CARLO MARIA GIULINI
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
MOZART: SYMPHONY NO. 4
FALL: EL SOMBRERO DE TRES PICOS
VERDI: I VESPRI SICILIANI OVERTURE
BONUS: GUIDO CANTELLI CONDUCTS ROSSINI'S SEMIRAMIDE OVERTURE
Filmed in London in 1950 (bonus), 1964 and 1968.
Source: BBC Archive.
DVA 7243 4 90115 9 5

Like Markevitch, Carlo Maria Giulini moulded musical phrases much as a sculptor handles clay, though the relatively young Giulini had an abundance of fire coursing through his veins, especially in Falla's "Three-cornered Hat" Suite and another Mussorgsky Pictures, so different to Cluytens, both in style and orchestral sonority (the Philharmonia). Mozart's 'big' G minor Symphony (No. 40) is played from a decidedly lyrical axis, and Verdi's overture I Vespri siciliani (1968, New Philharmonia - the rest are from 1964) with real panache. And there's the bonus, rare footage of another indelible Italian overture, Rossini's Semiramide, heard in an electrifying 1950 Edinburgh Usher Hall rehearsal by the La Scala Orchestra under the late Guido Cantelli.

The young man who was popularly earmarked as Toscanini's successor gives his all, both physically and musically, for a performance that on the night must have been unforgettable. A few years later and he died in a plane crash, which makes this telling albeit brief appearance all the more valuable.

back to series overview | back to last page | next in the series