O.k., Matthew, I dont have the same experience as you comparing old & new conductors & the kind of musician committees. My experience is a bit longer & with most great calibers (most of them dead now ! How was the word ? "Dead conductor, good conductor"?? ) No, no, it is quite different than you said. Modern conductors are travelling conductors who perform their repertory over & over. If they study a symphony new to them, they perform it here and there & at a third & fourth place many many times, but the performances dont get better by the time. Old style conductors - like Wolfgang Sawallisch - could do even things WITHOUT a long preparation. They could play a R.Strauss or Alban Berg score on the piano so to get an idea about the piece. Where has this art gone ? And they were not just stars, they were very accessible regarding their programs. But todays conductors do very hard with (forced) program changes. They rehearse even their (!) programs over & over, even with the same orchestra, and the same spots in the symphony again & again. What for ? As they are most insecure about their own tempos they MUST rehearse the tempo changes over & over again. But I noticed, that even they give an introductory (empty) beat, the orchestra plays at its speed & the fellow infront has the only survival chance following the orchestra. Some of them just follow the score while the orchestra is playing (no names here , please !), while the good old conductors just had the score there & turned the pages but rarely looked into the score. Dimitri Mitropoulos had all the rehearsal numbers stored in his brain - and used it during the rehearsals. Well, he was an exemption. Knappertsbusch had been asked why he had the score at his music table during the performance & others not. He replied, he had it there because he could read the score !
The old conductor stars permitted (even rarely) to escape one rehearsal for an important reason (scheduled solo concert or chamber concert), while many modern conductors would never allow such extras. They (perhaps) see every musician as "same gifted" as they are themselves, so to need all rehearsals. If just one member is missing, they get extremely nervous, if the replacement can "make it with that few remaining rehearsals". This is not exaggerating, this is the truth from long time experience. Etc.etc. - a never ending story. ============================================================ ============================================================ ============ Matthew Scheffelman wrote: <Hans, Maybe you have answered one crucial question.What is the difference between the old greats and the newer"super stars"? In one of your most recent posts you mentioned LISTENING. Listening is One of the qualities lacking both in modern conductors and modern quasi Musicians. Even at the highest levels today, listening has only become used for the answer to "I am in tune, I am playing the right rhythm, therefor I am right". The contrary to this is flexibility, shaping of the sound.... etc..... Many modern conductors learn their scores by FOLLOWING along with a recording. Even great ones use this technique. While the opportunity to conduct may be farther a few between, many conductors are learning MANY bad habits with this method. I believe the "New School" of conductors is quite great in many areas and with many people. For starters, it is a different way of going about rehearsal because of the extreme performance technique of the modern orchestral musician. There are not many reasons to be "old school" and yell rant and rave at the orchestra as there are MUCH fewer mistakes in execution by the top level orchestras. The relationship between the orchestra and the music director has changed also. There are more collaborations about programs between a "musicians committee" and the music director so programs and taste can be shown to come from within, rather the the singular vision of the conductor. This sharing and evolution is felt by the public through the performances which have personal meaning for the collective orchestra. Contrasting this with a "old school" conductor who chooses programs within his/her comfort zone, and missing what the collective orchestra might connect with more readily.> _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
