Composer, Conductor, Cosmopolite [Goossens] 2/23/29

Among the Englishmen who make the music of the present day, Eugène Goossens is an inspiring figure. He is an interpreter as well as creator; as orchestral conductor he breaks the exclusiveness that surrounds a composer. He finds himself a member of the living musical world; he faces audiences, and audiences respond to him. He carries music to them-music of all times, with his contribution as a self-portrait. When, in Hollywood, he conducts a performance in the open air and makes the ten thousand of the arena listen with understanding to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, he enjoys the privilege that few, if any, composers ever have had; and, when to the public that admires him as an inspiring dispenser of symphonic delights he offers his own music, he lastingly establishes himself in the musical brains as well as in the musical hearts-for if success on the concert platform may be disputed, creative achievement, palpably demonstrated, seals tight the doubting lips.