George Szell: A Life of Music (review)

Among the public emblems that symbolize some great cities are various iconic architectural and engineering wonders like the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, while other municipalities take pride in championship sports teams. Cleveland may be unique in that its most revered civic gem may be its orchestra, an ensemble that ranks today among the world’s finest. In fact, the Cleveland Orchestra has been at or near the pinnacle of classical orchestras for over a half century, including the more than four decades since the death of the conductor who transformed a moderately good regional group into a power-house ensemble with few peers. And like his adopted city of Cleveland among other major United States metropolises, that conductor, George Szell (1897–1970), has often been overlooked or taken for granted when the greatest conductors of the twentieth century are mentioned.

Whatever the reasons for Szell’s lower historic profile—especially in comparison to other widely admired twentieth-century conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtw&aumlngler, and Bruno Walter, whose careers have attracted significant biographical interest—Michael Charry has corrected that oversight somewhat with this first book-length treatment of Szell’s life. As a member of the Cleveland Orchestra’s conducting staff for nine years under Szell, Charry is well qualified for the task, and he draws on a wealth of primary documents, chiefly the archives of the Musical Arts Association, the trusteeship that oversaw the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as other unpublished letters and documents, personal interviews, innumerable published concert reviews, and similar sources to tell Szell’s story in a straightforward fashion.

Most of the book—in fact, the final eight of twelve chapters—deals with Szell’s career after he assumed the leadership of the Cleveland Orchestra. Charry also includes discussions of Szell’s long associations with the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the (New York) Metropolitan Opera; brief stints in charge of other orchestras; and numerous guest appearances throughout Europe and the United States. Anyone who might have thought of Szell as merely a provincial conductor who built his career in Cleveland will have to reconsider their misconceptions after reading this book.

Charry’s first chapter covers Szell’s first thirty-three years, from his birth in Budapest to conducting and teaching positions in Berlin. Following his family’s move to Vienna around 1903–4 and change of name from the Hungarian Szél, the young George was entrusted to Richard Robert, who oversaw the boy’s piano training and general music education. At age ten Szell made his debut as a pianist in Vienna, followed by other well-received appearances throughout Europe; he was also a promising composer, who by age fifteen had a contract with Universal Edition. Wisely, the family limited the boy’s professional performances and did not exploit the prodigy. Still, his talent was such that he spent most of his time surrounded by colleagues who were several years older; and growing up in an adult world, he never really developed a good sense of empathy for the feelings of others (p. 6). At age sixteen, Szell’s career path was set when he substituted for an indisposed conductor at a spa orchestra performance. Although he soon gave up performing, his prodigious skills at sight-reading and especially playing scores at the keyboard would serve him well for the rest of his life and become the subject of numerous anecdotes throughout his career.

As a natural talent on the podium, Szell never had formal lessons in conducting. Rather, he learned on the job as a rehearsal pianist-coach-conductor in the opera house. Hired by Leo Belch as a Repetiteur for the Berlin State Opera, Szell quickly ingratiated himself with the company’s music director, Richard Strauss, who became a conducting model and mentor for him. Strauss recognized the teenager’s talent to the degree that he entrusted him with rehearsals for a 1916 recording...