The Art of Conducting – Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era
I really enjoyed this DVD, “The Art of Conducting: Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era” which features excellent films and information about conductors Wilhelm Mengelberg, Erich Kleiber, Charles Munch, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Sergiu Celibidache, and Evgeny Mravinsky with commentaries by Otto Edelmann, Yehudi Menuhin, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, and others.
Within this DVD there are 3 short films about Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra filmed in Paris. These films show us performances of: Berlioz “Rackokzy March, from LE DAMNATION DE FAUST”, Bizet’s Adagietto, from L’ARLESSIENE; and Weber’s OBERON Overture. It is unfortunate that this DVD does not mention the huge role that Mengelberg played in the early performances of the compositions of Gustav Mahler, while the composer was still alive, let alone after Mahler’s death in 1911.
The film of conductor Charles Munch (Debussy’s LA MER, Ravel DAPHNIS ET CHLOE, Berlioz SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE) and of Sergiu Celibidache are very interesting, as is the track devoted to Wilhelm Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic playing Richard Strauss’s “TILL EULENSPIEGEL’s MERRY PRANKS”.
This is an interesting study of several major conductors of the past; it would be of great interest to music fans, particularly those who lived in the early part of the 1950’s and later, while these fine conductors were alive and performing.
Here is Charles Munch Conducts “La Mer” and “Daphnis Et Chloé”:
And here is a wonderful video of Sergiu Celibidache rehearsing the Mozart Requiem:
Tags: orchestra conductors, Wilhelm Mengelberg, Erich Kleiber, Charles Munch, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Sergiu Celibidache, Evgeny Mravinsky