He was not a great raconteur; he didn’t pal around with the players. But Sir Georg Solti, who died Sept. 5, entrusted the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with his artistic vision, and their partnership was one of the most successful in music history. Last week, some of those artists reminisced about making music with a truly great conductor.
Samuel Magid, a member of the violin section since 1958, and concertmaster since 1972: “Solti was always energetic; that never changed. He gave his all in performance, and collapsed afterward in his (dressing) room.
“Solti made me a stronger player in the orchestra; he made me a good concertmaster. He changed my entire way of looking at being in the orchestra. He made me think of leadership, and act with leadership. I learned to react to his every eyebrow (move). He could merely glance at us; we knew what he wanted, and we gave it to him. You could like (his interpretation) or not, but he got what he wanted.”
John Sharp, principal cello for the last 11 seasons: “He was a gentleman to the orchestra, and that surprised me when I first came; I expected more of a tyrant. He treated everyone with a lot of respect.
“He always brought an extremely strong idea of how he wanted a piece. With some conductors, you get the sense that they are working their way through, undecided. Solti was very businesslike, very quick getting his results; he didn’t rehearse for its own sake.
“He got results in different ways than conductors from earlier generations–Reiner, Toscanini, Szell. Those conductors were real tyrants, and had absolute power. Solti got results without all that. . . . He tried everything in rehearsal. He joked — if someone didn’t come in, or bobbled, or made a mistake, Solti would yell, `Buon giorno!’ — he begged, he cajoled, he banged his podium. And he got what he wanted. He’s still part of the orchestra’s sound and psyche, and he will be missed.”
Elizabeth Taylor, a soprano in the chorus from 1979-87: “The way we made music under him was soul-fulfilling. You couldn’t help but be drawn in and give your all when everyone was working together under that baton, with that bright ball of intense, enthusiastic energy in front of us. When the concert was done, we would be exhausted, but so very content, because we were making great music as one voice. I don’t think Solti has a peer today.”
Grover Schiltz, English horn player for 38 years: “He was happy as a pig in acorns when he had a big production, something with three choruses, two brass bands, 19 soloists and offstage elephants. He would have made a great field marshal. He was very organized, very thorough, and he knew what he wanted in advance.
“Solti was very results-oriented; he didn’t get involved in personalities. He was consistent, fair and firm. He did everything he could to help you get results you both could live with. He might ask for a very soft, low attack, but when you try that there’s always the danger that you might draw air instead of a sound, and his motto was always, `Safety first, my dear!’ “
Adolph Herseth, principal trumpet since 1948: “It was a great privilege and a great pleasure to work with the man. He was a very straightforward person, and I only remember his losing his temper one time — and then it was over in 10 seconds.
“Behind the scenes, he was quietly very helpful to people who had personal difficulties of many sorts; he was a very, very nice man. And he was an exciting person to play for. He knew how to rehearse efficiently, what to cover, and that if you fussed around too much with the little details, you’d lose the overall picture. He knew he could trust us to fix the details.
“We were world class before he came, but he put us on the world-wide map. He finally admitted in the ’80s that the orchestra had done as much for him as he had done for the orchestra.”
Donald Koss, tympanist since 1963: “I found it easy to work for him, because he always made it clear what he wanted. He took full responsibility, and I found it refreshing to play for a guy like that. He was obsessed with tempo, and I loved it! That’s one of the things we don’t always get.
“It was a good marriage of orchestra and conductor. I loved the repertoire we did with Solti, and I think the audiences did too. The orchestra got excited playing for him, and he loved conducting us. It’s a cliche, but when you’re happy and things are going right, you just get better and better. And the CSO and Solti were the very best when we played together.”
