The
recording of an admired performance of Aida conducted
by Franco Capuana and a cast which included
Mary Curtis, Oralia Dominguez, Ettore Bastianini, Enzo Feliciati and
Umberto Borsó,
Norman Scott.
Remington R-199-178/3
The
Remington Capuana recording from 1954 found its equal in the 1952
recording of Aida on LXT 2735/6/7 with Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco,
Ebe Stignani and Aldo Protti with Chorus and Orchestra of the Academia
di Santa Cecilia, Rome under conductor Alberto Erede.
Oralia
Dominguez (picture taken from her Deutsche Grammophon recital recording).
Another
production of the 'Teatro la Fenice': Puccini's Turandot performed
by singers Grob-Prandl, Ferrari-Ongaro, Zola, Scott, Rossi, Mercurialli
and conductor Capuana (Remington R-199-169/3)
Bidu Sayao (as
portrayed on Odyssey 32160377)
New York mayor
Fiorello H. La Guardia
The
cover of Life Magazine from April 11, 1949, featuring Laszlo Halasz
and his stars of the NYCO Company
Camilla Williams, picture form the notes of the Columbia 3 Lp Set
SL-162 of Gershwin's opera 'Porgy
and Bess'.
Camilla Williams
as Bess and at right as Cio Cio San in 'Madame Butterfly'.
Performing
in 1962 with Támás Vásáry in the Royal
Festival Hall: Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet), Rachmaninoff (2nd Concerto)
and the New World Symphony (Dvorak).
REMINGTON
RLP 149-44 from 1951 with Laszlo Halasz conducting the Austrian Symphony
Orchestra in Hary Janos Suite of his teacher Zoltan Kodaly.
On Bertelsmann
Schallplattenring 8135 a variety of Remington artists can be heard:
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Alexander Jenner, Karl Rucht and Laszlo Halasz.
|
When
Don Gabor of Remington Records was planning to make recordings
in Vienna with Albert Spalding, and
in Berlin with the RIAS
Symphony Orchestra, he asked Laszlo Halasz, who was leaving
the New York City Opera Company, to supervise these and other
recordings for the Remington label.
In his capacity of Recording Director of Remington Records,
Mr. Halasz traveled all over Europe to supervise recordings in
Vienna, Berlin, Venice, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg, while he also
was booked to appear as a conductor in various cities like Barcelona,
Milan and Paris, working with the famous artists of that time.
He conducted Wagner in the 'Gran Teatro del Liceo' of Barcelona
(during Franco's regime) and he introduced many young talented
singers to the European public.
 Under
his supervision many Remington Musirama recordings were
made of the RIAS Symphony with various conductors and soloists,
and four important opera productions were taped in Venice. Two
complete recordings with conductor Franco Capuana: Aida
(with Mary Curtis, Oralia Dominguez, Umberto Borso, Ettore
Bastianini, Norman Scott, Enzo Feliciati (on label and box wrongly
spelled as Felicitati), and Uberto Scaglioni on
Remington R-199-178/3 - released in 1955) and Turandot
(with Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Antonio Sprùzzola-Zola,
Norman Scott, Renata Ferrari-Ongaro, Angelo Mercuriali, Mariano
Caruso, and Marcello Rossi
on Remington R-199-169/3).
The complete recording of Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana'
with the 'Teatro la Fenice' conducted by Halasz's fellow-countryman
George Sebastian (R-199-175/2), had singers Teresa Apolei,
Pina Geri, Antonio Spruzzola Zola, Piero Campolonghi and
Letizia Del Col..
This set replaced the earlier recording with conductor Erasmo
Ghiglia and Vassilka Petrova, Edward Ruhl, Ivan Petrov and Benucci.
And
one live performance was taped of Lucia di Lammermoor with
Renata Ferrari Ongaro, Giacinto Prandelli, Filippo (Philip)
Maero, Norman Scott, Tosca Da Lio, Uberto Scaglione, Luigi Pontiggia,
Chorus and
Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice conducted by Jonel Perlea, released
in 1957 (R-199-200/3). In some publications Laszlo Halasz
is listed as the conductor of this 3 Lp set.
Mrs. Halasz,
who still teaches cello, told me the following anecdote. After
recording Verdi's 'Aida' in the 'Teatro La Fenice' they were splicing
the tapes and discovered that one long note was lost. It laid
somewhere on the floor with the other discarded runs of tape.
They kept on searching for it in the spaghetti as they used to
call the tangle of loose tape on the floor. It took till 3 o'clock
in the morning to find that long, lost note. Without it the recording
would not have been complete.*)
Laszlo
Halasz was mainly involved with the new MUSIRAMA recordings which
generally have a better quality then the earlier recordings made
in Austria which were produced by Marcel Prawy who had contracted
the Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper
and in some cases bought tapes from the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
ORF.
For the recordings
made in Berlin, Mr. Halasz had a contract that stated that his
name would be printed on the cover and that his fee would be 5%
of every record sold. But then his name was hardly ever mentioned,
except for a few recordings made in the US (the Bolet recordings
of Chopin and Prokofiev), the Aida recording and the recordings
of the Beethoven and Brahms concertos with Albert Spalding in
Europe. In the end the contract with Bertelsmann appeared to be
worthless and Bertelsmann did not pay. "That man still owes me
money", said Halasz when I spoke to him on the phone. As the relationship
between Halasz and Gabor was generally good, it is not sure if
"that man" was Don Gabor or an official of the Bertelsmann
company. On top of that, there was a lawsuit as Mr. Heinrich Köhler,
principal cellist of the RIAS Symphony until 1995, told me. Pobably
because some of the recordings were issued in Germany on the Diamant
label by Gabor himself. And that was not in accordance with the
contract.
In Berlin Mr. Halasz supervised many recordings (on occasion together
with Don Gabor): Piano Concertos of Brahms and Liszt performed
by Edward Kilenyi. "He was an excellent pianist", Laszlo
Halasz said referring to his late friend Edward Kilenyi.
On several covers the following paragraph is printed:
REMINGTON RECORDS PRESENTS
This
recording, made under the supervision of LASZLO HALASZ,
distinguished opera and symphony director and founder
of the New York City Opera Company, which achieved world
fame and recognition under his direction during the brief
space of seven years. The same talents and energy that
Mr. Halasz gave to the world of live opera and symphony
for the past decades, he is presently devoting to the
wider field of recorded music and his Remington Presentations
are now available, not only to the large music centers,
but to every home in the world.
|
Laszlo Halasz
was born on June 6th, 1905 in Debrecen in Hungary. His uncle, composer/pianist
Theodor Szántó (1877-1934), took an interest in Laszlo's
talent and advised him to participate in the exams of the Budapest
Music Academy. Laszlo was immediately admitted. His teachers were
Zoltan Kodály, Béla Bartók, Leo Weiner and
Ernö (Ernst von) Dohnányi.
In 1928 he received the Coolidge Prize of the Elisabeth Sprague
Coolidge Foundation which promotes contemporary chamber music.
Laszlo made his debut as a concert pianist performing with the Budapest
Philharmonic Orchestra. His real passion however was not the piano
but the orchestra. He wanted to become a conductor and got the post
of assistant conductor at the Budapest Opera in 1929. Lateron he was
assistant to the eminent Beethoven conductor George Szell at
the "Deutsche Oper" in Prague until 1931.
The first opera Laszlo Halasz conducted was no less than Wagner's
"Der Fliegende Hollander" with the Wiener Volksoper in 1933. This
success resulted in engagements in Vienna and Budapest as well as
in Rome. In 1935 and 1936 he was assistant to Bruno Walter
and Arturo Toscanini when they conducted at the 'Salzburger
Festspiele'.
In the nineteen thirties, when dark clouds gathered over Europe,
many artists fled and went to live in the US. Many Hungarians left
their country because of the dictatorial regime of Miklos Horthy
(1921-1939).
Arturo Toscanini (as of 1926 conductor of the New York Philharmonic
Society) still lived in Italy. In 1936 he left Italy for good to
live in the USA as he did not want to conduct his orchestra playing
"Giovanezza", the fascist hymn, for dictator Mussolini.
In that same year, 1936, Laszlo Halasz migrated to America, as did
conductor George Szell a few years later, in 1939.
When in 1937 the NBC Symphony Orchestra was founded specifically
for Toscanini, the maestro asked Laszlo Halasz to be his assistant.
When the St.Louis Opera Company called one day, because they needed
a conductor on short notice, Toscanini recommended Mr. Halasz who
conducted to great acclaim a performance of Wagner's "Tristan und
Isolde" although he hardly had time to study the score. The main
roles were performed by tenor Lauritz Melchior and soprano
Kirsten Flagstad who made the success complete. The performance
was a revelation and resulted in an engagement to conduct Wagner
operas with the Philadelphia Opera Company.
In 1939 Mr. Halasz returned to St. Louis to take up the post of
General Director of Music of the St. Louis Opera Company. The most
famous artists of that time performed with him. There was gifted
soprano Grace Moore (1901-1947) who had started as a singer
in musicals but had become a notable singer of Lieder. She performed
in many operas. She died at the height of her career in a plane
crash. And there was American soprano Dusolina Giannini who
became an opera star in Europe as well as in America, but she was
also loved for her song recitals. And Czech soprano Jarmila Novotna
also performed in St. Louis. Bidu Sayao from Brazil who was
a star of the Metropolitan Opera from 1937 till 1955 came
to St. Louis to sing under Laszlo Halasz' direction. Jan Kiepura
from Poland, who through his marriage with Martha Eggert also sung
operetta, performed under Halasz. Another famous name was Italian
tenor Tito Schipa who in 1917 had sung the title role in
the world premiere of Puccini's "La Rondine". Also from Italy was
Giovanni Martinelli, who had a vast repertory of more than
50 roles in French and Italian opera's. Raoul Jobin from
France was, understandably, especially at home with the music of
Massenet, Gounod, Bizet and Berlioz. Also Ezio Pinza, who
really was fortunate and had a long career at the Metropolitan from
1926 until 1948, traveled to St. Louis.
They all sang in a great variety of operas ranging from "Manon Lescaut"
to "Falstaff".
Proof of Laszlo Halasz' period in St. Louis can be found on the
Vocal Archive CD VA 1227 with Opera Arias of Mozart, Rossini
and Donizetti sung by Pinza, Roselle, della Chiesa and Alvary with
the St Louis Opera House Orchestra conducted by Laszlo Halasz (Ref.).
And on Unicorn Opera Series UORC 133 you will find a recording
from 1940 of Act 3 of Carmen with Lawrence Tibbitt, Jan Kiepura
and the St. Louis Opera under the direction of Laszlo Halasz (coupled
with excerpts from Carmen with Coe Glade, Hertha Tokatyan, Joseph
Royer, and conductor Fausto Cleva with the Cincinnati Symphony,
recorded in 1938).
Halasz' successes brought him invitations to conduct at the Festival
of Havana, with The Chicago Opera and to conduct in the series
of "The Symphonic Concert of Montreal".
Like Ferenc Fricsay and Antal Dorati, Laszlo Halasz had been a
pupil of Béla Bartók in Hungary. Bartók who
had come to the US in 1939 was living in New York in a very poor
neighborhood, He was not at all the respected composer of today.
Halasz often went to see his elder fellow countryman on a social
visit and on several occasions he made (together with Don Gabor)
the famous recordings with Bartók which were first released
on Continental 78 RPM and later on Lp (Continental CLP 101) around
1949, and when the Remington label was established on R-199-94:
Bartók plays Bartók. The recordings were made
as early as 1941 or 1942, at least a year before the performance
by Béla and Ditta Bartók of Bartók's Concerto
for Two Pianos with the New York Philharmonic (January 21, 1943).
Don Gabor supported Bartók by making these recordings and paid him
generous royalties.
During the war Laszlo Halasz conducted 300 concerts for the US troops.
All these
successes added up to his experience and when in 1943 New York mayor
Fiorello H. La Guardia asked him to create a center for the progressive
opera as a counterpart to the Metropolitan Opera Company which dwelt
in the more traditional repertory, Laszlo became the energetic director
of The New York City Center Opera Company
(later named New York City Opera Company) which was located in the
center of Manhattan, just behind Carnegie Hall.
The new company, located on West 55th Street, soon became a well
known establishment in America and abroad because of the great variety
and the quality of productions conducted by Laszlo Halasz
himself and also by Jean Paul Morel who had joined the company
in 1944.
The repertory listed among others "The love of Three Oranges"
(Prokofiev), "Ariadne auf Naxos" and "Salomé"
(Richard Strauss), "Turandot" (Puccini), Wolf-Ferrari's "I
Quattro Rustgehi" (The Four Ruffians) and Tamkin's "The Dybbuk"
which all were new to the New York opera loving public, and various
operas by Menotti which in those days marked a new era. The
company also brought Carmen (with Jennie Tourel as Carmen
and Regina Resnik), Mignon, Luise and La bohème
(all conducted by Morel) and also performed regularly outside of
the city. (Regina Resnik would later be Carmen herself in the performance
with conductor Thomas Schippers as recorded by Decca/London).
Mr. Halasz was also noted for his sound financial management of
the company and on many occasion was hailed for it by critic Virgil
Thomson of the New York Herald Tribune. The costs of the productions
were a fraction of the amounts spent on the productions of The Met.
While on a tour to Canada, Laszlo Halasz had met renown cellist
Suzette
Forgues who had studied with Emanuel Feuermann from 1938
until 1942. She became the first cello player of the orchestra and
also his wife.
New York's mayor La Guardia loved music and insisted on conducting
the orchestra himself, just once, to proof that conducting was not
at all that difficult. It was a memorable event.
|
|
|
Laszlo
Halasz on the cover and on the pages of LIFE Magazine, 11
April, 1949, amidst his stars. Clockwise starting from bottom
left:
An Ayars, Dorothy MacNeil, Frances Bible, Virginia Haskins,
Wilma Spencer, Marguerite Piazza and Brenda Lewis.
|
For more than
7 years, until 1952, Laszlo Halasz was the company's musical director
and producer and shared the baton with fellow conductors Jean Morel
and Joseph Rosenstock, while young Thomas Schippers
was assistant.
Despite a long period of financial and artistic successes, the board
differed with Halasz on several issues. To demonstrate their views
the post of director was offered to Jean Morel. Out of protest to
the way Halasz was treated, Morel wanted to resign. His resignation
was refused by the board but when it was clear that the board could
be accused of breaching the agreement, the contract was ended. Morel
taught at the Juilliard School of Music (he was the teacher of James
Levine and Leonard Slatkin) and he is probably the conductor on Remington
R-149-51 which features Debussy's "Prélude a
l'après-midi d'un faun" and "Symphonic Variations"
with pianist Frieda Valenzi as
soloist.
When Halasz did not get his financial and artistic freedom he left
the New York City Opera Company and Joseph Rosenstock took over.
|
|
|
The
New York City Opera Company conducted by Laszlo Halasz can be
found on a 10" MGM disc with excerpts from Gounod's Faust
with Frances Yeend, Rudolph Petrak, Norman Scott, Frances Bible
and Walter Cassel - MGM E-553.
|
Although many
times a production asks for a compromise, Laszlo Halasz always recognized
real quality.
When working with the New York City Opera Company near the end of
World War II, a young lady auditioned. Halasz immediately recognized
the talent of this young soprano and he gave her over 200 hours of
free lessons and introduced her to the New York audience in 1946:
Camilla Williams, the black soprano who 5 years later was to
sing the best Bess ever in Lehman Engel's famous Columbia recording
of Gershwin's opera Porgy
and Bess, produced by Goddard Lieberson. Under Laszlo Halasz
she sang Cio Cio San in the New York City Opera production of "Madame
Butterfly".
"The make-up artist did a wonderful job by making her really look
like a Japanese", Mrs. Halasz told me. There was however quite some
animosity because of the fact that (for the first time) a black woman
was performing in a "white" opera. There were anonymous letters containing
a threat to shoot the conductor in the back during the performance.
But Laszlo Halasz said that he was not afraid and declared that it
was not color but a voice that he had engaged.
He also engaged
Todd Duncan who had already made his name in the first production
in 1935 of (again) Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess". But now he was to
sing in a "white" opera too, the role of Tonio in "I Pagliacci"
(Leoncavallo), in 1945. These performances, and those of baritone
Lawrence Winters, did not bring about such opposition.
Halasz conducted when Albert Spalding was performing in Carnegie
Hall and as a conductor he accompanied other famous artists like tenor
Richard Tucker, violinist Joseph Szigeti, pianist Arthur
Rubinstein and in the beginning of his career he had performed
with cellist Emanuel Feuermann.
In Europe he accompanied French pianist Samson François
in a memorable concert in Paris. Prokofiev's 3rd Concerto was on the
program. Samson François played at a very high tempo, because
he seemed more interested in showing off his virtuosity than giving
a balanced interpretation. The performance became quite a tour de
force for pianist, musicians and conductor, Mrs. Halasz remembered.
Laszlo Halasz also conducted in St. Moritz, Milan and in London at
Covent Garden.
Before deciding
to become a conductor, Laszlo Halasz studied piano with Ernst von
Dohnányi. When Laszlo announced that he wanted to become a
conductor, Dohnányi was furious because Laszlo was a talented
student who as a pianist could have a great career ahead of him. Dohnányi
said he would never speak to him again and threw him out. But fate
decided otherwise. Ernö Dohnányi, who had been working
in Hungary during World War II, left his native land when the communists
took over. He fled to South America. He apparently was not happy with
his move and came to the US where he made a few recordings for Columbia.
He only would be allowed to stay if he was assured of a job. Pianist
Edward Kilenyi told Laszlo Halasz that there was a vacancy
as a piano teacher in Florida. When the matter was discussed with
the management of the music school, the board said that Dohnányi
certainly was too expensive to have on the payroll. But they received
assurances from both Halasz and Kilenyi that anything they were willing
to pay would be OK. And thus Dohnányi finally came more or
less face to face with his former pupil Laszlo Halasz whom he never
wanted to see again.
The renewed contact in 1949 eventually resulted in Dohnányi's
recordings for the Remington label.
Laszlo Halasz'
involvement with Remington records had more or less started in the
early nineteen forties. His involvement with Remington records ended
more or less when the label ceased to make new recordings around 1957
and the label was finally discontinued and replaced by the Palace,
Paris, Webster, Buckingham, and other labels. While producing and
concertizing in Europe, Mrs. Halasz accompanied her husband. Mrs.
Halasz also told me that, when she was expecting, she did not want
her child to be born in the Germany of right after the war. Her husband
suggested that they would stay in the south of France where they often
spent the summer with Mrs. Halasz' sister. And it was there that their
son, George, was born. Several years later daughter Suzanne was born.
In Europe the last recordings that were made were with the Hamburg
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, and
with conductors Heitor Villa-Lobos, Otto Matzerath, Eugene Senkar
and Leopold Ludwig.
After that the collaboration between Laszlo Halasz and Don Gabor ended.
George Halasz, the son of Laszlo Halasz, said that his father considered
Don Gabor the best colleague he ever had.
After Remington,
his career as a conductor continued and knew many milestones. Mr.
Halasz traveled all over the world. Many times to South America, often
to Europe too, and he again performed many concerts in Canada and
the USA. His Mahler performances won great acclaim. And Wagner was
also a favorite composer to whom he had a great affinity. He directed
many opera performances and he worked also with many a singer
of the younger generation; with Theresa Stratas, for instance
and he taught conducting at various schools of music and to many upcoming
musicians.
Laszlo
Halasz conducting and Tamas Vasary playing Rachmaninoff
Frank Rocca,
who was a student from 1959 to 1963 at the Peabody Conservatory of
Music (now called the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University)
recollects:
In 1959 Laszlo
Halasz was asked to form an opera company that would admit to
performance opera singers who were on the verge of careers,
but needed a showcase to demonstrate their talents. It was called
the Peabody Art Theater. (...) I played principal viola for
two seasons. We did Rossini's "The Turk in Italy", Puccini's
"La Bohème" (in which the great basso buffo, Salvatore Baccalone
performed), Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" and the operas of Menotti
"The Old Maid and the Thief" (in which Claramae Turner played
and sang the lead) and "Amahl and the Night Visitors" (which
Herbert Grossman conducted and Laszlo Halasz produced).(...)
Menotti was always present when his operas were performed and
sometimes had a difference of opinion with Halasz about tempo.
Menotti was a very civilized human being and always courteous
and respectful to Halasz, calling him Maestro, as we all did.
Halasz had a profound respect for composers and he, as is said
of Toscanini, took their indications of how something should
sound to the limit. He did not believe in "interpretation" as
an excuse to change something and often said so. But one time,
as I recall, Menotti's disagreement with him about a certain
passage (maybe it was in "The Old Maid and the Thief") came
to a head publicly. Menotti expressed his frustration. "You
are surely the Maestro," he said, "and you should run this performance
as you see fit. But you are playing that passage too fast."
Halasz gave him a dignified look of disgust, then said, "Gian
Carlo, you are dee composer, so I will do as you wish. However,
you are not dee first conductor who has done foolish teengs
with his own music." The maestro then turned to the orchestra
and led us through the passage exactly as Menotti had suggested.
Halasz was a martinet who demanded attention to detail, but
playing under Halasz was the best musical experience I could
have had, because he demanded perfect ensemble playing and he
got it. I have heard it said that a great conductor draws from
his players a higher level of performance than they could draw
from themselves. The concertmaster was a very talented Hungarian
named Zoltan Szabo. A truly gifted musician, Zoltan sometimes
played passages as he felt them and, when a solo was required,
he would occasionally get very romantic. This happened once
in rehearsal. Halasz stopped the orchestra and had a quick exchange
with Zoltan in Hungarian. Zoltan replied in a respectful tone,
but apparently not to Halasz's satisfaction. Halasz muttered
something under his breath, also in Hungarian, then turned to
the orchestra and, as he raised his hand for the downbeat, said
aloud to the general public, "You are all too young to have
opinions. You haven't lived long enough!" Down came the hand
and off we sped.
I deeply respected Halasz, even when he yelled at me or at my
section for screwing up some passage or for coming in at the
wrong spot. He had a funny way of pronouncing his Rs. It must
have been a natural speech issue for him, because I heard him
speak at least four or five languages during the time I played
in the Art Theater, English, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian and
French. I believe he also spoke German, because he carried on
conversations with Birgit Nilsson in that language, when he
was preparing a monumental performance of Tristan and Isolde
with the Baltimore Civic Opera Company. (...) Rosa Ponselle
was the Artistic Director of the Civic Opera. During one of
the rehearsals, she sat in a box and shadowed the arias, moving
her hands dramatically during Isolde's death scene. Apparently,
she'd always wanted to sing Wagner, but never got the chance.
At least, that was the story back then.
Halasz was a precise conductor who cued entrances as required,
but he said more than once that he did so as a convenience to
us because we were too young and inexperienced to know how to
count to four. He liked it when students smiled or laughed quietly
at his witticisms. - Frank Rocca
|
In the nineteen
seventies Halasz taught conducting at the Manhattan School of Music.
He had many students like now famous composer Lowell Liebermann
and conductors Tania León, Richard Pittman, Ronald
J. Gretz.and Michael Webster.
Another pupil, Eric Schiller, wrote: "Laszlo Halasz was a fascinating
man who taught me all of my baton technique and introduced me to the
operatic repertoire. I will always remember his steadfast dedication
to his art."
And Hal Gary recollects:
In 1964,
I was a freshman student at the Peabody conservatory majoring
in Percussion. I attended one rehearsal under Maestro Halasz
and did not even get a chance to play. I forget what piece
we were doing I think it was a classical symphony with a long
adagio introduction and I was busy counting rests. After the
movement ended I was poised at the timpani ready for the second
movement. Just prior to the down beat, Maestro
Halasz stopped the rehearsal and asked: "Who are you?",
pointing his baton at me. I said that I was a freshman timpanist.
His response: "Get out, no freshman in my orchestra."
I never played for him again.
I do recall a wonderful performance that he gave of the Brahms
Requiem which received local and national acclaim. However,
I also remember that the Maestro was always in trouble for
bringing in professional "Ringers" to make the student
orchestra sound better. If he had one fault it would be that
he neglected his role as teacher and mentor. I do not bear
grudges and even married a woman of Hungarian origin, but
I left the music world long ago. - Gary Hal
|
In 1971 Laszlo
Halasz became conductor of the newly founded Concert Orchestra and
Choir of Long Island. Under his musical and artistic direction memorable
performances were given: "Tosca" with Richard Tucker, Menotti's
"Amahl and the Night Visitors", Verdi's "Requiem", Berlioz'
"Samson and Delilah", Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and a
"Gershwin Memorial Concert" which drew no less than 8300 visitors.
On Cambria CD-1100 Laszlo Halasz conducts his orchestra in
Eugene Zador's "Christopher Columbus" with various soloists
and the Concert Choir of Long Island. Narrator is actor Lionel Barrymore.
(The disc also contains "Studies For Orchestra" performed by the Westphalian
Symphony Orchestra and Paul Freeman, conductor.) Halasz' recording
was made in 1975.
The year 1974
marked his debut with the Frankfurt Opera in Strauss's "Frau ohne
Schatten" and soon he was invited again by the Frankfurt State
Opera in 1975 to give an all-Wagner concert with Birgit Nilsson.
Maestro
Laszlo Halasz conducting once more the NY City Opera in the nineteen
eighties.
There are relatively
few artists who are contracted by a record label and attain recognition
through their recordings. Many artists however give performances of
the same high standard as recording artists can achieve, but they
are only heard live in the concert halls and impress the audiences
in the many music centers. Not to have recording obligations gives
freedom in the sense of just performing as it is meant to be, namely
in front of an audience and experiencing the interaction.
There are but a few recordings that witness Laszlo Halasz' musical
insights. There is the recording he made for Remington Records around
1951 of Zoltan Kodaly's 'Hary Janos Suite' taken from the complete
work which he had introduced to the American public several years
before. Apparently Halasz went to Vienna to supervise Kilenyi's early
solo recordings for the Remington label which were produced by Marcel
Prawy, possibly together with Don Gabor and/or Laszlo Halasz who traveled
to Europe and Laszlo Halasz recorded the Suite from Zoltan
Kodaly's 'Hary Janos' in Vienna, released on R-149-44.
Even though the
quality of matrix and pressings of R-149-44 are poor, one can hear
the approach which only full blooded Hungarians do have. The interpretation
has a remarkable freshness with the right tempi for songs and marches,
but is also very precise. He also can be heard with the RIAS
Symphony Orchestra in Hungarian Dance No. 6 on a 10"
record released by "Bertelsmann Schallplattenring".
Laszlo Halasz
and his wife still lead a happy life in which music, the cello lessons
given by Mrs. Halasz and the daily reading of The New York Times by
the maestro in order to keep up with events, play the leading roles.
Rudolf A. Bruil,
November, 2000.
The New York
Times of October 31st 2001 reported that Laszlo Halasz, the first
music director of the New York City Opera, died on Oct. 26 at his
home in Port Washington, NY.
Newspapers in the USA and abroad published an obituary on Laszlo Halasz.
Port Washington
News, edition of January 7th, 2005, remembered cellist/music teacher
Suzette Forgues Halasz who had died one month earlier on December
8th, 2004. See:
Port Washington News.
*) The complete
Aida recording can be found on Preiser Records PSR 20027 (2x CD),
released in November 2003.
|
