George Szell is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest conductors.
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35 Facts About George Szell
2.
George Szell is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made in Cleveland and with other orchestras.
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3.
George Szell's family was of Jewish origin but converted to Catholicism.
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4.
George Szell began his formal music training as a pianist, studying with Richard Robert.
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6.
George Szell quickly realized that he was never going to make a career out of being a composer or pianist, and that he much preferred the artistic control he could achieve as a conductor.
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7.
George Szell made an unplanned public conducting debut when he was seventeen, while vacationing with his family at a summer resort.
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8.
George Szell ended up conducting part of the world premiere recording of Don Juan for Strauss.
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9.
Since the recording session was already paid for, and only George Szell was there, George Szell conducted the first half of the recording.
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10.
Strauss arrived as George Szell was finishing conducting the second part; he exclaimed that what he heard was so good that it could go out under his own name.
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11.
Strauss went on to record the last two parts, leaving the George Szell-conducted half as part of the full world premiere recording of Don Juan.
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12.
George Szell credited Strauss as being a major influence on his conducting style.
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13.
At the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, George Szell was returning via the US from an Australian tour; he ended up settling with his family in New York City.
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14.
George Szell expected technical perfection and total commitment from musicians during rehearsals and performances.
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15.
George Szell's standards were stringent, his goals lofty: He was singularly focused on elevating the Orchestra to new levels of excellence.
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16.
Not long into his tenure, George Szell began making guest appearances in other cities, especially New York, and the Orchestra steadily gained a reputation as one of the world's leading ensembles.
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17.
Around the same time, George Szell determined that the Orchestra needed to embark on its first international tour if it hoped to keep pace with other major symphonies.
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18.
George Szell meticulously prepared for rehearsals and could play the entire score on the piano from memory.
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19.
Preoccupied with phrasing, transparency, balance and architecture, George Szell insisted upon hitherto unheard-of rhythmic discipline from his players.
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20.
Video footage shows that George Szell took care to explain what he wanted and why, expressed delight when the orchestra produced what he was aiming for, and avoided over-rehearsing parts that were in good shape.
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21.
George Szell's left hand, which he used to shape each sound, was often called the most graceful in music.
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22.
George Szell has been described as a "literalist", playing only what is in the score.
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23.
However, George Szell was quite prepared to play music in unconventional ways if he thought the music needed these; and, like most other conductors before and since, he made many small modifications to orchestrations and even notes in the works of Beethoven, Schubert and others.
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24.
Cloyd Duff, timpanist with the Cleveland Orchestra, once recalled how George Szell had insisted that he play the snare drum part in Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, an instrument which he was not supposed to play.
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25.
George Szell had begun getting increasingly irritated about the side drum part in the second movement and by the time they reached New York City, George Szell's escalation was going off the scale.
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26.
George Szell made them so nervous that, one by one, they all stumbled.
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27.
George Szell said, "I want you to play the part, " and I really blew my lid.
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28.
George Szell called me in once when we were playing an octave in Don Juan.
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30.
George Szell helped initiate the Cleveland Orchestra's long association with the composer-conductor Pierre Boulez.
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32.
George Szell regularly refused the services of the orchestra's chauffeur and drove his own Cadillac to rehearsal until almost the end of his life.
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33.
George Szell's body was cremated, and his ashes were buried, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, along with his wife upon her death in 1991.
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34.
George Szell made recordings with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra.
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35.
Many live stereo recordings of repertoire George Szell never conducted in the studio exist, both with the Cleveland Orchestra and other orchestras.
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