Solti on Solti by Sir Georg Solti, Chatto & Windus, $340 Old conductors do not fade away. They just go on for decades after the rest of us have retired, not only flourishing but still working at their demanding profession.
Sir Georg Solti ran true to form. He was already showing a lot of scalp when your reviewer, a beneficiary of Covent Garden's discounts for school parties, saw the back of his head some time in the early 1960s.
He died last year, still lucid, active and - as this book testifies - with an excellent memory. He had just finished his last correction of the proofs. Conductors have an exquisite sense of timing.
Solti explained his decision to attempt a book as a result of the consciousness that his survival was making him unique.
He was born before World War I. His life-long nervousness of men in uniforms dates to the period of chaos following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied with Bartok and Kodaly. He discussed the staging of Richard Strauss operas with Richard Strauss. He took rehearsals for Toscanini.
Readers who are not beguiled by musical history can pick up interesting sidelights on the more traditional stuff - Solti was a keen and thoughtful observer of current affairs who lived through an appalling period.
He was brought up in Budapest during the days when that city was the western edge of Europe rather than the eastern edge of Russia. As the war clouds gathered in 1939 he was lucky enough to find a reason for visiting Switzerland.
