Vienna Hofoper, from 1908 to 1911. He led the Vienna Philharmonic in an official capacity until 1927. He was later chief conductor of the Vienna Volksoper.

He thought very deeply about the problem of the symphony. I remember reading a book he wrote in which he examined the strengths and weaknesses of all the major symphonies written in the shadow of Beethoven, down to the dawn of the 20th century.

He himself composed seven symphonies, among other symphonic works, and thanks to the enterprising cpo.de – classic production osnabrück label (CPO for short), all of them have been recorded. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear the Symphony No. 2, from 1901, a fascinating mix of old and new, evidently romantic in disposition, yet very much of its time. The recording will feature the Basel Symphony Orchestra, which Weingartner himself directed from 1927 to 1934.

As a conductor, Weingartner was particularly well-regarded as a Beethoven interpreter. He’d been conducting the Beethoven symphonies as a cycle since at least 1902, and he was the first to complete an integral set of recordings. We’ll have time to sample the scherzo from the Symphony No. 9 from his superlative recording of 1935.

I hope you’ll join me as we raise a glass to Felix Weingartner. That’s “Wine from Weingartner,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Weingartner gets busted in Basel in 1927

November 13, 2016
George Szell Birthday A Perfectionist’s Legacy

Today is the birthday of George Szell (1897-1970). A notorious autocrat from an era when autocrats were tolerated, expected and even revered on the podium, Szell was a formidable perfectionist, even to the extent of lecturing the Severance Hall custodians on the acceptable way to mop a floor and what kind of toilet paper they should be supplying in the restrooms. Okay, he may have been a little tightly wound, but you can’t quibble with the results. Thank your lucky stars you didn’t have to work for him, but boy, could he conduct!

Szell’s benchmark modern orchestra Haydn:

While on tour with the Cleveland Orchestra in Tokyo, and with only two months to live (he was terminally ill with cancer), Szell conducted what very well may be the most thrilling performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 I have ever heard, certainly on a par with the classic Barbirolli account with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra:

Szell as a Mozart pianist:

One of Szell’s own, early compositions, “Variations on an Original Theme”:

Szell speaks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INKhc-WM_eM

June 7, 2016
Stokowski Two Sides of a Conducting Legend

Two faces of Leopold Stokowski:

First, from the 1947 potboiler “Carnegie Hall,” which contrives to string together appearances by some of the greatest classical music talent of the day (including Jascha Heiftez, Gregor Piatigorsky, Arthur Rubinstein, Rise Stevens, Ezio Pinza, Bruno Walter and Fritz Reiner) using the flimsiest and hokiest of plots (renegade young pianist scandalizes – and ultimately makes good – with his new jazz concerto).

Stokowski provides the musical high point of the picture, with the director, low budget maestro Edgar G. Ulmer – who was a set designer on “Metropolis” and “M” – indulging in Expressionist tricks (low-angle camera set-ups and stark lighting) to accentuate Stoky’s majesty, to say nothing of his hair.

Second, Stokowski rehearsing the American Symphony Orchestra in 1968, at the age of 85. He still had ten years of conducting ahead of him. His talent, temperament – and hair – remain undiminished.

Happy birthday, Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977).

April 18, 2016
Paul Freeman A Musical Celebration

Paul Freeman has always been a conductor after my own heart. A champion of unusual and neglected repertoire, Freeman recorded prolifically – some 200 albums. I won’t get into whether or not the color of his skin had a negative impact on his career. Freeman was a positive force who always found a way.

He held posts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Helsinki Philharmonic. He was music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony in British Columbia.

Freeman retired from conducting in 2011. He died on July 21, at the age of 79. We celebrate his artistry and love of music this week on “The Lost Chord,” by way of his extensive and varied discography.

From his series, “Paul Freeman Introduces,” on the Albany label, we’ll hear music by Richard Yardumian, former composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra . “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” was one of a number of Yardumian works to be documented by Ormandy and the Philadelphians during the LP era. Atonishingly, none of them ever made it to compact disc. Leave it to Freeman to fill in the gap.

Adophus Hailstork, one of the artists Freeman favored as part of his landmark “Black Composers Series,” set down for Columbia Records back in the 1970s, will also be represented. His “Sonata da Chiesa” for string orchestra grew out of Hailstork’s love for cathedrals.

Freeman was always an enthusiastic champion of new music and works by African-American composers. He was also a sensitive and sympathetic accompanist, as borne out by his many concerto recordings. Of those, we’ll hear what is probably the strangest of them all – Morton Gould’s “Tap Dance Concerto.”

Finally, we’ll have selections from the “African Suite,” by Nigerian composer Fela Sowande, a work Freeman recorded twice, for Columbia in the 1970s, and decades later for Cedille Records, as part of the three-volume “African Heritage Symphonic Series.”

It’s a nice assortment, though of course it only scratches the surface. It is with mixed emotions that I bid “Farewell to Freeman,” tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6. You can also listen to it later as a webcast, at wwfm.org.

August 9, 2015

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