Customer Reviews

Historic Telecasts 1 [VHS]

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Three legendary conductors that the orchestral musicians who played for, and lived in terror of, were Arturo Toscanini, George Szell, and the subject of the current video, Fritz Reiner. Countless stories abound about these three. From the films I've seen of them, Toscanini was the one who yelled, Szell was the "nitpicker," and Reiner was one who gave the silent treatment, but whose glare some called "the hooded eyes of a falcon." Musicians who played under him were always in wonder (and fear) whether or not the performance they gave was to his satisfaction. Usually, if there was a problem, they would hear about it quite quickly, and their degree of performance quality would determine how long they lasted in his orchestra. Minor mistakes were generally overlooked, but sloppiness and lack of consummate musicianship were qualities definitely not tolerated in a Reiner-led orchestra.

These 1954 peformances were called "kinescopes;" that is, they were literally movies photographed from a TV screen, because the use of videotape on an everyday, all-purpose scale by TV studios had still to be perfected. The long-defunct Dumont TV network was the party that made the present film. Cuts exist in these performances, particularly in the Beethoven 7th to account for the limited air time (under 1 hr.) given the performers. As expected, Reiner is very much "at home" in his performance of the 7th and the "Egmont" Overture, but he seems icy cold and slack in tempo in the now-popular Handel piece, "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from his "Solomon" oratorio. Although the works performed are well-executed throughout by his players, to these ears, it sounds as if Reiner approaches Handel moreso as if he were playing Bach, a composer he definitely revered. Performances of this piece demand a "lively and sunny" approach, definitely not one for the climes of winter. A performance I've had on LP record for years of this Handel piece by Sir Thomas Beecham is definitely preferred.

The Reiner presented in this video visually depicts the terrorizing traits he was known for. Famous for his "vest pocket" beat, the video makes it clear that Reiner conveyed his intentions to his players through his eyes, not his baton. Buy the video and see for yourself what I mean, as well as for possessing an historic document. While you're at it, buy "The Art of Conducting, Vol. 1" put out by EMI Video (also available on DVD), and compare the excerpts from Reiner's 1961 performance of Beethoven's 7th with the present one. There is considerable difference between the two. In the interval between these two Beethoven performances, Reiner had suffered two heart attacks and in the later one, had only just returned to concertizing after convalescing from the second one.