Sir Thomas Beecham interview with Peter Brook

[@rmtorig]

When i was at Aspen in 1967 for the whole 9 weeks studying with Harry Schulman i backed into making batons for conductors. among them were Lenard Slatkin and 80 % of the conducting class at Aspen. Sir Thomas was to me the consummate conductor he let his orchestra play I experienced the type of conductors he described in his interview that would stop every few bars and intimidate the orchestra I made batons for Verner Torkanowsky he was the same great artist at letting the orchestra play !!! when I was at LSU studying with Earnest Harrison one of Marcel Tabuteau’s finest pupils I had the honor of making batons for Victor Klimash who was also of the same philosophy of letting the Orchestra play. He was an artist.

[@jefolson6989]

Did you make batons for Scrowashevski? He liked them short.

[@sarahbeecham6209]

bombastic and brilliant! I had no idea that Peter Brook had interviewed Uncle Tom....

[@antoniboleslawowicz8095]

Beecham was unique. Nobody can deny that! The way he handed out pronouncements was just as idiosyncratic as the way he made music -- not with politesse, but with everything he had. This film dates from 1958, near the end of his life……but still in process, or yet to be done, were some most exceptional recordings: the reorchestrated Messiah of Handel, the Beethoven Mass in C -- glorious things, just to name two. And I think there were a few stereophonic Delius items from those last years. Who was it that said “the art of Beecham remains one of the most precious discoveries of our time”? That’s from the truer words were never spoken department!

[@AfroPoli]

Delightful. We need men like him in times of political correctness and the *resulting* mediocrity. Create something to argue about and - argue, debate, create. Don't sit in your armchair and be happy that all is perfectly correct. That's the ideal of the bourgeois and the pensioner. In other words: the death of art. Bah!

[@johnschlesinger2009]

He let them play, and they played wonderfully. Beautiful ensemble.

[@MrGer2295]

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

[@adityapurohit8232]

Many Happy Returns of The Day Maestro

[@MrMayAllDay]

A bit of a humbug himself 🤣 Though, he makes some great points and his control of the ensemble is extraordinary.

[@chrish12345]

back in the day when some character was allowed

[@magmasunburst9331]

That's because men had ruled for history and had experience. Now women rule and have no experience.

[@pianopera]

STB: "Look here, in nothing, no profession, no occupation in the world (except psychiatrists) are there so many prigs and humbugs and intellectual scallywags as there are in the unfortunate industry, craft and art of music." PB: (nervous laughter) That was in 1958. How would Sir Thomas assess the current situation in the year 2016?

[@alexkije]

I'd like to be a prig. Sounds cool.

[@pauldavies6037]

@@alexkije The Punk on the podium God bless him !

[@CLASSICALFAN100]

@@alexkije "Prig" isn't used much any more. It's been replaced by "Nerd" (they act the same way)...

[@jimmyj6209]

@@CLASSICALFAN100 'Know it all' more like, especially these 'Opera Critics'

[@Goetterdaemmerung86]

Love it, STB would be spinning in his grave so bloody fast that any energy crisis permeating the world would end immediately

[@scottweaverphotovideo]

How incomparable he was!

[@jimmyj6209]

10:08 When you come to face the orchestra, signs are not very much, facial expression is immense. The face of the eyes are everything, but more than that there is a link between an intelligent player and a first class orchestra, which after all, this...uh orchestra is.

[@jimmyj6209]

13:02 There's only one way to conduct an orchestral piece...

[@jimmyj6209]

!4:40 Jazz, what is it? Worn out old thing, it's already 50 years behind the times.

[@khaartoumletstalk9037]

@@jimmyj6209 I heard that too. Amazing! ; ) K

[@Hobert-v4s]

Beechum kept a tight ship with his orchestra!!

[@egaf77]

The interwiev at 8:38 is so funny that I have never heard anything like this!!!

[@TheVaughan5]

Not surprising really as Sir Thomas Beecham was a unique character in the world of music. It's amusing just how many second rate musicians take themselves so seriously yet we have Sir Thomas, undisputed top of his profession, quick witted, straight to the point and not afraid to admit he was in a class of his own - priceless!

[@rolandshalala]

Carried away? I'm never carried away. Your carried away.

[@garryhumphreys3054]

Thanks for posting. Several clips are familiar (the excoriation of young conductors, the 'Samson' exchange with George Brownfoot, etc.) but I'd not previously seen the whole programme. Very good - though Peter Brook does ask some odd questions!

[@Hobert-v4s]

Nice he preseved deliuse,s music!!

[@andreaguarino8207]

Is it the socalled "received pronunciation"?

[@phillipecook3227]

I wonder if he laughed or shuddered inwardly when he accepted that date at Lincoln's Inn given the amount of time ( and money) he spent dealing with lawyers, judges and QCs throughout his lifetime.

[@Hobert-v4s]

8:31

[@RayJorg]

14:18 Back then, an a most American form of cussing.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

What's the piece after the interview?

[@allenwilliams1306]

Gounod Faust (Ballet Music)

[@slidemaster]

And in the 50 years since Beecham shared his advice about younger conductors, have any learned anything?!? Not in my experience!!

[@TheVaughan5]

In general I agree with you, however there are some young conductors who show genuine talent and musicality. For instance, James Gaffigan, from what I've heard so far, has I think the making of a genuinely great conductor.

[@scabbycatcat4202]

Always a bit suspicious when " great conductors " have corresponding great charismas also. Is it their talent that has given them success or their charisma ? I once met Vasily Petrenko on the Liverpool underground and chatted with him for about 15 mins. It was clear he had great presence and seemed to have a whole haze of authority about him. He was always destined for " high office " !!

[@RobertJonesWightpaint]

They don't make 'em like that any more. Perhaps they never really did - he was a one-off.

[@ragadolls]

Mozart, Delius, Strauss and Elgar...Recordings of Elgar? He made one, but was not a fan. What about Sibelius?

[@douglasmurphy9127]

sibelius first symphony on mono columbia and he did tapiola on a mono rca too that i know of

[@bbailey7818]

Beecham conducted and recorded most of the major works of Sibelius. Oddly, he neglected the 5th symphony.

[@johnllewlyndavies222]

Delius.

[@dnstone1127]

Shame he did'nt live little bit longer to see the Beatles or psychodelic rock.

[@swimmad456]

He was undoubtedly a great conductor but of Elgar? Never.

[@paperprincess1050]

What an up himself pompous drip

[@albertclemente8739]

"Jazz was born dead... all this club music". Like the one Bach, Brahms and so on played. What a "deep music understanding" XDXD

[@dabedwards]

Sixty years ago, and how differently we spoke and thought! At 7.45, patronizing, sexist, faintly racist....all with the best intentions. He may have been a great conductor, but what a narcissistic old humbug Beecham was!

[@openmusic3904]

Funnily enough, I think she was more concerned with studying and enjoying her time at an English university to care about the about the largely innocuous comments of a narrator.