Rare 1942 footage of Japanese prince conducting a swastika Liszt

Rare 1942 footage of Japanese prince conducting a swastika Liszt

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norman lebrecht

August 04, 2014

This is extraordinary film of the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Viscount Hidemaro Konoye, brother of the pre-War Japanese prime minister and a vastly influential musician. Konoye, a pacifist, never subscribed to Nazi ideology. He was a fervent devotee of the music of Gustav Mahler and made, in 1930, the world’s first recording of Mahler’s fourth symphony.

To see him conducting an overtly political concert beneath the murderous swastika comes as something of a shock.
hidemaro konoye conducting

Comments

  • Reinhold Martin says:

    He was a really fine conductor. More information and music he recorded in Berlin at that time: http://www.pristineclassical.com/pasc288.html

    By the way there had been other conductors active in Berlin under the Nazi sign. For instance: Furtwängler, Karajan, Böhm, Knappertsbusch, Beecham, Mengelberg etc etc….

  • Nick says:

    I once found a DVD in Japan of rare footage of conductors during the Reich. One has Karajan accompanying Winifred Wagner and the Bayreuth forces to recently conquered Paris. His conducting style then was almost the total opposite of what it became in later years – very active, eyes wide open, almost jerky mannerisms on the podium, not unlike Solti.

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