Richard Strauss conducts his own “Till Eulenspiegel.” This is a clip from the documentary “The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past.” The first voice you hear speaking is Yehudi Menuhin’s.
Carl St.Clair conducts Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben” this week, doubtless with more enthusiasm.
Composer Igor Stravinsky conducts the Toronto Symphony in the ending of his own ballet “Pulcinella.” This is in 1967, very late in his life, the latest I’ve seen him conducting on film. He would have been about 85 here. Stravinsky is sometimes criticized for having been a poor conductor. Though there is a fair amount of sloppy playing here, he reveals himself as a lively podium presence, alert to rhythm, tempo and the trenchant cue.
The composer’s acknowledgement of the applause is also affecting.
Although Schubert tragically died young and left many unfinished compositions (not just the famous “Unfinished” Symphony), his legacy is as prolific composer. Completing his first symphony at 16, he went on to compose more than 1500 works, including seven symphonies, overtures, operas, sacred music, a plethora of chamber music and some 600 lieder, or art songs. My favorites out of all those pieces are on this playlist. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. — Erica Sharp
Many people were wondering what pianist Boris Giltburg’s encore was last night. It was Op. 39, No. 6 from Rachmaninoff’s Etudes-Tableaux, sometimes called “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.” Here’s Giltburg playing it in 2014.
Pacific Overtures. June, 2018
Here are those 11 beats in Part II of Stravinsky’s “Le sacre du printemps” (today is the anniversary of its 1913 premiere) in 103 different performances. Warning: This is bizarre.
