Volcano

Towering aloft like a column of smoke and fire, Otto Klemperer "volcano of Wiesbaden," brandished the baton relinquished last week by Eugene Goosens as guest conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra, and conducted the first of 26 concerts scheduled for his first visit to the U.S.

Klemperer's reputation is as striking as his stature (nearly 7 ft.) and appearance. Artur Bodanzky, conductor of the Metropolitan Opera Co., who knew him as a young man, declares, "He has never been known to approach a musical composition from a conventional or customary angle." Born in 1885 (the year Walter Damrosch first conducted the New York Symphony), he spent his early years in the operatic field. He was still in his early 20's when Gustav Mahler sought and secured his services as conductor in the German Opera House at Prague. Strasburg, Cologne and Berlin knew him for several years. He went to Wiesbaden in 1923. It is his practice to spend half of each year traveling outside of Germany, so that Russia, Spain, Italy and Austria are familiar with his dark, dynamic genius.