Words & Music Book

Walter Legge is the best-known record producer in the history of classical music. From the early 1930s until his death in 1979, Legge held sway over much of the music world. Legge used a remarkable personality, shrewdness, and musical taste to handle such figures as Furtwangler, Callas, Beecham, Sibelius, Britten, Walton, Karajan, and many others. Among the recordings he produced is the first Callas Tosca, often named the greates opera recording of all time.The first collection of its kind, this volume brings together a number of Legge's reviews and articles on music from the thirties, pieces on Furtwangler conducting Wagner at Bayreuth, Toscanini conducting Die Meistersinger and Falstaff, portraits of Sibelius and Walton, among others, as well as letters to important musicians and artists. A postscript by his wife, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf closes the volume.Read More