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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Toscanini On Beethoven: No One Else Measures Up

The famed conductor pretty much expresses my views in the first 3 minutes here. His quote about the adagio of the Ninth Symphony (the least well-known movement) are oft-quoted. One should conduct it "from your knees," as if in worship. Beethoven should be be declared "a saint...What does the Pope know?"

1 comment:

Roger G McCorkle said...

And we are certainly not likely to ever agin see the likes of Toscanini. I have the complete 9 Beethoven symphonies on CD [NBC Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall] -- from when RCA was releasing the complete recordings.

The project was never completed, and a newer CEO [there have been so many] expressed amazement when told that RCA had in its vaults some of the greatest musical treasures ever recorded.