Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy (Volume 7) (Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Series) - Softcover

Brusilow, Anshel; Underdahl, Robin

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9781574416466: Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy (Volume 7) (Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Series)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1574416464 ISBN 13: 9781574416466
Publisher: University of North Texas Press, 2016

Synopsis

Foreword Reviews 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Winner in Performing Arts & Music

Anshel Brusilow started playing violin in 1933 at age five, in a Russian Jewish neighborhood of Philadelphia where practicing your instrument was as ordinary as hanging out the laundry. His playing wasn’t ordinary, though. At sixteen, he was soloing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also studying conducting.
    Brusilow’s tumultuous relationships with Pierre Monteux, George Szell, and Eugene Ormandy shaped his early career. Under Szell, Brusilow was associate concertmaster at the Cleveland Orchestra until Ormandy snatched him away to make him concertmaster in Philadelphia, where he remained from 1959 to 1966. But he was unsatisfied with the violin. Even as concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he felt the violin didn’t give him enough of the music. He wanted to conduct. He formed chamber groups on the side; he conducted summer concerts of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The price was high: it ruined his father-son relationship with Ormandy. Brusilow turned in his violin bow for the baton and created his own Philadelphia Chamber Symphony. Next he took on the then-troubled Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Unhappy endings repeat themselves in his memoir—and yet humor dances constantly around the edges. Musicians need it.
    Brusilow played with or conducted many top-tier classical musicians and has something to say about each one. He also made many recordings. Co-written with Robin Underdahl, his memoir is a fascinating view of American classical music as well as an inspiring story of a working-class immigrant child making good in a tough arena.

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About the Author

After a long and distinguished career in music, ANSHEL BRUSILOW retired from conducting the Richardson Symphony enjoyed his remaining years with his family in Dallas. ROBIN UNDERDAHL holds an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and writes fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. 

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
University of North Texas Press
Publication date
2016
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1574416464
ISBN 13 
9781574416466
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
336
Rating
  • 4.42 out of 5 stars
    69 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781574416138: Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy (Volume 7) (Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Series)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1574416138 ISBN 13:  9781574416138
Publisher: University of North Texas Press, 2015
Hardcover