Long-Term Conductor

A clatter of applause rose last week in St. Louis' Kiel Auditorium Opera House as one of the city's most distinguished citizens appeared on the stage. Debonair, white-haired Vladimir Golschmann, 62, bowed; this Parisian son of Russian parents was obviously very much at home. Then he turned, and whisked his baton over the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. On the program: Pianist Lukas Foss, playing his own Concerto No. 2. Conductor Golschmann has led his orchestra for 25 years--longer than the tenure of any other U.S. conductor now working.

During his quarter century, Conductor Golschmann has become a part of St. Louis. His collection of modern French painting has left the imprint of his taste on the city ("There are more than 90 Picassos in San Lewis," he says in his compromise Gallic-American pronunciation, "and I am only talking of the first-rate ones"). His poker playing has contributed much to the liveliness of the game in St. Louis. And his music has opened St. Louis ears to the contemporary world.

When Golschmann went to St. Louis with a three-year contract in 1931 (since renewed, year after year, on a one-year basis), Beethoven, Brahms and Wagner were St. Louis' idea of symphonic music. Golschmann has tried to program at least one 20th-century work every concert. Says he: "The Beethoven fans will have all the best recordings of him anyway, and the young people in the balcony really like contemporary music."

He likes the musical melting pot that characterizes the U.S. "In Europe one hears a great deal of national music. But here! Everyone knows Wagner and Brahms, Debussy and Ravel, Vivaldi and Resphigi, Falla and Tchaikovsky, and a conductor of a major orchestra has to be able to do the whole lot."

Golschmann's sound conducting of the whole lot has put the St. Louis Symphony in the first ten U.S. orchestras, with a fine musical reputation, a healthy budget of $375,000, and about 4.000 subscribers. Last week Golschmann was proudly showing visitors his most recent acquisition--not a canvas, but a 6-in.-by-8-in. silver plaque on which was the autograph of each of the 24 musicians who have been with him during his 25 St. Louis years. Says he proudly: "The number of us who have been together so long shows a great stability in our orchestra."

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