The Art of Conducting — Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era Sergiu Celibidache, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Erich Kleiber, Willem Mengelberg, Evgeny Mravinsky, Charles Munch, Herbert von Karajan and others in rehearsal and performance (Teldec video, VHS and laserdisc)
This is the sequel to Teldec’s extraordinary video documentary from 1994, “The Art of Conducting — Great Conductors of the Past,” and in some respects it is an even more impressive achievement. The major difference is Part II was produced specifically for home video; the earlier program derived from a BBC television series. Save for Furtwaengler and Karajan, all 11 of these maestros are appearing for the first time in the Teldec series.
Producer Marcos Klorman has unearthed some telling rehearsal and performance film clips. Among the several endearing oddities are a very histrionic Mengelberg at the helm of the Concertgebouw Orchestra on tour in France in 1931, and Furtwangler making “Till Eulenspiegel” literally dance before our eyes, thanks to a ballet sequence stuck in the middle of his genial reading of the Strauss tone poem with the Berlin Philharmonic. Living musicians provide interesting insights into what made these maestros click. Of the eccentric Celibidache, Daniel Barenboim says: “He was part scientist, part gypsy, part philosopher, with the qualities and faults of them all.” An intense reading of Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture, filmed in the ruins of the old Berlin Philharmonie, proves it.
But the prize footage belongs to two very different conductors, “Charles le beau” (as he was nicknamed) Munch and the autocratic Mravinsky. Munch’s interpretations relied very much on the passionate heat of the moment, and his concert performances often varied wildly from rehearsals, as is shown in sequences containing the Franck Symphony and Ravel’s Second “Daphnis et Chloe” Suite. The stern-visaged Mravinsky is able to work his Leningrad Philharmonic up to a maniacal pitch in symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich without exuding a drop of sweat: The orchestral control exhibited here is little short of astounding. I can’t imagine any music lover not wishing to add this splendid video to his or her collection.
