Yesterday would have been conductor Georg Tintner’s 100th birthday. Already at the age of 20, Tintner was one of Vienna’s rising stars. Following the Anschluss, however, he had to sue his employers in an attempt to retain his post at the Vienna Volksoper, then wound up fleeing for his life.
The bulk of his career played out outside the international limelight of the great capitals of Europe and the United States. He labored mostly in obscurity in New Zealand, Australia, and finally Canada. (His last post was as music director of Symphony Nova Scotia.) Then, suddenly, late in life, he recorded a Bruckner cycle that struck the critics like a thunderbolt. After 60 years, Tintner was an overnight success.
Stick around following today’s Noontime Concert (a program from Brooklyn’s Concerts on the Slope) to enjoy one of Tintner’s acclaimed Bruckner recordings. It will be among our featured works this afternoon, between 12 and 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.