Customer Reviews

The Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Lebrecht is a journalist, and it shows. This is a gossipy, irreverent and sensationalistic tour through the lives of virtually all of the great Maestros of the 20th Century, seeking to debunk the "cult of the conductor" along the way. This it does quite effectively. Its style is breezy and engaging, not scholarly. It is entertaining and fun to read. Great vacation reading. But there is no depth to it. One theme is that most of these conductors were/are greedy, power-hungry egomaniacs. Hardly a revelation. It doesn't offer much psychological insight into the conductors considered. The most serious and important part of the book comes at the end, with an expose of the huge fees and cushy lives that the top conductors enjoy these days, particularly compared to the lives of their predecessors and the musicians they now conduct. Lebrecht makes a powerful case that things at the top are out of hand. His own indignation at this state of affairs comes across very clearly, and it is infectious. Conductors, he persuasively argues, have become part of the problem rather than the solution to the current malaise in classical music. Everyone who loves classical music should read this chapter. It makes the whole thing worthwhile. The rest is merely entertaining.

Norman Lebrecht's "The Maestro Myth" is one of the most unique and controversial books on classical music ever published. In it, Lebrecht chronicles the lives, careers and conflicts of several important maestros (many notable conductors are left out) from Hans von Bulow to Sir Simon Rattle. I can scarcely think of another book on classical music that is as unputdownable or consistently fascinating, yet I had some strong reservations after finishing "The Maestro Myth."

Though the stories are invariably fascinating (with the exception of one excruciatingly dull chapter entitled "The Search for a Semi-Conductor"), there never seems to be an overall central idea or theme to "The Maestro Myth," despite its subtitle: "Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power." Very often, Lebrecht's writing is simply a collection of unflattering or embarrassing facts about various well-known musical personalities. Also, Lebrecht can be extremely inconsistent. Sympathetic towards Hans von Bulow, he follows it with an inexplicably nasty attack on Bruno Walter (who is portrayed generously and kindly in Sir Georg Solti's memoirs--and Solti was not one who minced words) and then ends with ten pages of bizarre sycophantic raving for Simon Rattle. In between, he compiles the usual litany of grievances against Toscanini and writes a hyperbolic and often blatantly dishonest thirty plus page attack on Herbert von Karajan. There are other examples. The bottom line is that Lebrecht often lets sensationalism interfere with fact. That is the biggest drawback to "The Maestro Myth."

That said, "The Maestro Myth" is well worth reading, indeed required reading, for anyone interested in the politics and tumultuous insider dealing involved in the 20th century conducting world. Fascinating overall, "The Maestro Myth" needs to be read with a grain of salt.

Lebrecht's book on conductors begins with a short, yet interesting history of the beginnings of what we know as modern conducting and conductors. At the heart of the book is an examination of the motivations behind the men who conduct. Are they hungry for power? Money? Women? All of these aspects and many more are involved in the lives of many of the world's most famous conductors. When the author focuses on the theme of the book's subtitle, the book is very informative and interesting. Many times, however, Lebrecht takes the reader down "rabbit trails" that really have little to do with the given subject. Like another reviewer, I was surprised at the absence of several conductors, most notably the Chicago Symphony's Fritz Reiner. All in all, though, an interesting book.

In our "age of feuilleton", as Hesse so aptly put, when it is abundantly clear that the more interested we are on the irrelevant facts about celebrities, the more we are bound to be disappointed by their character flaws, what is the point of this book?
The author begins his introduction with the interesting enough argument that conductors are often irrelevant, that the great ensembles are perfectly capable of playing without these star-figures, and that these are hired merely to attract bigger audiences. It is a fact that nowadays more people go see the performer rather than hear the piece and that music, like any other aspect of human endeavor, has its establishment, hermetic and frequently unfair.
Rather than expand and elaborate on this controversial point, he loses himself in gossip and a lot of ranting on how these conductors were horrible human beings. Anyone with a modicum of sense finds it perfectly plausible that a person of any talent need not be a saint. The fact that we expect this from politicians, for example, probably accounts for the average quality (or lack thereof) of our representatives, and is evidence of how little sense is to be found around these days.
In the course of this ranting the author states time and again how this orchestra played better under Mr. X's direction, and that one sounded different the moment Mr. Y mounted the podium, or that it was enough that Mr. Z looked at the group with his penetrating gaze for everybody to play their hearts out...
So-are conductors irrelevant or not? What is the point after all?
For I am not interested in the personal lives of actors, , painters, musicians or any entertainer, except insofar as particular circumstances influence work that I enjoy.

Although I am deeply enthralled by the lives of great conductors and musicians, this was not enough to erase the embarrasment and, at times, utter disgust at the mistakes (typos, misspellings,etc.) and errors found throughout this book.
I bought the book on a whim and became deeply entrenched in its pages within minutes (this is not to say that this reads like Clancy but it is very interesting). But the more I read the more frustrated I became at the mindless and senseless editing that was done here. For instance, on one page alone there are 3 different spellings of Mahler's name:
1: The correct way appears- Mahler
2: Then this- Maler
3: And finally this- Mabler
The latter really bowled me over. And the further I read the worse it became. There are also misrepresented facts (such as the stockyards in Chicago) throughout.
In short, if you are looking for scholarship and true presentations, look elsewhere. If you are interested in various interesting anecdotes and trivia-like facts about conductors and you dont mind sifting through misspellings and foreign words with no interpretation, then you will enjoy this book. But I must warn you...any book with a typo on its back cover (The Maesto Myth) may be more of a hassle than good informal reading.

Through his realism and curmudgeonliness, Lebrecht evaluates many (and eviscerates several) world famous classical conductors. I am aware that he is feared in the music business for his honest pronouncements, but his style is so deft and his prejudices so well-founded (and coincidental to mine), that he leaves his readers wanting more of his views. As a music critic, I recommend this work unreservedly to those interested in the subject

Backstairs gossip, blurted out in a confused, breathless stream-of-consciousness rant. Nothing particularly new, poorly proof-edited.

The maestro myth must still be very powerfully alive if it tempts a supposed grownup to this extreme of incoherence.

Lebrecht writes trenchantly about the music business. Many of his observations are carefully considered, if impolitic. Those who idolize the "great conductors" will be very uncomfortable reading about their equally outsided foibles. The author's conclusions are his own and may not be to everyone's taste. However, Lebrecht has enough backbone not to be trying to please everyone--for that way also would lie a boring book. No, he's trying to tell the truth as he sees it. This volume does not pretend to be a complete or scholarly treatment of all the major conductors within recent memory and Lebrecht clearly has his favorites (such as Simon Rattle). The editing leaves much to be desired because typos abound. Is this entirely the author's fault, or does the editor share the blame? If you want to know that we're all human and some more so than others, this is a book for you. It's not geared to people who don't already know something about the subject, so you need to be a classical music buff to come away feeling the impact of what Lebrecht has told you. If you are, you will see clear examples of how the press is often prejudiced (not to say sometimes vindictive, as in the case of Mitropoulos), how public taste is shaped by odd events and sometimes how virtue is punished. I feel a little guilty giving this book only 4 stars because its writing is up to a high standard and its thesis is interesting, but the substandard editing is, nevertheless, distracting to the reader.

The public rarely gets to hear about the personal and often embarassing side of orchestral conductors' lives. If you hold conductors like Toscanini, Beecham, and Karajan in the same light as gods, you might want to pass on this. Highly recommended.

A great gossip book for conductors, Lebrecht book explores the fame of conductors and whether they really deserved it or not.

It has numerous anecdotes on several conductors, though it sometimes skims over a conductor. For example, in the chapter discussing Great Conductorial Dictators (a list which comprised of Toscanini, Furtwangler, Szell, and Reiner), it covered in detail the lives of Toscanini and Furtwangler, but had a short paragraph on Szell and Reiner, though all four were listed in the chapter for discussion.

The book moves quickly and efficiently, never staying on a topic, really, longer then it really needs to, though it may ramble a while on a particular conductor (devoting, for example, an entire chapter bashing on Karajan). He accuses many and congratulates few, but Lebrecht offers his opinion convincingly.

It's an interesting read and many will be surprised to read about their favorite conductor.