Richard Osborne is known to classical music lovers as the presenter of Radio 3's Saturday Review. With this book, he presents a major biography of Herbert von Karajan, the controversial Austrian composer.

How are conductors' silent gestures magicked into sound by a group of more than a hundred brilliant but belligerent musicians? The mute choreography of great conductors has fascinated and frustrated musicians and music-lovers for centuries. Orchestras can be inspired to the heights of musical and expressive possibility by their maestros, or flabbergasted that someone who doesn't even make a sound should be elevated to demigod-like status by the public. This is the first book to go inside the rehearsal rooms of some of the most inspirational orchestral partnerships in the world - how Simon Rattle works at the Berlin Philharmonic, how Mariss Jansons deals with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and how Claudio Abbado creates the world's most luxurious pick-up band every year with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. From London to Budapest, Bamberg to Vienna, great orchestral concerts are recreated as a collection of countless human and musical stories.

Nearly ten years after its original publication, The Maestro Myth continues to enthrall readers with its insightful look into the lives and careers of the world's most celebrated conductors. Now updated and including two new chapters, this volume portrays the politics and inflated economics surrounding the podiums of today's international classical music scene, and the obstacles faced by blacks, women, and gays. From Richard Strauss to Herbert von Karajan to Leonard Bernstein to Simon Rattle, The Maesto Myth examines the world of classical music and the mounting crisis in a profession where genuine talent grows ever scarcer. It is a must-have resource for music aficiionados as well as anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes lives of these music masters. Book jacket.

The Berlin Philharmonic is a synonym for excellent musical enjoyment. During the last fifty years it has gone from success to success with its illustrious conductors Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, and Sir Simon Rattle. Dr. Annemarie Kleinert relates the history of this period. Knowledgeable and entertainingly, she presents the development and the internal organization of the orchestra, its collaboration with renowned guest conductors, soloists, and composers, as well as its many voyages. This is a factual yet also engaging book that includes personal observations of musicians and conductors along with numerous photographs mostly taken by one of the members of this musical ensemble.