Sir Georg Solti – In the midst of battle

Synopsis

"The last of the great international orchestral and operatic maestri" (The Times), Sir Georg Solti was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937, Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the war, Solti was asked by the American military government to conduct a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio in Munich. This led to his appointment as Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. In 1952 he became Artistic and Music Director at the Frankfurt Opera, where he remained for ten years. The next station in his career was the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he was Music Director from 1961 to 1971 and was named Music Director Laureate in 1992. He served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 to 1984. Solti's remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra began in 1954, when he first led the orchestra at the Ravinia Festival. After returning to conduct the ensemble several times during the following years, he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra's worldwide reputation. Solti died in September 1997 shortly before his 85th birthday. Unitel is proud to offer a number of Strauss masterpieces recorded under the maestro's baton. Topping the list is an Otto Schenk production of "Arabella" with the Vienna Philharmonic, starring Gundula Janowitz, Edita Gruberova, Bernd Weikl and René Kollo. Lucia Popp gives an absorbing account of the "Four Last Songs" in a concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra which also features "Tod und Verklärung" and "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks". Solti has recorded many works for Unitel, including music by his compatriots Bartók ("Duke Bluebeard's Castle"), Kodály, Liszt, and Weiner; by Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner (Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7), Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Schubert (Symphonies Nos. 6 and 8), Shostakovich (Symphony No. 1), Verdi ("Falstaff") and Wagner. Also available is a fascinating portrait of the artist, "Sir Georg Solti, Conductor – A Portrait", with the participation of Isaac Stern, Hildegard Behrens, Wolfgang Wagner, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Additional Info

• No: A05507212
• Conductor: Georg Solti
• Production year: 1997
• Run time: 00:08:00
• Director: Christoph Engel
• Producers: Unitel
• Format: Normal