Peppery, indomitable Sir Thomas Beecham last week launched his Mexico City Mozart festival (TIME, July 31).
Taking over the orchestra directed by his rival, the Opera Nacional's Jascha Horenstein, Sir Thomas found evidence of his predecessor's influence in rehearsal. "You know what we do with a musician like him in England?" snapped Sir Thomas. "We clap him in the Tower!" By the time Sir Thomas was through, Mexico City's ornate marble Palacio de Bellas Artes resounded with some of the most warmly polished Mozart that Mexicans had ever heard. The audience at the...
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