Arturo Toscanini, about to rehearse Milan's La Scala orchestra for his concert this week, confessed he was "frightened," called it off till the next day. "I am not worried about the public, which leaves me quite indifferent," he explained. "It is the orchestra. . . . It is 16 years since I last saw them. . . ." Next day the maestro was back in shape, shouted, stamped, gave a workman holy Ned for whistling.
Sir Thomas Beecham, chin-whiskered conductor of the London Philharmonic, who sounds off at the drop of a demiquaver, steamed into...
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