The voice of the Cleveland Orchestra: George Szell liked dirty jokes
mainRobert Conrad, known as ‘the voice of the Cleveland Orchestra’ is the longest-serving orchestra announcer in broadcast history.
Talking to Zsolt Bognar on Living the Classical Life, he has some tales from the locker-room about Szell, Maazel and Glenn Gould.
Robert Conrad – Living the Classical Life: Episode 66 from Elyria Pictures on Vimeo.
You can read that Mike Nichols’ announcer’s audition here:
“The announcer’s lot is not a happy one”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Announcer%27s_test
What a great interview – I know his voice well. Thank you for sharing.
Yet another brilliant interview from Zsolt Bognar. Classy but not stuffy. Informative, charming and entertaining.
I try not miss Live from Severance even when I´m in Europe. I didn´t know these concerts are on demand but the thrill of listening live and not delayed live is wonderful. Well done Robert Conrad.
Are there many males who DON’T enjoy dirty jokes? Who are these sad creatures?
Having listened to RC over the years there is a monumental quality to his voice which isn’t captured in this interview. Not sure if it’s due to age or acoustics but back in the day his CO taped recordings had a historic quality to them. Unfortunately only the 58-59 season was recorded before RC began in 1965.
Delightful man, lovely interview. Charming interviewer, a Hungarian like Szell and me!