(Ebook) George Szell: A Life of Music (Music in American Life) by Michael Charry ISBN 9780252036163, 0252036166

(Ebook) George Szell: A Life of Music (Music in American Life) by Michael Charry ISBN 9780252036163, 0252036166

From child prodigy pianist & composer to world-renowned conductor, Szell's career spanned seven decades, & he led most of the great orchestras & opera companies of the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the NBC and Chicago Symphonies, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic & Opera, & the Concertgebouw Orchestra. A protégé of composer-conductor Richard Strauss at the Berlin State Opera, his crowning achievement was his 24-year tenure as musical director of the Cleveland Orchestra, transforming it into one of the world's greatest ensembles, touring triumphantly in the U.S., Europe, the Soviet Union, South Korea, & Japan. Michael Charry, a conductor who worked with Szell & interviewed him, his family, & his associates over several decades, draws on this first-hand material & correspondence, orchestra records, reviews, & other archival sources to construct a lively & balanced portrait of Szell's life & work from his birth in 1897 in Budapest to his death in 1970 in Cleveland. Readers will follow Szell from his career in Europe, Great Britain, & Australia to his guest conducting at the New York Philharmonic & his distinguished tenure at the Metropolitan Opera & Cleveland Orchestra. Charry details Szell's personal & musical qualities, his recordings & broadcast concerts, his approach to the great works of the orchestral repertoire, & his famous orchestrational changes & interpretation of the symphonies of Robert Schumann. The book also lists Szell's conducting repertoire & includes a comprehensive discography. In highlighting Szell's legacy as a teacher & mentor as well as his contributions to orchestral & opera history, this biography will be of lasting interest to concert-goers, music lovers, conductors, musicians inspired by Szell's many great performances, & new generations who will come to know those performances through Szell's recorded legacy.