Music: Is There a Maestro in the Wings?
Another possible source of conductor material would be from the Orchestra itself. Scheel, it may be rembembered, was replaced for a time by an Orchestra member. And when the National Symphony’s conductor Hans Kindler died many years back, first cellist Howard Mitchell stepped in and permanently took over. Through the years, a few Philadelphia Orchestra members have indicated a talent — and preference — for conducting. Concertmaster Alexander Hillsberg left the Orchestra in 1953 to take over the New Orleans Symphony, and Saul Caston, who played trumpet during the Stokie era, moved up to assistant conductor in the `40s before moving on to the Denver Symphony. More recently, Henry C. Smith left the Orchestra in 1967 to take a post as assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra (formerly called the Minneapolis Symphony, where Ormandy got first big break).
But the most famous egress of a player to become a conductor was concertmaster Anshel Brusilow. Brusilow wanted to conduct, and left the Orchestra to form the ill-fated Philadelphia Chamber Symphony. Ormandy thoroughly quashed the Chamber Symphony after several seasons, and Brusilow left town in disgust to take over the post of conductor for the equally ill-fated Dallas Symphony. Most board members are firmly agreed that as long as Ormandy is alive, Brusilow will never be invited to guest conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Unfortunately, at this time, no Orchestra member has indicated a talent for conducting. Horn player Mason Jones, of course, has conducted half the Orchestra at times when it has been split for its traveling school concerts (the other half is conducted by Bil1 Smith), but he’s content as chief French horn player and, besides, is getting along in years.
The most likely source of new conductors will be from the young crop of guest conductors. Until the 1966 strike, Ormandy (who is solely responsible for the repertoire and the guest conductors) always invited his contemporaries to guest with the Orchestra. Granted, men such as Klemperer, Munch and Steinberg are (or were) excellent conductors, but they were so … old. Apparently, Ormandy did not want to bring to Philadelphia anyone who might be considered a possible replacement. After the strike, the board finally persuaded Ormandy that he must invite younger conductors.
In those years following the 1966 strike and until the time Ormandy recovered from his hip operation, there was a brilliant selection of available up-and-coming conductors. Some, like Mazaal, were technically flawless but cold as ice, while others, like Georg Pretres, were friendly but so-so. And then there were people like Mehta, Kertesz and Ozawa. The Orchestra selection committee looked them all over, and so did the public. There were some differences opinion between the Friday afternoon mink crowd and the Saturday evening music crowd, but almost everyone agreed that somewhere, among this plethora of talent, was a worthy successor to Ormandy.
Most of those guest conductors are now committed to long-range contracts (Kertesz accidentally drowned in Israel in April 1973) and are quite unavailable if a replacement should ever be needed. On hand, a new crop of young conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos (best bets), James Levine, Horst Stein and others will be guesting in Philadelphia during the coming season. But even these men would be quite unavailable for at least three years because of contract agreements.
