Claude Debussy did not like the way Felix Weingartner conducted Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony"with the care of a conscientious gardener. He tidied it so neatly as to produce the illusion of a meticulously finished landscape in which the gently undulating hills are made of plush at ten francs the yard, and the foliage is crimped with curling tongs." Weingartner survived this crushing criticism, was one of the most celebrated conductors of his day (1863-1942). In Vienna, Berlin and in the U.S., which he visited twice, he was noted for his performances of the Beethoven...
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