Podcast Series: Reliving the event

Nicholas Payne remembers…..

Nicholas Payne was first taken to the Royal Opera House by his music-loving parents on his 12th birthday in 1957. In the 1990s he rose to be the Director of Opera at the House. In between he attended hundreds of performances there and in this series of podcasts he reminiscences about his experiences, particularly concentrating on the early years, where performances have been captured by recordings in the collection of Music Preserved. It features some of the great artists of the period, including Vinay, Brouwenstijn, Callas, Vickers, Kubelík, McCracken, Sutherland, Solti, Klemperer, Fischer-Dieskau, Della Casa, Jurinac, Schwarzkopf, Cotrubas. Quite a treasure trove!

Pierre Monteux – a Personal Souvenir

In this Music Preserved podcast, the distinguished conductor Maestro David Zinman recalls his three years as the assistant conductor to the legendary Pierre Monteux, with whom he had studied for six years previously. He is in conversation with one of today’s most brilliant young conductors Henry Kennedy, who has just been appointed Resident Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada. Also taking part is documentary producer Jon Tolansky, who was present in the audience, as also was Maestro Zinman, when, on the 29 th of May 1963, Monteux conducted the unique historic 50 th anniversary performance of Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps, which he had famously conducted exactly half a century earlier at its notorious scandalous premiere. An extract from Music Preserved’s archive- recording of the 50 th anniversary event is included in the podcast, as also are extracts from its recordings of Monteux conducting Haydn’s Symphony No 104 and Beethoven’s Symphony No 6, and additionally clips of Monteux rehearsing Dvorak’s Symphony No 7.

Le Sacre du Printemps revisited

Jon Tolansky and Rob Cowan compare live performances of Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps': Igor Markevich with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1961; The London Symphony Orchestra under Antal Dorati (1961), Colin Davis (1962) and Pierre Monteux (1963).

Mahler and his Seventh Symphony under the microscope

Jon Tolansky and Rob Cowan discuss and compare two early recordings of Mahler's Seventh Symphony: that of Sir Adrian Boult with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1948 and that of Sir John Barbirolli with the combined forces of the Halle Orchestra and the BBC Northern Orchestra in 1960.