A View from the Rear

Memoirs of a Virtuoso Timpanist in the Orchestra's Golden Age

Saul Goodman

At 19 years old, Saul Goodman became timpanist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under renowned conductor Arturo Toscanini. Forty-six years later, he retired as one of the most celebrated orchestral musicians of all time. During his illustrious career as composer, inventor, and timpanist, he performed on over 1,000 recordings, placed his students in the world’s major symphony orchestras, and set standards in percussion performance and pedagogy that remain in place to this day. His memoires, and those of his students, trace his musical development and take the reader on a voyage of his unique experiences during the greatest era of the American symphony orchestras.