John Canarina – författare

Pierre Monteux became famous at the age of 38 for conducting the riotous world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris on May 29, 1913. The composer, fearing bodily harm, escaped through a backstage window, while the imperturbable conductor persisted, forever to be identified with the event. He would also conduct the first concert performance and one of the first two recordings of Stravinsky's masterpiece, the other one conducted by Stravinsky himself. Though French by birth, the distinctively portly man with the walrus mustache resisted being typecast as a French conductor. He could have been a European maestro: he played for Brahms, worked with Grieg, presided over the world premieres of major works by Ravel, Stravinsky and many others, was Diaghilev's conductor of choice. But it was Monteux's American audiences, especially in San Francisco and Boston, who would love him the most over the course of a long career. He conducted many American premieres, works of Debussy, Falla, Ravel, and among the more than a dozen Boston premieres, those of The Rite of Spring and of Mahler's First Symphony. Canarina, a conductor and teacher of conducting himself, studied with Monteux for seven summers and brings great personal warmth and understanding to this wise, admiring and honest book, the first full-length biography of the man whom so many knew and loved as “Maitre.”

The New York Philharmonic, from Bernstein to Maazel continues the story of America's oldest orchestra as told in Howard Shanet's Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra. That volume ended with the 1970-71 season, just before the arrival of Pierre Boulez as music director.Obviously, much has happened since. This book begins, however, with a retrospective account of the controversial last years of the tenure of Dimitri Mitropoulos and the ascendancy of Leonard Bernstein to the music directorship. Having been a Philharmonic assistant conductor during Bernstein's tenure, and an inveterate Philharmonic watcher ever since, the author brings some personal insights to the story as well as moments of humor.A sub-theme of the book concerns the way the Philharmonic and its music directors have been treated by the New York press, the Times in particular. Howard Taubman's attacks on Mitropoulos, Harold Schonberg's on Bernstein, and Donal Henahan's on Zubin Mehta are all covered here, as are the writings of various critics on those and other conductors, and on the orchestra itself.The New York Philharmonic is the only orchestra ever to undertake a foreign tour solely on the initiative of its musicians, without benefit or support from management. How this came about is chronicled, as are the opening of Lincoln Center, the Parks Concerts, Promenades, Prospective Encounters, Rug Concerts, tours, and, of course, the subscription seasons. John Canarina shows how the New York Philharmonic weathered extraordinary ups and downs during this period, while remaining a vital component of New York's cultural life.