# Opinion on Solti



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Some stuff I've seen people say about his conducting really surprises me, so let's see what everyone here thinks. What's your opinion?


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Great conductor. Aggressive, dynamic, exciting. Better in the theatre or concert hall than on record although he laid down some definitive studio work particularly with regard to Wagner, Strauss, Mahler and Bartok. IMHO of course. Discourse not expected or desired thanks.:lol: My temper needs no further shortening!


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I enjoy several recordings of Solti conducting, including works by Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Schoenberg, and Bartok.

I understand Solti made a pretty good recording of Wagner's _Der Ring des Nibelungen_, made in Vienna and produced by John Culshaw between 1958 and 1965.









I'll give that a quick listen (it consists of a mere 19 LP discs) and get back to you in an hour or so ....

Meanwhile, what I _really_ like about Solti are some of the fine photographs available of the man:





















Too, the conductor had an apparent knack for collecting Grammy Awards.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I think his interpretations tend to suffer because he wants to make everything into a loud, brazen orchestral showpiece. Bruckner, Mahler, and Beethoven are really so much more than that. But I've liked all I've heard of his opera and concerto accompanying. Oh, and I don't at all mind his Brahms cycle, especially his 2nd where his riproaring approach is perfectly suited to the finale.


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

I don't own a complete composer's cycle except Wagner's Ring of course. Of the recordings I have listened to, (Beethoven, Bruckner and I don't remember what else...) none of these would be my first choice. If I remember correctly, I have Verdi's Requiem (Decca) and I liked it.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I love his conducting. Some say he was too over-the-top or bombastic, but I don't see it that way. If anything, I think that is often a good thing. To me his conducting was potently emotional. Actually there are exceptions, and I don't think everything he conducted sounds high energy in that sort of way. But when he gets it right, it's so right, and others seem underwhelming in comparison.


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## Eclectic Al (Apr 23, 2020)

I absolutely love his disc of Haydn symphonies 93/99, and would buy the rest of his London set. The fact that they are not heavily discounted perhaps says something.

Liked his Mahler. Liked his Bartok. I don't think that I have a recording of his which I don't like.

All in all, a great guy.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

There are certain recordings of his I think are really good, his first Otello in Vienna, the Brahms cycle in Chicago, his Mozart operas if you like that style.

I'm not a fan of him in Wagner, Bruckner, Strauss or Mahler, and I can't think of any other repertoire where he'd come to mind..


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

Does anyone remember the 90's TV show "Orchestra" with Solti and Dudley Moore?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

In the old Covent Garden, the regulars used to say you could hear the Piccadilly Line passing underneath. Well I know this for a fact: when Solti was conducting Strauss's _Die Frau Ohne Schatten_ you could hear him playing the music from a carriage on the tube.

Things got much better at the opera house when Colin Davis took over.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

One of the All-Time Greats!! great conductor...
His live performances were wonderful events - there was an electricity, an excitement, an anticipation that you were about to hear something really cosmic....
I find him much in the same vein as Reiner, Toscanini - [that's top level in my book] - he always had a sense of the drama - the ebb and flow, the rising and falling action....combine this with a great ear for the detail, the balances - finding those little details in the score that expose the composer's genius....
He is sometimes criticized for being too much for the "big Moment" in music - but it works so well for me, that's what it's about....like Reiner and Toscanini, Solti always knew where the high points were in any concert, and in every work included in the concert...Solti loved the big stuff, but he also excelled at smaller scale works - his Haydn and Mozart are very excellent - vigorous, energetic, but beautifully phrased and presented.

the greatest concert I've ever heard was Solti with Chicago- March 1970 - Mahler Sym #5 in Carnegie Hall - a concert that has assumed a rather legendary status...incredible!! I had heard most all of the world's greatest orchestras by then, some numerous times - Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Berlin, Vienna, London, Amsterdam,etc....This was simply on a different level...
To preside over, and maintain that level of virtuoso ensemble for so many years is a tremendous feat. 
His autobiography "Memoirs" is a fine, enjoyable read - Solti has no hesitation in relating events that didn't go well, wrong decisions he made, how he learned thru his errors....quite refreshing, and in marked contrast to the self-serving, whiny litany of blame-placing and finger-pointing that one is subjected to with Leinsdorf's pathetic "Cadenza".....[<<_it was always somebody else's fault, they were ut to get me_>>]


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

re: Solti

Yes, he is good. Outstanding in Wagner, and the Wagnerian, late-Romantic repertoire, Richard Strauss, Mahler Bruckner; and also Bartok, Kodaly, and anything else made in Hungary (Solti's native land). Solti came late to Shostakovich, did not record the full symphonic cycle (only 5, 8, 9, 13 & 15), and gives Shostakovich the Mahler treatment, but is good there too.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

A Sir Georg Solti fan checking in!

He is my favourite conductor ever since I started listening to classical music! I enjoy his Beethoven cycle (1st cycle in 70ies) with CSO, Bruckner cycle/CSO, Mahler cycle/CSO and some Mahler symphs with LSO.
I saw him twice live in concert in Vienna, once with VPO in 1990 (shostakowich 9th and Beethoven 5th) and on tour with CSO in Vienna 1990 (Mahler 5th). These were among the greatest concerts I ever attended.
Many say he is “high voltage” and loud. I really don’t see it (hear it) that way. I think he was a great interpreter with a unique gift for picking up small details in scores.
Also, CSO and Solti were a match made in heaven! They complimented each other very well.

May Sir Georg rest in peace!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Coach G said:


> re: Solti
> 
> Solti came late to Shostakovich, did not record the full symphonic cycle (only 5, 8, 9, 13 & 15), and gives Shostakovich the Mahler treatment, but is good there too.


I heard Solti/CSO perform Shost #8 in Boston Sym Hall - really great, cosmic!! It was even better than their fine live recorded, commercially released disc [that's awesome, too] In Boston, the great buildup, crescendo in the first movement was overpowering, ear-shattering...
Solti recorded Shost #9 with VPO, but also with his Carnegie Hall project - with some Big league All-Stars and gifted students....it's a great 9th, rivals the Kurtz/NYPO classic...


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Love it, another very big fan, I like his approach, I've seen him a few times and always unforgettable.
He was always honest about singers also special in his recordings.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

I acknowledge Solti as a good conductor, but I admire Reiner far above Solti. That is why I feel some resentment toward Solti, who egomaniacally insisted that he made the CSO into a great orchestra, when it was actually Reiner IMO. I’m not able fully to ignore personal feelings toward an artist when experiencing their art, I’m afraid. Thus I have experienced very little of Solti’s work, which is my unfortunate loss I’m sure.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Simplicissimus said:


> I acknowledge Solti as a good conductor, but I admire Reiner far above Solti. That is why I feel some resentment toward Solti, who egomaniacally insisted that he made the CSO into a great orchestra, when it was actually Reiner IMO. I'm not able fully to ignore personal feelings toward an artist when experiencing their art, I'm afraid. Thus I have experienced very little of Solti's work, which is my unfortunate loss I'm sure.


I've never heard or read that Solti claimed that he made Chicago into a great orchestra....he knew it already was, having guest conducted.
The orchestra did endure a stormy period prior to his tenure, with Martinon (who was a very fine conductor)...Martinon ran into problems with the critics (Cloddia Cassidy) and with orchestra personnel (Peck/Still)....and Solti did resolve these issues,but they were essentially extra-musical....when Solti took over, he gained an orchestra that was filled with Reiner's personnel. It was already a truly great ensemble.
Solti did increase the orchestra's international reputation, thru very successful tours, and many,many Grammy awards....the CSO was scheduled for a European tour in the late 50s with Reiner, but it was cancelled for a variety of complications.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I forgot mention Solti's outstanding recording of Schoenberg's _Moses Und Aron_.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Simplicissimus said:


> I acknowledge Solti as a good conductor, but I admire Reiner far above Solti. That is why I feel some resentment toward Solti, who egomaniacally insisted that he made the CSO into a great orchestra, when it was actually Reiner IMO. I'm not able fully to ignore personal feelings toward an artist when experiencing their art, I'm afraid. Thus I have experienced very little of Solti's work, which is my unfortunate loss I'm sure.





Heck148 said:


> I've never heard or read that Solti claimed that he made Chicago into a great orchestra....he knew it already was, having guest conducted.
> The orchestra did endure a stormy period prior to his tenure, with Martinon (who was a very fine conductor)...Martinon ran into problems with the critics (Cloddia Cassidy) and with orchestra personnel (Peck/Still)....and Solti did resolve these issues,but they were essentially extra-musical....when Solti took over, he gained an orchestra that was filled with Reiner's personnel. It was already a truly great ensemble.
> Solti did increase the orchestra's international reputation, thru very successful tours, and many,many Grammy awards....the CSO was scheduled for a European tour in the late 50s with Reiner, but it was cancelled for a variety of complications.


Indeed I'm curious. Where might one have heard that Solti made such a statement? I don't think I've ever heard about this before.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

When looking for opera recordings Solti is my first choice - if he did it. His years of experience in the pit gave him an understanding of how to move music along and the drama necessary. His Verdi, Strauss, Humperdinck, Wagner are all excellent. (Oddly though, I prefer Karajan's Ring.) His orchestral recordings can be excellent - I just prefer others. I know people who played under him - they say his nickname "The Screaming Skull" was well deserved. He's also one of those conductors who managed to ascend to greatness despite having a horrible baton technique. I still have the Time magazine with him of the cover: The Fastest Baton in the West. I only got to hear him live once, and it was a great concert.


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## Ned Low (Jul 29, 2020)

I have his Mahler, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky( all with CSO), his Mozart operas, his Beethoven symphony cycle( Decca). I also have some of his Wagner recordings : his Meistersinger, Parsifal, Lohengrin. I also have his Ring( unfortunately only the first two acts are complete. I managed to get excerpts from the last two acts). However, i've only listened to his Tannhauser( on Spotify) and his Die Walkure. So i don't think i'm able to vote right now as i'm partial to these recordings of his prolific career.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Sometimes it feels as if people are just trying to stir up a controversy, when none exists. I suppose there is wide-spread boredom with this ongoing COVID pandemic.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

I know his Romantic repertoire is controversial, but I love his Bartok and Stravinsky. I have a lot of his recordings of their works and they are some of my favorites.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I have no opinion on Solti's conducting. I am to musically dumb to comment on that. What I do know is that I have a number of Solti recordings of various operas and symphonies and generally don't care for them as much as other recordings by other conductors. As such I tend to steer away from Solti recordings. A similar effect happens for me with Karajan.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

adriesba said:


> Indeed I'm curious. Where might one have heard that Solti made such a statement? I don't think I've ever heard about this before.


I was born and raised in the Chicago area and my parents followed the CSO closely during the Reiner, Martinon, and Solti years. I became musically aware during the Martinon years (when Ozawa was directing the Ravinia Festival during the summers). There's a lot of background that one picks up over a lifetime that forms one's understanding and opinions. I'm sure I'm not the only Chicagoan of my generation who has the perception of Solti that I mentioned, which I believe has at least some basis in things he said, but I make no claim of ultimate objectivity or accuracy. I can only report on a personal level and hope that it might be interesting.

Some people who really respected Reiner and liked his musical sensibilities (that would definitely be my family) became big fans of Martinon (my family again). We were offended when there was a lot of kicking against Martinon, not only by the _Chicago Tribune_'s Claudia Cassidy, but by some musicians and patrons of the CSO. Solti came in and managed to clear things up, for which he received hero treatment from many. He obviously loved this and played it up (as I guess most people would). What some Reiner/Martinon fans perceived as as egoism combined with his relatively bombastic conducting style (compared to most of Reiner and certainly the nuanced Martinon) and just rubbed them the wrong way. They voiced this sentiment in cocktail party and after-concert conversation even though Solti's success in making the CSO profitable and more well known abroad was undeniable, and the musicians prospered and seemed to like him. To be fair, there wasn't much to complain about except that he wasn't Reiner or Martinon. Still, there remained a sense among some people that his success was more inherited than earned, and that his musical sensibility lacked a certain fineness and subtlety that characterized Reiner's and Martinon's.

Maybe there isn't much to this, or you just had to be there in order to understand what I'm saying. But it happens that I own almost all recordings made by Reiner and Martinon with the CSO, and not a single one of Solti's.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Simplicissimus said:


> I acknowledge Solti as a good conductor, but I admire Reiner far above Solti. That is why I feel some resentment toward Solti, who egomaniacally insisted that he made the CSO into a great orchestra, when it was actually Reiner IMO. I'm not able fully to ignore personal feelings toward an artist when experiencing their art, I'm afraid. Thus I have experienced very little of Solti's work, which is my unfortunate loss I'm sure.


I heard the opposite!
Solti praised Rainer for giving CSO their sound quality!

Listen to this interview with William Mann


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Axter said:


> I heard the opposite!
> Solti praised Rainer for giving CSO their sound quality!


Right, the Reiner sound, and performance standard has persisted for many decades....new musicians are trained in this style thru education and feeder programs - Chicago Civic Orchestra.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

For someone with the reputation for Mahler and Wagner, it's his Mozart that I hear most often. He seems to made some accomodation with the universe late in life that made for Cosi, Flute, Le Nozze recordings that I think are unequaled. A late Missa Solemnis in Berlin, to me the best. The Falstaff with Van Dam, glorious.
I only heard him once, Mozart Adagio and Fugue, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Tchaikovsky 6. Lost a layer of skin with the latter.
That Chicago sound has to be heard to be believed, and it's so different than usually characterized. There was every layer of quality, skill, color, but the power was what they had that was incomparable, and that counts. When they were still sort of "his" orchestra I heard a Carnegie Tchaikovsky 5th, thought I'd turn around and see that the back wall of the hall had moved. Not loud-- powerful. Other orchestras try that and fail. The Vienna Philharmonic can do many things, but in hearing them the last few years my impression is that they want to be LOUD and they succeed, but it's not attractive. For the CSO it's not for naught that we also remember Donald Peck, Farkas and Clevenger, Ray Still. Herseth in a class of his own.
I read the interview, don't know where, in which he acknowledged that his role in their rise to fame was in engineering the rise to fame, not in making them the great orchestra they were.
Kind of a "those were the days" thought. I get nothing from Muti, caution, reserve, lack of involvement. When I saw him conduct Bruckner in Vienna he just gave the VPO their head, and as above, it was just LOUD. Which I think he wouldn't have tolerated in Chicago. A strange phenomenon, redux with Welser-Moest, LOUD Bruckner in Vienna, finesse and control in Cleveland. What is that?
Another fascinating thing from a Solti interview, when talking about tempi, he described his conversation with Richard Strauss and understanding the conversational nature of the tempo. Very telling.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

JAS said:


> Sometimes it feels as if people are just trying to stir up a controversy, when none exists. I suppose there is wide-spread boredom with this ongoing COVID pandemic.


What is this in response to? I'm confused.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Maybe the most opportunistic conductor of the 20th century alongside Karajan.

He was a skilled technician, and he knew how to make a lot of the exciting moments. But otherwise his readings could sound stale for long periods in between the loud parts, and I don’t look to his interpretations for anything revelatory.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Again, another conductor who's made fine recordings of some repertoire but not others
Love his Brahms cycle in particular, admire his first Beethoven cycle and Schumann (underrated) set, but less than enamoured with some of his Mahler and Bruckner. There are other fine performances by him but off the top of my head I'm too troubled by intense toothache to give examples.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

mparta said:


> .....
> That Chicago sound has to be heard to be believed, and it's so different than usually characterized. There was every layer of quality, skill, color, but the power was what they had that was incomparable, and that counts. When they were still sort of "his" orchestra I heard a Carnegie Tchaikovsky 5th, thought I'd turn around and see that the back wall of the hall had moved. Not loud-- powerful. Other orchestras try that and fail. The Vienna Philharmonic can do many things, but in hearing them the last few years my impression is that they want to be LOUD and they succeed, but it's not attractive. For the CSO it's not for naught that we also remember Donald Peck, Farkas and Clevenger, Ray Still. Herseth in a class of his own.
> I read the interview, don't know where, in which he acknowledged that his role in their rise to fame was in engineering the rise to fame, not in making them the great orchestra they were.


The dynamic range of CSO has been astounding since the Reiner days....extremely soft to shatteringly loud in a microsecond....
The depth in the winds and brass is incredible, and this produces that full unique sound....in a Bruckner fortissimo, you can hear all the pitches - the inner voices don't cover the top, or melody, but they are there very powerfully....the louds, under Solti, were unbelievable....so many times in live performance, the sonority was truly astounding-
The conclusion of Mahler 5, the big climax in Shost #8/I, Ein Heldeleben, Bruckner 7, etc....
At Carnegie Hall, after a stirring Ein Heldenleben performance, Solti offered up an encore- Berlioz "Rakocsy March" - all of the extra brass players employed in the Strauss partook in the encore - 5 trumpets, at least 4 trombones, a million horns (9 at least).....amazing sound, powerful, incredibly loud...if you set nails in the back wall of Carnegie, they would have been pounded in by the sonic power!! If you can acquire Solti/CSO Bruckner 8 live/Leningrad '90 - you can get the idea- I think it's the biggest, fullest brass sound I've ever heard on recording...amazing somority.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

adriesba said:


> What is this in response to? I'm confused.


In this case, the idea that one must make some choice between Reiner or Solti. (One person seems mostly upset because Martinon did not ultimately get the position.)


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I've always been a huge Solti fan, but I'm a fan of so many other conductors past and present such as Furtwangler, Karajan, Bohm, Klemoerer, Knappertsbusch, Walter, Kubelik, Kempe, Abbado, Maazel,Mehta, Muti and others . 
You don't necessarily have to admire one conductor and hate or just dislike another ; admiring vastly different conductors is not at all mutually exclusive . 
If anything, I think Solti has been rather underrated . I've never agreed with those who dismiss his conducting as being merely, "loud, aggressive, insensitive , superficial " and other negative terms . 
You can disagree with his interpretation of any given opera or orchestral work, but you can never accuse him of being superficial . He studied scores as thoroughly as any conductor who ever lived ,
analyzed them carefully and thought long and hard about how they should be interpreted . 
When Sir Michael Tippett met with him to discuss the upcoming world premiere of his fourth symphony, which Solti and the CSO recorded not long after the live premiere and the two discussed issues and details of interpretation and orchestration etc , Tippett called him "the most completely professional conductor he had ever worked with ". 
Solti asked him numerous questions about the music and made many suggestions Tippett thought made a lot of sense . 
While I have a lot of admiration for legendary conductors of the music of Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Richard Strauss , Bartok, Liszt and other composers , I feel Solti holds his own among them . 
He brought enormous passion , sweep and vivid colors to the operas of Wagner and Richard Strauss . His Bartok has breathtaking swagger and is 100 % echo Hungarian in flavor . 
His Mahler is never sentimentalized and brings out the positive emotions in his music ; the optimistic side of Mahler is emphasized rather than the pessimistic in his music , but no one has ever recorded a more devastating account of the agonizing finale of the sixth symphony , and no one has ever captured the eerie nocturnal atmosphere of the 7th or brought so much sheer verve and exultation to the exuberant finale . 
Solti is also an underrated Bruckner conductor IMHO . His direct, unfussy approach to Bruckner avoids the excessive slowness of some conductors , including a famous Romanian exact contemporary who shall go unnamed . Solti never turned any Bruckner symphony into "four slow movements ". Yet Solti never robbed the symphonies of their grandeur and expansiveness . 
Solti was also a wonderful conductor of Elgar . There was no stuffiness , pomposity and reverent sentimentality in his Elgar. He realized that Elgar's music is often passionate and sweeping . 
He conducted Elgar as thought it were Mahler, and this approach works for me at least . 
With Toscanini, you often get the feeling he is trying to show how scrupulously faithful he is being to "the composer's intentions " ( whatever those are ) and trying to show you this in a kind of in your face manner . 
With Stokowski , you often get the feeling he is trying to say "look how brilliant my interpretation is " and look how I am showing off my own unique personal approach to the music. I find this kind of self-consciousness in the work of both of these legendary polar opposites , often, but not always . 
But I've never found this in Solti's conducting . In his interpretations he seems to be saying "Look what wonderful music is, and how much he enjoys conducting it .


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Super horn- excellent posting, with some very astute observations, esp about Solti's Mahler, Bruckner and Elgar...that Mahler 6 is a real gut-ripper, the finale simply crushing...nothing like it...he does move Bruckner along, it never gets chopped-up, or episodic...always a good flow...he definitely had a knack for the big drama works, the orchestral blockbusters...he thrived on them.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Great post by superhorn! Enjoyed reading and also agree with you on Soltis’s unique approach to Mahler and Bruckner, also I would like to add Beethoven. He got the right balance between aggressiveness and passionate side of Beethoven’s symphonies. Never exaggerated in one aspect, the 70ies cycles with CSO are my fav. Beethoven symph recordings.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

He was athletic.


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## SteveDavidMarlow (Aug 6, 2020)

I've long been a fan of Solti, especially for Wagner Ring, Mahler's 1st and Elgar's second. I think his bold style of musical interpretation is probably a bit out of fashion, which is a pity in my view. Can anyone suggest a current conductor who is similar?


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