Loke ShiukTung wrote:
>Furthermore, how do list member rate Toscanini, the conductor? It seems
>like lately he is getting a lot of bad remarks.
It seems like a pendulum swing from the time when he was considered the
greatest conductor of composers as varied as Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner,
Puccini, Brahms, Dvorak, Schubert, Respighi, and Haydn, to now, when at
least on this list, it seems fashionable to belittle him. I still like his
performances. His Beethoven Ninths, different among themselves, are among
my favorites, and the orchestral conclusion of the final "tomb" scene in
Verdi's *Aida* is for me one of the most sublime examples of orchestral
performance, all the instruments audible, all the notes delicately shaped,
giving the orchestra, rather than the grieving, spurned Amneris, the last
word in this work. Getting back to his Beethoven Ninth recordings, they
and those by Furtwaengler are said to be diametrically different, and
many people can't seem to bring themselves to like both interpretations.
Toscanini advocates seem to find Furtwaengler lacking in precision and the
proponents of Furtwaengler seem to find Toscanini too lacking in feeling.
Apparently only ignoramuses like me can find something to like in both
approaches.
Walter Meyer
|