Background
Solti was born on October 21, 1912, in Budapest. He was the younger of the two children of Móricz ("Mor") Stern and his wife Teréz, née Rosenbaum, both of whom were Jewish.
(For years, admitted Sir Georg Solti to High Fidelity maga...)
For years, admitted Sir Georg Solti to High Fidelity magazine in January 1967, 'Mahler bored me. He came to me, or I came to him, eight or nine years ago. Up to then his symphonies were all pieces and bits. Now I see their form. I love them. It is not enough to like music. You must love. And love means change.' By the time he was to record the First Symphony, with the London Symphony Orchestra, by modern standards he did so at a comparatively ripe age of 52. But the critics were immediately struck by the youthful dynamism of Solti's conception, which was entirely apt to a work conceived by a composer in his early twenties. When High Fidelity came to survey all the Mahler symphony recordings on record in September 1967, this version of the First was declared 'probably the best both in interpretation and in recording', even up against stiff competition from more experienced Mahlerians such as Jascha Horenstein and Rafael Kubelík.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073W7MJPW/?tag=2022091-20
(October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and De...)
October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and Decca is celebrating this with several important reissues. Sir Georg was an exclusive Decca artist for 50 years. In 1947 he signed his first contract with Decca - as a pianist and that same year he made his first record as a conductor (with the Zurich Tonhalle in Beethovens Egmont Overture). His last public concerts took place just a few weeks before his death in 1997 and were with the Zurich Tonhalle. Solti was a musician with extraordinarily wide musical interests and sympathies and he was without doubt one of the most important opera conductors of the second half of the twentieth century. His legacy of recordings is dominated by opera and his recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen - the first ever complete studio recording - has been described as the greatest recording of all time BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 CD 1-2 Aida CD3-4 un ballo in maschera CD 5-5-7 Don Carlo CD 8-9 Falstaff (1963 recording) CD 10-11 Otello (1977 recording) CD 12-13 Simon Boccanegra CD 14-15 CD 16 - bonus CD - Verdi Choruses
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008H29Z9A/?tag=2022091-20
(October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and De...)
October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and Decca is celebrating this with several important reissues. Sir Georg was an exclusive Decca artist for 50 years. In 1947 he signed his first contract with Decca - as a pianist and that same year he made his first record as a conductor (with the Zurich Tonhalle in Beethovens Egmont Overture). His last public concerts took place just a few weeks before his death in 1997 and were with the Zurich Tonhalle. Solti was a musician with extraordinarily wide musical interests and sympathies and he was without doubt one of the most important opera conductors of the second half of the twentieth century. His legacy of recordings is dominated by opera and his recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen - the first ever complete studio recording - has been described as the greatest recording of all time BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 CD 1-3 Così fan tutte CD 4-6 Don Giovanni CD 7-8 Die Entführung aus dem Serail CD 9-11 Le nozze di Figaro CD 12-14 Die Zauberflote CD 15 - bonus CD - Solti as pianist in Mozart Violin Sonata No.32 in B flat major, K454 with Georg Kulenkampf (recorded in 1948) Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, K478 with Members of the Melos Quartet (recorded in 1984) Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K466 with the English Chamber Orchestra (recorded in 1989)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008H29ZAE/?tag=2022091-20
(Sir Georg Solti was one of the twentieth century s most b...)
Sir Georg Solti was one of the twentieth century s most brilliant conductors and a leading figure of musical culture in Europe and the US. He studied piano, composition and conducting with Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály and Weiner, made his concert debut as a pianist, and in 1937, Toscanini selected him as his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. He made his first recordings for Decca in 1947 and continued as an exclusive Decca artist for over half a century leaving a vast legacy of over 250 great recordings including 45 complete operas. Solti s remarkable partnership with the CSO began in 1954, when Solti first led the Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival. He returned to Chicago for guest engagements with the Lyric Opera in 1956, made his Chicago Orchestra Hall debut on December 9, 1965, and his first concerts as Music Director were in September 1969. Solti served as Music Director for 22 years (1969-1991) and Music Director Laureate for a further 7 years until his passing (1991-1997) and is credited with greatly extending and building the Orchestra's reputation worldwide starting in 1971 with its first foreign tour. Solti s recordings garnered many international honours including 33 Grammy® awards (24 which were made with the CSO) more than ANY other recording artist to this day including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Trustees Award. Highlights include: Wagner s Die Meistersinger, the complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle, Mahler s Symphonies 2, 7, 8 & 9, the Bach Mass in B minor, and Berlioz La Damnation de Faust
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GSGGH1/?tag=2022091-20
Solti was born on October 21, 1912, in Budapest. He was the younger of the two children of Móricz ("Mor") Stern and his wife Teréz, née Rosenbaum, both of whom were Jewish.
Solti studied at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály.
He made his debut at the Budapest Opera in 1938. Because he was a Jew his activities were soon restricted, and he left Hungary in 1939. During World War II he conducted the Zürich Opera in Switzerland. Solti's U. S. debut came in 1953 at the San Francisco Opera. From 1961 to 1971 he was music director of Covent Garden in London. He also served as director of the Orchestre de Paris and of the Paris Opéra. In 1971 he became a British subject and in 1972 he was knighted. Solti made numerous recordings, none more renowned than his Wagner Ring cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic for London Records. In 1983 he received a three-year appointment as director of the world-famous Wagner Festival at Bayreuth. Solti died suddenly, in his sleep, on 5 September 1997 while on holiday in Antibes in the south of France.
(Sir Georg Solti was one of the twentieth century s most b...)
(October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and De...)
(October 21, 2012 marks Sir Georg Solti's centenary and De...)
(For years, admitted Sir Georg Solti to High Fidelity maga...)
Quotations:
"I made so many mistakes, but it was invaluable experience for an opera conductor. I learnt to swim with her. "
"Mozart makes you believe in God because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and leaves such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces. "
"Everyone says you have to be a specialist, and if you conduct Wagner you cannot conduct Mozart - this is nonsense. "
"I was born and trained to communicate music, just as the sons were born and trained to hunt, and I was lucky to have grown up in Hungary, a country that lives and breathes music-that has a passionate belief in the power of music as a celebration of life. "
Sir