Toscanini

Summary

Dominique Pagani first brings up Toscanini through a few anecdotes: the conductor who flees fascism, records the Internationale and, in Brussels, stops the orchestra to reproach Caruso for the "little exhibition" of a note held too long in front of the Queen of Belgium1. He sees in this the mark of a rigorous conductor, little inclined to tolerate vocal self-indulgence. He also credits him with the finest orchestral version of the Internationale2. In the "Musicosophie" sessions, Toscanini mostly serves him as a point of comparison: a great "demonic" conductor, he sets him against Furtwängler, whom he considers extremely different from him34. He mentions him again to gauge Bülow's authority and in connection with La Forza del destino. Finally, he places him among the performers whom the baroque-revival musicians regard as "rust" to be stripped away, a claim he keeps at a distance56.

1. 1#2.6 Between crisis and war: philosophising?1 Aug 2017 · 17:55
2. 2“Red-browns”, “decolonial”: should we use the dominant language?31 Mar 2021 · 1:09:02
3. 3#8 Happiness and unhappiness in music11 Jan 2021 · 1:20:39
4. 4#17 Interpretation25 Mar 2021 · 1:31:59
5. 5#8 Happiness and unhappiness in music11 Jan 2021 · 1:49:58
6. 6#14 Mozart once more7 Feb 2021 · 53:47

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.