Customer Reviews

The Virtuoso Conductors: The Central European Tradition from Wagner to Karajan

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I was very disappointed by this book. I was hoping that there would be insightful comments that effectively conveyed what it was that made these great conductors so great, but remarkably little of that is provided. Instead, we more often get a blow-by-blow of how many concerts were conducted where, how many times each work was performed by the conductor, and almost an itinerary of their engagements. I was hoping for probing insights, but generally they are not to be found in this book. Perhaps given the amount of time that has passed and the lack of recorded materials for the Nikischs and von Bulows of the world, maybe it's not possible to really make these determinations. But even in the modern era's most well-documented conductors, Furtwangler and Karajan, there were remarkably few insights to be found. It's a shame, because this is a subject matter that could make for a fascinating and great book. But this is not that book.