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(Amadeus). The New York Philharmonic, from Bernstein to Maazel
continues the story of America's oldest orchestra as told in Howard
Shanet's Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra . That
volume ended with the 1970-71 season, just before the arrival of
Pierre Boulez as music director. Obviously, much has happened
since. This book begins, however, with a retrospective account of
the controversial last years of the tenure of Dimitri Mitropoulos
and the ascendancy of Leonard Bernstein to the music directorship.
Having been a Philharmonic assistant conductor during Bernstein's
tenure, and an inveterate Philharmonic watcher ever since, the
author brings some personal insights to the story as well as
moments of humor. A sub-theme of the book concerns the way the
Philharmonic and its music directors have been treated by the New
York press, the Times in particular. Howard Taubman's attacks on
Mitropoulos, Harold Schonberg's on Bernstein, and Donal Henahan's
on Zubin Mehta are all covered here, as are the writings of various
critics on those and other conductors, and on the orchestra itself.
The New York Philharmonic is the only orchestra ever to undertake a
foreign tour solely on the initiative of its musicians, without
benefit or support from management. How this came about is
chronicled, as are the opening of Lincoln Center, the Parks
Concerts, Promenades, Prospective Encounters, Rug Concerts, tours,
and, of course, the subscription seasons. John Canarina shows how
the New York Philharmonic weathered extraordinary ups and downs
during this period, while remaining a vital component of New York's
cultural life.
Pierre Monteux became famous at the age of 38 for conducting the
riotous world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris
on May 29, 1913. The composer, fearing bodily harm, escaped through
a backstage window, while the imperturbable conductor persisted,
forever to be identified with the event. He would also conduct the
first concert performance and one of the first two recordings of
Stravinsky's masterpiece, the other one conducted by Stravinsky
himself. Though French by birth, the distinctively portly man with
the walrus mustache resisted being typecast as a French conductor.
He could have been a European maestro: he played for Brahms, worked
with Grieg, presided over the world premieres of major works by
Ravel, Stravinsky and many others, was Diaghilev's conductor of
choice. But it was Monteux's American audiences, especially in San
Francisco and Boston, who would love him the most over the course
of a long career. He conducted many American premieres, works of
Debussy, Falla, Ravel, and among the more than a dozen Boston
premieres, those of The Rite of Spring and of Mahler's First
Symphony. Canarina, a conductor and teacher of conducting himself,
studied with Monteux for seven summers and brings great personal
warmth and understanding to this wise, admiring and honest book,
the first full-length biography of the man whom so many knew and
loved as "Maitre."
A humorous look at the accomplishments of America's Seventh Army
Symphony during its 10-year, European tour-of-duty from 1952-1962.
The United States once maintained a symphony orchestra, the Seventh
Army Symphony, based in Stuttgart, Germany. Formed in 1952 as a
public relations measure, it was intended to demonstrate to the
Europeans, and the Germans in particular, that American soldiers
were young men of culture capable of appreciating and performing
the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and other great composers with
feeling and understanding. In this the orchestra was extremely
successful, touring repeatedly throughout (West) Germany, Denmark,
France, Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In spite of the
great acclaim and enthusiasm with which it was received throughout
Europe, the orchestra encountered difficulty and some outright
hostility from the U.S. Army itself, which did not quite know what
to do with a symphony orchestra in its midst. Therefore, in
addition to paying tribute to the important work the orchestra did
inthe field of cultural relations, this book chronicles the many
humorous incidents that arose out of the perennial friction between
the rather unmilitary orchestra and the "regular Army" personnel
with whom it came in direct contact.
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