3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A prejudiced view of Toscanini?, July 6, 2002
This review is from: Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert Life (Paperback)
You'll have to decide for yourself, so don't skip this one.
Horowitz portrays the beloved and tempestuous conductor as a carefully packaged and sold cultural superstar. I wonder if he's not a little ahead of himself on that one -- we're talking pre- during and post WWII here. Of course Toscanini's association with the NBC Orchestra paid off in a variety of ways but Horowitz seems to have forgotten the great conductor's incredible sensitivity to the music and the composers that he interpreted.
I enjoyed this book immensely but can't agree with the author in a number of respects. Toscanini's fame was, quite obviously, a direct result of his talent, drive and the love audiences had for his interpretation of the music. Those are the facts, pure and simple.
The book, however, deserves an unprejudiced and thoughtful reading.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Misunderstanding Toscanini, October 22, 2002
This review is from: Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert Life (Paperback)
Mr. Horowitz's thesis is that American concert life was governed by profit and not art. That's fine and probably quite accurate. To prove his thesis he completely maligns a great conductor. When he discusses Toscanini, he makes errors of both facts and judgment, which are well-documented with erudition and grace in Harvey Sachs's Reflections on Toscanini. Mr. Sachs's biography of Toscanini is the standard; he knows whereof he speaks.
If it weren't for the thesis, I would completely downgrade this book. As it is, the thesis is well-stated.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Second-Guessing Toscanini, August 9, 2004
This review is from: Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert Life (Paperback)
Joseph Horowitz writes a well-researched tome. However, he spends too much time in his book delving into post-modernist head-scratching about why Toscanini was so loved among the American people. Most of this, Horowitz chalks up to the P.R. machine NBC and RCA used to propel Toscanini into the living rooms of millions of Americans via radio and phonograph records.
Horowitz credits Toscanini's 'over'-popularity with stifling creativity and diversity among the ranks of classical musicians. Bosh! The man's been dead for 47 years, and no-one has come along since who made classical music such a household name. If there's anything America needs now, more than ever, it's a shot in the arm from someone such as Toscanini. All the NEA and PBS tax dollars in the world won't make the American people turn on to great music. Toscanini was popular because of his extraordinary talent for delineation and his perfectionism.
He made classical music not only enjoyable, but infused millions of Americans with the passion he himself had for the music. Do you see James Levine or anyone else making 'La Boheme' as exciting as Toscanini? Was Toscanini perfect? I would say not. However, if I as a four year old could grasp that there was something akin to superhumanism about Toscanini's conducting, that I just didn't pick up in Lenny Bernstein's wretched performances, then I don't see why it slips by Horowitz.
To be fair, Horowitz acknowledges Toscanini's abilities, but implies all throughout this book that something had been 'put over' on the American people. Horowitz seems to have confused Toscanini with Bernstein. But then, again, Horowitz recounts a quote from a Russian who told the author that if Leonard Bernstein had been a Russian that he would have been an unassailable superstar. Apparently, the Russian thought Bernstein was underappreciated over here.
This book gives a great history of Toscanini and the NBC, but reading it through Horowitz' cynical lenses makes one itch for someone who can laud a true American treasure, instead of prospecting for clay.
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