Posts / Photos

# **George Szell — Anecdotes and Curiosities from a Life of Discipline, Intelligence, and Control** George Szell (1897–1970) was one of the most formidable conductors of the 20th century. Feared by orchestras, admired by…

# **Fritz Reiner — Anecdotes and Curiosities from a Life of Discipline and Fire** Fritz Reiner (1888–1963) is often remembered as one of the most exacting conductors of the 20th century: feared by orchestras,…

## Primary Sources Behind These Rankings **1. Bachtrack (Global Concert Database)** **Bachtrack** is the **single most important quantitative source** for modern concert programming. * Tracks **tens of thousands of concerts per year** * Covers…

# **Soprano Leontyne Price, conductor Karl Bohm, and George Shirley posing during a production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” 1966-67.**

# **Leontyne Price with conductor Herbert von Karajan**

# **During a Rome recording session for Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, soprano Leontyne Price consults with conductor Erich Leinsdorf. - 1966**

# **ANECDOTES ABOUT LEONTYNE PRICE AND HER RELATIONSHIPS WITH CONDUCTORS & COLLEAGUES** ## **1. Karajan and the First Encounter: “The Most Beautiful Voice in the World”** When Herbert von Karajan first heard Leontyne Price…

# **Conductor (and flutist) Nicholas McGegan fell in love with opera as a kid.** *It came by way of a newfangled record player and one heavenly Mozart recording: * **Herbert von Karajan's recording of…

# **NICHOLAS McGEGAN — A LIFE IN 20 CHAPTERS** *A narrative biography of one of the most influential Baroque conductors of our time* ## **Chapter 1 — Manchester Beginnings (1950)** Nicholas McGegan was born…

# **Anecdotes and Curiosities from the Life of Paul Kletzki** ## **1. The boy who memorized orchestral scores before he could shave** In Łódź, musicians would give the teenage Kletzki orchestral parts to test…

# **PAUL KLETZKI — A PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT** *A narrative exploration of a conductor whose interpretations grew out of the deepest wounds and the deepest tenderness.* There are musicians whose art is shaped by talent,…

# **Fritz Lehmann is a musician and conductor. ** In the year 1923, he goes to Göttingen and continues with his studies of musicology at the University of Göttingen. During that time he becomes…

# **Laurence Cummings: A Narrative Portrait of a Modern Handelian Maestro** ## **I. A Conductor Formed by the Keyboard: Roots of a Baroque Interpreter** Laurence Cummings belongs to that rare category of early-music conductors…

# **Carlos Kleiber conducts Weber, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, Berg & Beethoven** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/carlos-kleiber-145263158?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/carlos-kleiber-145263158?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)

# **Carlos Kleiber conducts Haydn, Beethoven, Wagner & Borodin ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/carlos-kleiber-145263006?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/carlos-kleiber-145263006?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)

# **Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.6 (Violin Concerto transcription) - Chen Reiss (soprano), Jan Petryka (tenor), Paul Armin Edelmann (baritone), Javier Negrín (piano), Beethoven Philharmonie, Thomas Rösner ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/beethoven-piano-145231652?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/beethoven-piano-145231652?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) Pianist **Javier Negrín** and conductor…

# **ANECDOTES ABOUT KATHLEEN BATTLE** *The angelic voice, the perfectionist temperament, the legend of impossible beauty* ## **1. The Telephone Audition that Started Everything** Kathleen Battle’s first professional break came when conductor Thomas Schippers…

# **Why Do Celibidache’s Beethoven Symphonies Seem Boring to Some Listeners?** The symphonies of Beethoven conducted by Sergiu Celibidache can seem **boring** to certain listeners for several very concrete reasons, connected both to his…

# **DEMYSTIFYING SERGIU CELIBIDACHE** # **A great conductor… profoundly overrated** Sergiu Celibidache has become, over the decades, a near-mythical figure: the mystical maestro, the Zen philosopher of the orchestra, the sworn enemy of recordings,…

# **Carlos Kleiber: A Brilliant Myth, and a Director Ultimately Overrated** Few conductors of the 20th century have inspired such a disproportionate level of mystique as **Carlos Kleiber**. His reputation has grown into something…

# **NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT AND THE SYMPHONIES OF HAYDN** *A Full Narrative Analysis, Including the Paris Symphonies (Concentus Musicus) and the London Symphonies (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)* To speak about **Haydn under Nikolaus Harnoncourt** is to…

# THE INNER LANDSCAPE OF NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT — A FULL PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST Nikolaus Harnoncourt was one of those rare musicians whose artistic identity was inseparable from the structure of his mind…

Maria with conductor Nicola Rescigno after a concert in Chicago, 1958

# **Mariss Jansons, aged 10, with conductor Dad and Svatoslav Richter**