On Demand
WNYC's Coverage of the Republican National Convention
Live performances in Soundcheck's studios
Studio 360: Patti LuPone on playing Mama Rose
Selected Shorts featuring "The Trouble of Marcie Flint," by John Cheever
Radio Rookies: Brooklyn Broadcast Workshop
On the Media: Surviving Convention Coverage
Street Shots Challenge
Evening Music
Berlin Without Walls: The Conductors
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Furtwängler; von Karajan; Celibidache; Abbado — and the list goes on. These are just some of the forceful personalities that have led the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra during its long and storied history. We examine how each maestro brought his own particular style to bear on the ensemble, and how the Philharmonic always managed to maintain its own separate identity in spite of the man on the podium.
Sergiu Celibidache conducts Beethoven on YouTube
Taking Sides, a film about Furtwängler and the Nazis
more of Inside the Philharmonic
Comments
Why nothing at all about the former Jewish musicians, many of whom became the teachers and cab drivers of Tel Aviv after WWII.
Why nothing about Daniel Barenboim?
Was he not chosen because he is a Jew?
Thanks,
Robert Marcus
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Editor's response:
The focus of this particular segment was the many different music directors of the Berlin Philharmonic throughout the years. Although Daniel Barenboim has worked closely with the Berlin Philharmonic, he never actually "led" the organization in an official role, and was therefore not included in the conductors that we profiled.
Can we hear this segment on demand? Is there a podcast? Thank you for your attention.
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Editor's note: due to technical reasons, the on-demand version of this segment has been delayed. We should have it up within the next few days.
I'm appalled at the superficiality of these segments, and the biased distortions that they display. For example, you might have interviewed informed American music critics, including Andrew Porter or Anthony Tommasini, or British critic Richard Osborne. You might have talked with Anne Sophie Mutter, James Galway, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo, or other world-class soloists who performed with the BPO and Karajan. You might have talked with Seji Ozawa or Riccardo Chailly, conductors whom he mentored, or brought into the picture some of the reminiscences of the late Leonard Bernstein, who certainly had a more objective and informed view that is presented here. What you offer instead is little more than a politicized hatchet job, missing virtually all the information of any musical value. Your segment gives no insight into Karajan's critical role in spending 3 decades painstakingly rehearsing and building a regional orchestra into a world-class orchestra, which is what SHOULD be relevant to your story. I mourn for the state not just of classical music in America, but for music journalism. This series tells me that even once-respected sources of classical music journalism have taken on the shrill, superficial, and politically driven mantle that Fox News and its imitators have made the coin of 21st century journalism realm generally. Sad, very sad.
This thread is closed.
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