Toscanini: Musician of Conscience [Hardcover]

Extraordinary . . . . Indeed, I cannot think of another biography of a classical musician to which it can be compared: in its breadth, scope, and encyclopedic command of factual detail it reminds me of nothing so much as Robert A. Caros[A] monumental new Toscanini biography. The most riveting pages are devoted to the nineteen-thirties and forties, when the conductor converted his favorite repertoryBeethoven, Verdi, and Wagnerinto emblems of the fight against Fascism. I couldnt help wondering: What would Toscanini have done if he had been confronted by geomusical snarl in Hamburg? He might have had something to say.Without doubt the most engaging, the best-written and certainly the most comprehensive Toscanini yet to be published.A very engaging and at times gripping chronicle of music and society, all of it devoted to the unending drive and conscientiousness that made Toscaninis performances so rivetingand, to some, so repellent. . . . What comes through in Sachss long chronicle is the extent of Toscaninis role, witting and unwitting, in transforming the way that classical music was produced and consumed in the twentieth century.Sachss account is persuasive and compelling in the important ways. . . . . Today, Toscanini is receding from our consciousness, notwithstanding his many records. . . . Creative geniuses can survive for centuries, even millenniums; interpreters inevitably go over the cultural cliff. But that doesnt detract from the crucialthe centralrole Toscanini played in our musical culture for well over 60 years. Nor from the almost universal regard he was held in as a man.Toscaninis significance as a superb artist and a key figure in the international arena is brilliantly captured in Harvey Sachss absorbing biographyAs a study of the life and times of one of the greatest conductors of all time, this book will not soon be bettered.What cannot be denied is the fact that this new biography constitutes a tremendous achievement for lC˜