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July 20, 1989
A letter to the editor of the "Globe and Mail"
ATTENTION: MISS MARGARET INWOOD-HAGARTY
WAS KARAJAN AN IMPORTANT CONDUCTOR?
On Sunday
July 16th I heard on the CBC that one of the world's best known conductors, Herbert von Karajan,
had died. It came to me as a big shock that the Globe and Mail did not mention it in any of the
19 headlines of the first page of the Monday paper. Further there was no mention of it in either
of the nine articles in the "Arts section". Finally I found a column about Karajan's
death on the very last page of the "C" section titled "Death notices
and Obituaries". Since I do not have time to read a paper cover to
cover I would have not known about his passing had I not listened to the radio.
This is
hard to understand, considering that Karajan made more recordings than any other conductor
(about 800); that he has conducted since World War II at every major music festival; that his
recordings are an indispensable part of every radio station and music institution in every
country; and that his numerous opera performances on video have been heard and seen by millions
- musicians and laymen. And what is especially important is that Karajan's recordings
- like Toscanini's - will always remain a very important document of our time when nobody
will know any more who Barbara Dodd or Wayne Gretzky were.
But
maybe it was Karajan's own fault that his death did not seem important enough to waste space
on the first page of the "Globe". After all, he was never accused of killing his wife,
which makes him much less interesting than Helmut Buxbaum or Colin Thatcher; he put so much
time and effort in the direction and conducting of the Salzburg Festival that he never seemed
to find time to state if he agrees or disagrees with the "Meech Lake Accord"; nor
if he belongs to the "pro-choice" group or the anti-abortionists. And last - and not
least - as the Dubin Inquiry failed to mention his name, we shall never know if he really
was a great conductor, or if his performances were enhanced by his use of steroids. This also
prevents unfortunately our minister of health to discuss on the T.V. if Karajan's recordings
should be banned for 2 years, or 5 years or forever. This is a great pity because it would have
given Karajan at least a chance to have his name mentioned on the first page of your
paper.
Oskar Morawetz. Doc., O.C.O.Ont.
Professor Emeritus
Faculty of Music
University of Toronto |
