Harvey Seigel (BSO violin, 1971-1997) oral history interview: Seigel, Harvey, interviewee, 1997-11-20T00:00:00+00:00, 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Cassette 75: Oral history conducted by Robert Ripley on November 20, 1997.

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT

Tape 75, Side A

0:21 RECORDING BEGINS: HARVEY SEIGEL CONT'D

0:21-4:06 discussion of the NBC orchestra and music in New York; attending NBC orchestra rehearsals with MISCHAKOFF; memories of watching ANSWERMET conduct the NBC orchestra

4:06-6:01 played in an over-the-top style with Mischakoff; considered the material to be performed and played, not treated as historical documents; played with Leon BARZAN in the National Orchestral organization, friendship with Roger SHERMONT and Sydney HEARTH; played with Dean DIXON

6:53-16:15 anecdotes about playing with Mischa MISCHAKOFF; stories of Mischa's penny-pinching; technical training with Mischa; was intimidated by him, but enjoyed working with him; later played in quartet with Mischakoff in Chitacqua with Matt GORDON and Laszlo BARTER; left Julliard after 3 years

16:15-19:51 went into National Symphony as his first job, played for two years under Howard MITCHELL as conductor; Mitchell was not the strongest conductor, but made substantive and useful comments to orchestra about creating a distinct sound

20:01-28:54 next went to Detroit Symphony, which had recently undergone reorganization after conflict around conductor KRUEGER; new conductor Paul PARAEY was brought in, imported new violins, found new source of funding; Mischa came as concertmaster, which is how Seigel was connected to the orchestra; played with a trio and other chamber groups in Detroit

28:54-32:58 friendship with Al GENOVESE; made connection with Paul SCHREIBER, who invited him and Genovese to the St Louis Symphoneta for summer performances for the Columbia Concert Series; borrowed a Stradivarius violin from Mischa

32:58-33:41 personal life; second marriage was with a woman he met in Detroit

33:41-37:34 on return to Toronto, realized friends were very successful here, decided to move back and did well for himself too through freelance work; began feeling bored with the music he could play as a freelancer, moved to Montreal with friends to join the Montreal Symphony

37:34-42:12 aside about time in Detroit playing chamber music with CHAJES; story of composer CASTELNUOVO-TEDSCO writing a new series "greeting cards" based on note associations with the card recipients' name

42:12-43:46 Montreal Symphony; taped many ballets and operas, continued to play chamber music; had some personal problems and decided to make a change

43:46-44:59 heard of audition for BSO; friendship with Joey SILVERSTEIN and Jules ESKELENS who encouraged him to audition

44:59 RECORDING ENDS

Tape 75, Side B

0:14 RECORDING BEGINS: HARVEY SEIGEL CONT'D

0:14-3:00 audition for the BSO precipitated by issues in his personal life; discussion of meeting wife Martha BABCOCK in Montreal Symphony, Harvey decided to follow her to Boston

3:00-6:22 audition for BSO was with STEINBERG; first audition was in Symphony Hall, then again at Tanglewood;

6:22-8:24 aside about MISCHAKOFF as concertmaster in Philadelphia with STOKOWSKI; Mischakoff quit the Philadelphia Orchestra after being singled out to play in front of everyone

8:24-12:13 more on BSO audition; was accepted and got position; had to manage paperwork to work in US due to Canadian citizenship; first impressions of the BSO were very positive

12:13-23:30 only played with Seiji OZAWA; positive experience with LEINSDORF as a guest conductor; reflections on Colin DAVIS as a very strong guest conductor; sense of OZAWA as being very talented, but not the right man for the BSO based on his non-European style, felt guest conductors could get more out of the orchestra than OZAWA could, HAITINK and HEMPSTEAD as conductors; feel that performers today show how they feel about the music, rather than how they want the audience to feel

23:30-26:37 music outside the BSO in Boston; joined Ripley's quartet; very little teaching experience, taught briefly at the Longy School in recent years

27:05-28:36 plans for retirement; loves to paint and draw, build model airplanes; is excited to just be on vacation while in his retirement, does not plan to stop playing violin

28:36-30:54 story of Joe GINGOLD and NBC Quartet in Toronto when Harvey was very young; Gingold lent Harvey a violin to play;

30:54-37:31 memories of HEIFITZ and MISCHAKOFF; they would play quartets together with the two of them and Ernst WALLFISH and Paul ALEFSKY; reconnecting with HEIFITZ in Detroit

37:44 INTERVIEW CONCLUDES