On 21 October - which would have been Georg Solti's 100th birthday - Chicago hosted a special concert in honour of the maestro. Arte TV broadcast the event, which you can watch in full below. (The player takes a while to load - if it doesn't work for you, try the Arte website instead.)
Valery Gergiev conducted the Solti-founded World Orchestra for Peace. Angela Gheorghiu and Rene Pape made a brief appearance halfway through for some Mozart and Verdi.
Programme details can be found here, and a comprehensive review here.
There's a nice Solti exhibition up at ROH at the moment, although sadly the images of Birgit Nilsson are doing Susan Bullock no favours. 3 parts into the last cycle and I'm afraid I agree with other commentators that the voice lacks heft and when she does sing out, the voice (not beautiful anyway) becomes painfully shrieky and pinched. She reminds me a bit of present-day Deborah Voigt, only worse. Fortunately the rest of the cast have been very strong and Pappano and the orchestra are splendid - it's heartwarming to hear such strong ovations for them. Richly deserved!
Posted by: John | 01 November 2012 at 06:48 PM