On Kubelik

Over at the Horizon blog, Benjamin Ivry, whose music posts are always interesting, discusses a new DVD documentary about Rafael Kubelik. It reminded me of a Chicago Symphony concert I heard in a radio broadcast some years ago. It was the orchestra's 100th anniversary, and several conductors, Solti and Barenboim, were on hand to lead a recreation of the CSO's first concert. What I remember is that things sounded somewhat adequate but unspectacular, and then Kubelik took the podium to conduct Dvorak's Husitská Overture--and I have rarely heard such a full, deep and rich sound from an orchestra.