NEVER SAW IT BEFORE
Arturo Toscanini was once the most famous orchestra conductor in the United States. In 1931, during the days of radio, NBC invited Toscanini to conduct a concert tour of Latin America. The day came for the musicians, gathered from orchestras across the country, to begin rehearing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. These were professional musicians who knew the music. They knew where to come in and where to rest. They knew where they could get up and take a walk and still be back in time to come in on their part. But something happened when Toscanini began to direct. By the end of the first movement, they could sense it. No one was daydreaming; all of them were intent in the music. They played it as if it were entirely new. They came to the final movement and, when the maestro laid down his baton, the members of the orchestra rose to their feet in applause. Toscanini stood there until the…
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