SUPER CONDUCTOR
Thanks to reader Mark Ringer for correcting Mark Swed’s arithmetic in the article “Beethoven in Toto” (Jan. 25).
Legendary conductor Arthur Nikisch was indeed born in 1855, which is 28, not 23, years after Beethoven’s death in 1827. However, Swed’s statement that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was “still fresh music” when Nikisch recorded it in 1913 is correct but quite irrelevant. This work will always be fresh music when it is played by a fine orchestra under the direction of a great conductor.
It is unfortunate that this early recording is such a poor reflection of what a concert conducted by Nikisch must have been like. My mother, who was the daughter of Arthur Nikisch, would remark with dismay that she could not hear the timpani. Others, like conductor Eugene Ormandy, told me how much they valued this recording.
One should recognize its historical importance. But like Leonardo’s “Last Supper,” it can only be a pale reflection of the original.
ANDREW SCHINDLER
La Mirada
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