Serge Koussevitzky And The Boston Symphony Rehearse The Music Of Bruckner – 1949 – Past Daily Weekend Gallimaufry
Koussevitzky rehearses Bruckner’s 7th.
Click on the link here for Audio Player – Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky, Conductor – rehearse Bruckner: Symphony Nr. 7 – April 18, 1949 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
Continuing the series of Boston Symphony rehearsal broadcasts. This one features the Boston Symphony under their then-music Director Serge Koussevitzky in a rehearsal of the Symphony Number 7 of Anton Bruckner.
It’s too bad Koussevitzky never made a commercial recording of this symphony. But at the time, Bruckner wasn’t an easy tackle for a record company. RCA-Victor was still selling 78’s and getting ready to introduce 45’s. And since the majority of symphonies of Anton Bruckner were long, he would have been a hard sell to a public not all that familiar with him. Columbia, on the other hand, was getting ready to introduce the lp to the record buying public. By 1951 there were several different versions of most of the Bruckner symphonies, but by that time, Serge Koussevizky had already passed away.
Still, here’s an opportunity to hear the legendary Koussevitzky in rehearsal of Bruckner’s Symphony Number 7 – as broadcast by NBC Radio and narrated (to the point of distraction) by music critic Olin Downes. It was originally aired on April 18, 1949.
More next week.
