From world premieres with Leonard Bernstein to a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration with Frank Sinatra at Madison Square Garden, Splendid Encounters offers a glimpse into two of the century's most exciting decades of classical music. Renowned choral conductor Abraham Kaplan provides a fascinating look at his association with more than forty talented musicians who touched his life with their genius and accomplishments. In some instances, Kaplan crossed paths with these musicians momentarily, and in other cases, he had the privilege of working intimately with some of the world's great maestros. In all, Kaplan collaborated with twenty-eight world-renowned conductors, nine internationally famous composers, and other celebrated personalities-from William Schuman to Igor Stravinsky and Vincent Persichetti-whose vignettes are delivered in this compilation. Splendid Encounters, stories of great musicians told by a great musician and storyteller, is both infectious and inspirational, and demonstrates that these legendary musicians are indeed real human beings. This music biography revives the living, breathing experiences of a generation of musical legends who should not be forgotten.

Splendid Encounters

Memoirs of Collaborations, Interactions, and Conversations with Many of the Most Celebrated Musicians of the Twentieth CenturyBy ABRAHAM KAPLAN Dafna (Kaplan) Zilafro

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Camerata Singers, Inc.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-3200-1

Contents

PREFACE..........................................................................................ixINTRODUCTION.....................................................................................xiChapter 1. William Schuman.......................................................................1Chapter 2. Vincent Persichetti...................................................................7Chapter 3. Leonard Bernstein.....................................................................10Chapter 4. Frank Sinatra.........................................................................31Chapter 5. Igor Stravinsky.......................................................................34Chapter 6. Aaron Copland.........................................................................40Chapter 7. Pierre Boulez.........................................................................42Chapter 8. Ernest & Suzanne Bloch................................................................45Chapter 9. Seiji Ozawa...........................................................................48Chapter 10. Leopold Stokowski....................................................................50Chapter 11. Alfred Wallenstein...................................................................53Chapter 12. Rafael Kubelik.......................................................................56Chapter 13. Darius Milhaud.......................................................................57Chapter 14. George Szell.........................................................................60Chapter 15. Skitch Henderson.....................................................................63Chapter 16. Thomas Schippers.....................................................................66Chapter 17. Neville Marriner.....................................................................68Chapter 18. Josef Krips..........................................................................71Chapter 19. Marian Anderson & Frank Miller.......................................................75Chapter 20. Zoltn Kodly........................................................................78Chapter 21. Gerard Schwarz.......................................................................82Chapter 22. Robert Starer........................................................................84Chapter 23. Gershon Kingsley.....................................................................87Chapter 24. Jan Pierce...........................................................................89Chapter 25. William Steinberg....................................................................92Chapter 26. Charles Munch........................................................................94Chapter 27. Kurt Adler...........................................................................96Chapter 28. Martina Arroyo.......................................................................100Chapter 29. Hans Rehfuss.........................................................................101Chapter 30. Carlo Maria Giulini..................................................................103Chapter 31. Zubin Mehta..........................................................................105Chapter 32. Joseph Szigeti.......................................................................106Chapter 33. Randall Thompson.....................................................................108Chapter 34. Lukas Foss...........................................................................109Chapter 35. Madeline Marshall....................................................................110Chapter 36. Claudio Abbado.......................................................................113Chapter 37. Beverly Sills........................................................................114Chapter 38. Karl Haas............................................................................116Chapter 39. Georg Solti..........................................................................119Chapter 40. Erich Leinsdorf......................................................................121Chapter 41. Shlomo Kaplan........................................................................123ADDENDUM: What Does a Conductor (Maestro) Do ... And Who the Hell Needs Him?.....................129ABOUT THE AUTHOR.................................................................................137

Chapter One

WILLIAM SCHUMAN

If I could describe Schuman in a phrase, I would say that he was the quintessential American composer-and he would have liked to be described as such.

I met him when I came to Juilliard as a student. I took the Juilliard entrance exam in theory and conducting after graduating from the Israeli Conservatory in Jerusalem. The people who examined me in theory said, "Well, we could pass you to the graduate school, but you know our president, William Schuman, has instituted a new undergraduate program in theory that is different from other conservatory programs. We call it "L & M: Literature & Materials of Music." Now of course, you have already learned in the traditional way, but would you be interested (they noticed that I loved theory) in taking the last year of undergraduate before you move on to graduate school?" I said I would love to, as I was interested in learning a new way. So I went to a class taught by Peter Mennin (who later became the President of Juilliard). The students in the class had already studied theory at other conservatories or with other traditional Juilliard teachers. Mennin wanted to do a survey to find out what everyone knew, so he asked all sorts of specific questions, like "what is a Neapolitan sixth chord?" A few people raised their hands and started philosophizing about their answers. He had a suspicion that they probably didn't know what chord he was asking about. So he asked, "Can anyone spell" the Neapolitan sixth chord in C major?" Up until then I hadn't said anything. Of all these people, nobody raised his or her hand. So I went ahead and spelled it. A few other incidents transpired like this, where students knew the general idea, but the hard facts were not understood. So a few weeks into this class, I noticed that there seemed to be holes in most of the students' education.

Schuman had a wonderful ritual as president. After a few months into every year, he would meet with all of the new students that year, and listen to their questions and comments personally. Very often those who came from other countries had wonderful talents and perspectives to share, but were intimidated when they encountered the richness and breadth of talents possessed by their fellow students. Schuman wanted to know how all of the students were doing. So in the gathering that I witnessed, students kept raising their hands, saying, "Mr. Schuman, maybe I wasn't prepared enough for the L & M class-I am having a hard time"

He explained that he started this course because he himself studied under the old system, where you studied harmony separately, form separately, and counterpoint separately. As a musician, he found it very dry and boring. He thought that if a good teacher would incorporate all of those subjects into one class, it would be much more interesting. Still,...