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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: Roland Flessner on June 09, 2017, 07:46:16 PM
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A couple weeks ago I happened across "Shoot the Conductor" by Anshel Brusilow. I bought it and found it a very enjoyable read, warm and funny. Mr. Brusilow was concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra up until the mid-1960s, and thereafter turned to conducting.
He relates a hilarious story about how he and his wife were driving to NYC with Mr. and Mrs. Ormandy for a concert. "The Pines of Rome" came on the radio. Ormandy declared it the worst performance of it he'd ever heard, and demanded that Anshel pull off the highway and call the radio station to identify the perpetrators. Anshel persuaded him that he couldn't just pull off the New Jersey Turnpike, and after the "Pines" ended, the announcer ID'd it as Ormandy's own recording from Minneapolis. So they blamed it on the car radio.
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A couple weeks ago I happened across "Shoot the Conductor" by Anshel Brusilow. I bought it and found it a very enjoyable read, warm and funny.
I read Shoot the Conductor last winter and also enjoyed it, though I think Mr. Brusilow could have used a better editor. I was glad to find out more about a conductor whose work I've known and admired my entire adult life. He made a small batch of recordings for RCA with his Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, which remain a wonderful testament to his art. His Brahms Serenade No. 1 and Haydn Symphony No. 60 are particularly fine, though sadly none of these recordings have ever been transferred to CD.
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I guess there are a number of great Ormandy stories.
Robert Noehren went to Philly to play the Saint-Saens "Organ" symphony. Each rehearsal went worse than the previous one. Finally, at the dress rehearsal, Ormandy turned to Bob Noehren and said, "don't worry, everything will be alright at the concert". Sure enough, Mr. Noehren said that it was a stunningly brilliant performance after all.
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I guess there are a number of great Ormandy stories.
Robert Noehren went to Philly to play the Saint-Saens "Organ" symphony. Each rehearsal went worse than the previous one. Finally, at the dress rehearsal, Ormandy turned to Bob Noehren and said, "don't worry, everything will be alright at the concert". Sure enough, Mr. Noehren said that it was a stunningly brilliant performance after all.
I'm reading it now!