Deryk Barker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Mats Norrman ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>
>>I think he did came up with one of the more interesting Beethoven Symphony
>>Cycles around.
>
>Decidely unfashionable and weighty; I agree.

I love these performances and can only regret that not all of them were
recorded at the Padua Basilica, where the best-sounding 9th comes from
(the Eroica and the 5th suffer from too much reverberation, IIRC).  The 9th
in his cycle is among my five favorite recordings of this timeless work.

The November 1997 issue of Classic CD Magazine (I believe a now defunct
publication) featured a Maag interview where he discussed this cycle
briefly, as well as his trepidation for tackling the mighty cycle after
living with the memory of Furtwaengler's Beethoven for many years.  He had
started out as a pianist, and after playing what must have been a good
Beethoven 4th PC with Furtwaengler, the latter persuaded him to take up
conducting.

In the interview, he also talked about his experience with meditation.
He credited it with giving him a deeper level of understanding of music,
but he also said that it affected his career because most people could not
understand why he would interrupt what seemed a brilliant career at the
time.  What they didn't know was that he was interested in philosophy and
Eastern religions from the start, these being his primary subjects when he
attended the university.

He was one of the last of a handful who placed music *first*, above fame,
money, and all the other glamorous perks that modern maestros have come to
expect.

Ramon Khalona