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Music

The most powerful man in classical music

Ronald Wilford invented the chimera of ‘the great conductor’ and, as president of Columbia Artists, sold it at unimaginable profit

27 June 2015

9:00 AM

27 June 2015

9:00 AM

When Margaret Thatcher imagined perfect power, she thought of the orchestral conductor. ‘She envied me,’ said Herbert von Karajan, ‘that people always did what I requested.’ Power, however, is a mirage that fades as you get close. What Mrs Thatcher saw were the trappings, never the essence. Great conductors might get the glory, but someone else pulled the strings.

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