The world of the conductor; Mozart, the universal composer

The world of the conductor a series of programs in which leading conductors of today you speak about symphonic music in the 20th century. The world of the conductor is produced and recorded at station w h y y in Philadelphia under a grant from the National Educational Television and Radio Center in cooperation with the National Association of educational broadcasters. This is James Keeler inviting you to join us for this program the second in a group of broadcasts bearing the subtitle Mozart the Universal Composer will be speaking about the Mozart symphonies with Erich Leinsdorf particularly in relation to his recordings of the entire set of 41 symphonies. The great variety of the 41 symphonies is a result of not only the increasing emotional maturity upon the part of the composer himself this being immediately

evident as the Works Progress but it also comes about in the composer's handling of his orchestral forces and in his grasp and refinement of the mysteries of the classical symphonic style. Last week we were speaking with Mr Leinsdorf and lamppost a couple about the relationship of the various orchestral choirs in the Mozart symphonies and as we continued speaking with Erich Leinsdorf we remarked on the extreme clarity which serves in his recordings to differentiate among the various choirs. Yes I must give credit to the standard of recording which was pursued by the company and their particular effort. I like this myself very much when I heard playbacks. When you have a unison between violins and cellos and violins for example that you can hear both it is not covered by the other outstanding of the other one accompanying you have an equal representation. And this is part of what you refer to.

I found this most gratifying because to be preserved there by this sort of chamber music quality of it especially the earlier symphonies to have because they have no way. To be compared with a romantic symphony of the 19th century with the big massed orchestra sound and I think that has been well handled and as I had nothing to do with it I can I can refer to it without being called up for democracy. I made these in two installments the first portion was made in nineteen hundred fifty five in the month of May and the second portion was made in the month of August but in one of the 66 I mention this because unfortunately the first half of the symphonies but never recorded in stereophonic equipment so this is I think of interest today too. But you call it disco files What is the proper audio file of

audio files. Well I think that has some Achille of acoustical very fine engineering jobs. They are for the conservative high fidelity equipment but the first portion which happens to be the last 20 symphonies will not be transferable to stereo because they have not been made. It's that if it involved the first twenty one have been made in stereo intuitiveness in 1956 there was already that equipment available for the sessions in London while in 55 they made Number 22 through 41. We only had the normal normal apartment. Well one of one of the three according to one of the symphonies in particular sticks in my mind is that of the Lynds. I have always felt whether rightly or wrongly that there are certain jubilant hand handle like qualities in this music I don't know whether I'm wrong

or not but I think it strikes me as being somewhat different from the others. But it has this it has a kind of godliness and Brian said which we know very well from Mozart's character as a man and person from his life doesn't which I find a great deal of his music. Of course I'm also just gone through a particular a particular cycle in the minds of musicians and I think that during the 19th century and early early 20th century the figure of Mozart had a sort of a force halo I say for sale because the right to look at not be bright enough for my for my taste on Mozart's head. But Mozart happened to be a man to whom no human emotion was foreign. I mean he was he could even be vulgar and still be Mozart. And some of the most distinguished musicians of this and the last generation have tried to minimize certain

qualities in the making. All of this only the heavenly Stardust composedly has all his Stardust but even in his most godly and why and down to earth things and this wide wide range of human feeling is what distinguishes Mozart to me. I'm a one said OK shouldn't to speak about most of it was in the Mozart bicentennial in 56 and it was a get together at Stratford Connecticut as sort of a beginning of the Mozart sport motor festival which I conducted and I protested a small short speech and this was done in that theatre which is used every summer for our Shakespeare repertory and I drew a parallel between tricks P and Mozart

as the two men in their respective arts of Shakespearean drama and Mozart in music room nor part of the human emotion was thought to be from very very great composers very illustrious composers of our tremendously great gallery who well magnificent unsurpassed in certain ways but never approached other. Expressive Yes feels Mozart. Everything everything. And maybe it is this sort of earthiness you hear in the lens which you like and which I have tried to bring out that there are spots in the first movement going out when I did house with an orchestra muesli in that I think the spot should be like a tremendous belly laugh. You know when you have five chords repeated that a pub or a pub I think this should be played like an enormous belly laugh in

expression boggling almost on the Volga. Well that's certainly your feeling enthusiasm is contagious and that's because they the symphony just please always leave me breathless. The recording at the end I mean I just had a wonderful time and I I and I have never quite heard it played this plan that I'm happy to hear that because of course as you know there are many opinions when it comes to two composers such as Mozart. Just as there are many opinions when it comes to reading certain parts of Shakespeare how to do Hamlet or how to do. How to Leah and so it is with most of these very very very great giants to offer themselves to many interpretations and I wouldn't be liberal enough to think that several interpretations can be right that there is a margin for disagreement. Of course I'm very happy when I find an expert agreeing with my way of reading the

paragraph. I wonder you know you have. Certainly in the course of recording sessions and otherwise here we have 41 symphonies which cover of real remarkable I mean in a number of years the span is not so great and yet in Mozart it covered almost as and I mean I say his entire life one of his first symphony was written when he was seen. But it is of course in short life but the development is so enormously fast because rock has earlier up close look and sound like and what he produced then later on in the last in the last two years of his life. It borders on the miraculous and I think that Mozart just burned up in the thirty six years of his life. The same amount of.

Creative energy which will be burned up by men twice in twice that lifespan and everything that you did was the development in him worked far faster than any other man because the output is formidable in quantity and the development in quality is startling. The growth from from twenty five to thirty six in his life is just incredible quite unbelievable. I know thinking of the twenty five the twenty fifth of G minor curse of 183. Oh yeah this is one of them. He was 18. And yet this this work has as much for me at least has as much. Power emotional power as almost as great human or well I should also this moment you're your source and you give me and good association with the mind not the mind I must of had a special meaning for

Mozart because in that key he certainly produced some of the most startling and most glorious of his works. Think of the quintet string having that in G minor lookin and feeling lost himself in that Mozart Constanza r in G minor proudly sky sadness with Torrance. Then the audio of Tahmina in magic slow tub afloat is in G minor the very sad with key had a special significance for him and quite I'm quite convinced because in that key there are some moments of such unsurpassed sadness and drama. It must of it is special meaning for him. Yes and we don't find one in the late symphonies we find no other minor works in minor keys. No other minor keys in his autos in certain moments

and movements but the fact that he reserved that key for these these works which carry with him this this tremendous emotional. Yes yes he had he had quite a quite connected quite an emotion with it. There's no there's no doubt about it. You are you know I never thought about this as a very little minor per say minor writing that is the in Figure out which I'm just doing this year at the Met and therefore have been present in my mind. There's this little f mine idea of Barbary now which is a very small piece purposefully because as Mozart seemed to think the great unhappiness of this little child the daughter of a gardener is a small is a small matter of not finding she's looking for this fear you know and she doesn't find it. And so he writes a good F minor but the minor key is almost as if it were a parody of somebodies sadness if you didn't take it quite seriously.

Just for this little girl of course not finding of the pain is a major tragedy but it is a small piece but there's very little in mine you're perfectly right. We'll continue this conversation with Erich Leinsdorf concerning the music of Mozart in our broadcast next week during which we'll be discussing various interpretive problems posed by the classical symphonic style. This is James Keeler inviting you to join us at that time for the next broadcast subtitled Mozart the Universal Composer in the series the world of the conductor. Oh and. The egg. The world of the conductor is produced and recorded at station W.H. y y in Philadelphia under a grant from the National Educational Television and Radio Center and is being distributed by the National Association of educational broadcasters and.

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