Klarinet Archive - Posting 000118.txt from 2003/05
From: Kenneth Wolman <kenneth.wolman@-----.net> Subj: [kl] Foss up close (was Re: [kl] Richard Stolzman's recital) Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 15:33:07 -0400
At 02:56 PM 5/6/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Vintage Foss. I had the privilege of meeting him and listening to him in
>a gathering with Walter Piston, Gennady Rhozdestvensky and Dmitri
>Rostropovich after a concert in 1967. I was 19 and Foss thought it great
>that young musicians were there. I think that he would be a stimulating
>teacher.
In 1969, my first year up at the university in Binghamton, NY, Lukas Foss
showed up to conduct a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic, of which he
was then the Music Director. There's something about hearing Le Sacre du
Printemps--a work he introduced to Buffalo--in a gymnasium, with those
resonances that you get nowhere else. No kidding, the BPO just about blew
us out of our seats. I don't remember the substance of what Foss said
after all these years, but he was a major talker a la Leonard
Bernstein. Because he was working to a college audience, many of whom had
little or no familiarity with "classical" music, I suppose he felt
obligated to run on a bit explaining stuff.
I don't even remember what else was on the program, but I'll never forget
the way he conducted Stravinsky.
Interesting to see now that the Music Director is JoAnn Falletta. Yes, a
woman leading a major regional orchestra. According to the BPO's website,
she's one of only three women leading major American orchestras. And
following in a line in Buffalo that includes not only Foss but Michael
Tilson Thomas, Julius Rudel, and Semyon Bychkov. Not bad company to be in.
Ken
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