Conductor's Enthusiasm in M2

[Roffe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoZdwam7wgw&feature=related

A two minute clip on the enthusiasm showed by different conductors at the end of M2.

Roffe

[Damfino]

Interesting that Boulez rated "no enthusiasm". In watching the entire performance (which is quite good, IMO), Boulez seemed frail, as if conducting the work was tantamount to scaling a mountain. By the time of the finale, he may not seem enthusiastic; but he looks like a man who has survived the climb of his life.

Abbado does what he can considering the physical ailments he has dealt with.

I always thought Lenny was embarrassingly over-the-top visually in the Ely Cathedral performance. I certainly enjoy Lenny in his various versions of M2; but if that clip had been called "conductors wetting themselves on stage", it would have accurately described what seems to be happening with Lenny in that clip. Elvis 'the pelvis' in the 50's was pretty mild compared to Lenny in M2.

[waderice]

Conductors "wetting themselves" is one thing.  A more serious thing to worry about is a heart attack.

Wade

[Damfino]

Yes, considering that that has been known to happen, I'm glad Boulez paced himself in his version.

[Roffe]

Yes, considering that that has been known to happen, I'm glad Boulez paced himself in his version.

Giuseppe Sinopoli died of a heart attack while conducting Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in Berlin.

Roffe

[James Meckley]

Dimitri Mitropoulos died of a heart attack in Milan, Italy while rehearsing the first movement of Mahler 3. The second bassoonist drew a Roman cross and wrote the following sentence in the score at measure 86 (five bars before Rehearsal 7):

"Maestro Dimitri Mitropoulos died at this point in the symphony on the morning of November 2nd 1960."

Mitropoulos's recording of Mahler 3 with the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester was made on 31 October 1960, just two days prior to his death.

James

[Damfino]

I knew about Sinopoli, but not Mitropoulos. I just looked up Mitropoulos on Wikipedia, and his pic shows him smoking with a cigarette holder.  We're fortunate that more conductors who were in poor health in their later years have not expired onstage. Bernstein (heavy smoker, emphysema) was pretty frail in his last performance with the BSO. I don't think he could have conducted a long Mahler symphony at that time.