
Maestros and Their Music
The Art and Alchemy of Conducting
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Narrated by:
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John Mauceri
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By:
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John Mauceri
About this listen
An exuberant, uniquely accessible look inside the enigmatic art and craft of conducting, from a celebrated conductor whose international career has spanned half a century.
John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative, consistently entertaining exploration of his profession, rich with anecdotes from decades of working alongside the greatest names of the music world. With candor and humor, Mauceri makes clear that conducting is itself a composition: of legacy and tradition, techniques handed down from master to apprentice - and more than a trace of ineffable magic.
He reveals how conductors approach a piece of music (a calculated combination of personal interpretation, imagination, and insight into the composer's intent); what it takes to communicate solely through gesture, with sometimes hundreds of performers at once; and the occasionally glamorous, often challenging life of the itinerant maestro. Mauceri, who worked closely with Leonard Bernstein for 18 years, studied with Leopold Stokowski, and was on the faculty of Yale University for 15 years, is the perfect guide to the allure and theater, passion and drudgery, rivalries and relationships of the conducting life.
©2017 John Mauceri (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Informative and entertaining…[Mauceri] has an insider’s grasp of the vagaries of the music business... [Maestros and Their Music] will appeal to both musicians and others seeking a broad base of information about conducting and conductors.” (Library Journal)
"Frank and informative about many aspects of the job of maestro...few authors have expressed so vividly the huge role of the score itself in a maestro’s daily work, or the non-glamorous status of the guest conductor.” (Opera News)
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What would you give up to achieve your dream? When J. P. Morgan hired Belle da Costa Greene in 1905 to organize his rare book and manuscript collection, she had only her personality and a few years of experience to recommend her. Ten years later, she had shaped the famous Pierpont Morgan Library collection and was a proto-celebrity in New York and the art world, renowned for her self-made expertise, her acerbic wit, and her flirtatious relationships. Born to a family of free people of color, Greene changed her name and invented a Portuguese grandmother to enter White society.
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A Remarkable Woman
- By HistoryNerd on 01-25-22
By: Heidi Ardizzone
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Ravenous
- Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection
- By: Sam Apple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded in his day as one of the most important biochemists of the 20th century, a man whose research was integral to humanity’s understanding of cancer. He was also among the most despised figures in Nazi Germany. As a Jewish homosexual living openly with his male partner, Warburg represented all that the Third Reich abhorred. Yet Hitler and his top advisors dreaded cancer, and protected Warburg in the hope that he could cure it.
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Highly recommended, a must read.
- By Joerg on 06-10-21
By: Sam Apple
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The Deep Places
- A Memoir of Illness and Discovery
- By: Ross Douthat
- Narrated by: Ross Douthat
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 2015, Ross Douthat was moving his family, with two young daughters and a pregnant wife, from Washington, DC, to a sprawling farmhouse in a picturesque Connecticut town when he acquired a mysterious and devastating sickness. It left him sleepless, crippled, wracked with pain - a shell of himself. After months of seeing doctors and descending deeper into a physical inferno, he discovered that he had a disease which, according to CDC definitions, does not actually exist.
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Excellent!!
- By D on 11-09-21
By: Ross Douthat
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The Rising
- The Twenty-Year Battle to Rebuild the World Trade Center
- By: Larry Silverstein
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 destroyed the World Trade Center, New Yorkers and Americans faced a critical set of questions: What should be done with the site? Could the towers be replaced? And how best to memorialize those lost on that day? For Larry Silverstein, a lifelong New Yorker who had signed a lease for the properties just a few months before the attacks, the answer was clear: America had to rebuild as quickly as possible.
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Starts great before it morphs quickly into Larry Silverstein paying homage to himself
- By Xj517 on 10-11-24
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The Visionaries
- Arendt, Beauvoir, Rand, Weil, and the Power of Philosophy in Dark Times
- By: Wolfram Eilenberger, Shaun Whiteside
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The period from 1933 to 1943 was one of the darkest and most chaotic in human history, as the Second World War unfolded with unthinkable cruelty. It was also a crucial decade in the dramatic, intersecting lives of some of history’s greatest philosophers. There were four women, in particular, whose parallel ideas would come to dominate the twentieth century—at once in necessary dialogue and in striking contrast with one another.
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Long deep dive into the lives of writers
- By profcpa on 09-16-24
By: Wolfram Eilenberger, and others
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I Loved Her in the Movies
- Memories of Hollywood's Legendary Actresses
- By: Robert Wagner
- Narrated by: Robert Wagner
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I Loved Her in the Movies is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and more.
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Outstanding!
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 12-02-16
By: Robert Wagner
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Every Valley
- The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah
- By: Charles King
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is arguably the greatest piece of participatory art ever created. Adored by millions, it is performed each year by renowned choirs and orchestras, as well as by audiences singing along with the words on their cell phones. But this work of triumphant joy was born in a worried age. Britain in the early Enlightenment was a place of astonishing creativity but also the seat of an empire mired in war, enslavement, and conflicts over everything from the legitimacy of government to the meaning of truth.
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Untitled Praise
- By Michael on 11-19-24
By: Charles King
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The Sassoons
- The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire
- By: Joseph Sassoon
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A spectacular generational saga of the making (and undoing) of a family dynasty: the riveting untold story of the gilded Jewish Bagdadi Sassoons, who built a vast empire through global finance and trade—cotton, opium, shipping, banking—that reached across three continents and ultimately changed the destinies of nations. With full access to rare family photographs and archives.
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A telling history
- By Nick on 05-21-24
By: Joseph Sassoon
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A Few Words in Defense of Our Country
- The Biography of Randy Newman
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Rob Hilburn Jr.
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY, veteran music journalist Robert Hilburn presents the definitive portrait of an American legend. Hilburn has known Newman since his club debut at the Troubadour in 1970, and the two have maintained a strong connection in the decades since, conversing over the course of times good and bad. Though Newman has long refused to talk with potential biographers, he now gives Hilburn unprecedented access not only to himself but also to his archives, as well as his family, friends, collaborators, and famous fans.
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interesting content
- By illa on 11-26-24
By: Robert Hilburn
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Roctogenarians
- Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs
- By: Mo Rocca, Jonathan Greenberg
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Eighty has been the new sixty for about twenty years now. In fact, there have always been late-in-life achievers, those who declined to go into decline just because they were eligible for social security. Journalist, humorist, and history buff Mo Rocca and coauthor Jonathan Greenberg introduce us to the people past and present who peaked when they could have been puttering—breaking out as writers, selling out concert halls, attempting to set land-speed records—and in the case of one ninety-year tortoise, becoming a first-time father. (Take that, Al Pacino!)
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Another Home Run
- By Tony on 02-15-25
By: Mo Rocca, and others
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It's What I Do
- A Photographer's Life of Love and War
- By: Lynsey Addario
- Narrated by: Lynsey Addario
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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War photographer Lynsey Addario’s memoir It’s What I Do is the story of how the relentless pursuit of truth, in virtually every major theater of war in the twenty-first century, has shaped her life. What she does, with clarity, beauty, and candor, is to document, often in their most extreme moments, the complex lives of others. It’s her work, but it’s much more than that: it’s her singular calling.
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I think I cried four times
- By Ian on 06-29-24
By: Lynsey Addario
What listeners say about Maestros and Their Music
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- 11104
- 10-03-24
So many behind the scene things I didn't know
As a life-long fan of classical music and opera, I was surprised to learn how much goes on behind the scene in the lives of conductors and performers. It's hard work! I enjoyed the stories and analysis about many conductors I know, particularly Bernstein, who I saw for the first time at age 10 at a NY Phil Young People's Concert. Mauceri narrates his book with a clear voice and perfect andante moderato pace.
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- Alison Evanish
- 10-02-21
Insightful stories of world renowned conductors
This should be part of every musicians education about the history of conducting and how many world renowned conductors have developed the art of conducting. It is a fascinating memoir that John Mauceri has so graciously shared with us in this fascinating book. It will forever change my perspective of every performance I see or hear.
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- Meg
- 05-26-24
Maestro Gives A Fascinating Performance
Maestros and…. Is my favorite book of the year thus far and will be an all time favorite. Maestro Mauceri answered so many questions I’ve had as a novice novice music student and long time classical music lover. His chapters go far beyond those questions into fascinating details.
Maestro Mauceri’s narration is beautiful. It’s like having a personal conversation or class with him. His stories of composers (of my generation, Bernstein especially, a favorite) gave me many insights into the complexity of conducting. This one’s a real treasure. Get it! Worth double credits.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-25-21
I loved it. What is conducting all about.
I think this book will appeal to muso's or people who wonder what a conductor actually does. It is not technical but it is a behind-the-scenes view of a conductor's role and what it probably takes to be a good conductor. John Mauceri writes it and performs it very well. It makes me want to study the score of my favourite pieces more closely and I will now be listening for differences in the performance of orchestral works with fresh insight.
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- Susan
- 06-03-18
Loved it
If you are a fan of classical music, this book is a MUST!!! I enjoyed every word of it.
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- Jane
- 12-30-17
Disappointing. Dry.
I felt like I was at a dinner party listening to the author talk about random things in the conducting and music world. He didn’t go into enough depth or detail about specific things - just snippets about this and that. It was hard to stay interested. He should have coauthored with a writer or journalist to make it more engaging.
For example he mentioned the conductor Muti a couple times, but he didn’t say anything meaningful about Muti. Was Muti good or not good, and why? Tell me something interesting about Muti. And the same with other conductors, give me some opinions.
The author briefly mentioned that Petrillo in Chicago was a key figure behind unionizing musicians. Petrillo claimed recorded music took jobs away from musicians. Petrillo was also against something about small musician groups. I was confused. I wanted to know more about Petrillo - how were things before and after him, but it was just sort of mentioned in passing.
Slightly annoying was the way the author frequently said “I was asked to conduct ...” It felt egotistical. I would have preferred hearing him say “I conducted ...”
ONE THING I REALLY LIKED AND I LEARNED SOMETHING:
I was interested in the following comment about Maria Callas. The author was giving his opinion and judgment. I wish he did more of that on other subjects.
“Anyone who attended the farewell performances of Maria Callas in recital with tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano will know precisely what I mean. By 1974 Callas was barely Callas - her voice having shrunk in size, her vibrato having curdled into a wobble in its upper register, and her sound clouded and covered. But every now and then something happened, a fiery flash in her eyes, a gesture of vulnerability, a perfectly turned phrase, and memories were awakened of when she was great and members of the audience were young. Respect, sadness, mortality, curiosity and a desire to stop inevitability, fueled the public’s emotions during the performances and buoyed them and Callas through each evening. It occasionally felt as if the audience were giving her the strength to carry on, and probably it did.”
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
The author narrated his own book. He was good as a narrator.
DATA:
Book copyright: 2017. Genre: nonfiction, memoir.
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6 people found this helpful