The Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power
Music critic/provocateur Norman Lebrecht didn't make the high  muckety-mucks of the classical music industry at all happy with this  iconoclastic book, but he did open a lot of eyes. In 328 fascinating  pages, he exposes the foibles and failings (musical and otherwise) of  the great conductors of the last century. Why are there so few really  outstanding conductors, and so many surface-skimming mediocrities? How  did the conductor go from a mere time-beater to a powerful, immensely  well-paid figure who jets from continent to continent and from podium  to podium, hobnobbing with presidents and tycoons instead of with  other musicians? Lebrecht explores all these factors, along with the  history of conducting, and in the process dishes a few good  anecdotes. He also shines the light on Ronald Wilford, the superagent  of Columbia Artists Management, Inc., who controls the careers of more  than 100 conductors--and, therefore, controls much of classical  music. Lebrecht gets a few facts wrong (mostly minor--there haven't,  for example, been stockyards in Chicago for some decades), but most of  his points are well taken.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.