Driving me crazy

If playing the clarinet is like driving an automatic (give it gas and it'll go), then playing the bassoon is like driving a manual, with 8 clutches, that sometimes it won't go into gear no matter how gently you press the clutch or how much gas you give it!

The Bassoon

After about 10 hours of practice I can play the Bassoon!
Dynamics: on/off
Intonation: +- semitone
Rhythm: note speaks in the same bar
Vibrato: none

What's the point of a conductor? Part II

Part I talked about the ubiquity of quality classical music in the modern era. That should be good right? I'm not so sure.

Take a look at this video of Liberace:

http://conductorland.tumblr.com/post/58939768438
I find it depressing, and not just because it's a lousy performance. What's disturbing is to hear a lack of commitment in the music. Liberace isn't interested in Tchaikovsky's music here and that cheapens the music. What's worse is this opened his show night after night!

Shostakovich 5 

This summer I listened to an academy orchestra as they prepared, in the span of a week: Shostakovich's Symphony No 5, Beethoven's 8th and a modern piece I've already forgotten (oh, it's Fandangos). The conductor was a high-profile music director who is prominent on the conducting circuit. (A post on pedestrian conductors will come later). His main purpose here is to introduce the next quote by Furtwangler about his task as a conductor.

Furtwangler

Nowadays people are apt to praise a clean and accurate reproduction of what's written in the score above everything else....Broadly, one can say, that no matter how high the technical capacity of an orchestra, the conductor has one archenemy to fight: routine. Routine is something very human, very understandable. It's the line of least resistance and there's no denying that in daily life it has its advantages. But all the more must we insist that it plays the most deadly role in music, especially in the performance of old and familiar works. In fact routine, with its loveless mediocrity and its treacherous perfection, lies like a rust on the performance of the most beautiful and best know works.
- Wilhelm Furtwangler

From an interview with H. Brailsford in London November 2nd 1948
Can be heard on Spotify: Furtwangler's Beethoven (1954-1954)
Transcript: http://www2.ee.ntu.edu.tw/~d85010/furtboard/speech/bbc1.html

Conclusion

The symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Mahler have been recorded hundreds of times -- there's no shortage. While every concert is branded an marketed as an "event," the truth is that it's the same repertoire conducted by the same conductors who travel the conducting circuit year after year. Who are these conductors? They're the folks who get along so as to be re-invited next year -- they don't break the routine of the orchestra! 

The problem I have with summer festivals, and so many performances in general, is that there is a lack of commitment behind them, they're routine run-throughs of repertoire and they aren't special.

What's the point of a conductor? Part I

Kennedy's Complaint

I read an article about the violinist Nigel Kennedy a few days ago.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/30/nigel-kennedy-interview-conductors-overrated

In it he gives the complaint that has been around as long as conductors have existed (I assume) -- what do they do? Even most conductors would acknowledge that any decent orchestra can put on a good performance of an "warhorse" without a conductor.

I'd add a joke along the following lines: "Those who can't perform, teach -- and those who can't teach, conduct!" 

let them believe is was their magic hands

Marcel Tabuteau had a devilish comment at the end of his lessons: "My dear little friends, between us! Don't give my secrets to anyone! Especially to conductors! Let them believe is was the magic hands that did the trick!"

Most musicians know the repertoire better than ever

Summer festivals are everywhere these days -- pick a scenic setting, recruit faculty and the students will come. The purpose of these festivals is straightforward: they provide performance opportunities for young musicians. Therefore, a successful festival programs many concerts into a the span of a few weeks. For the most part, the performances are good -- the music is played technically accurately and in the proper style. And this happens not just all across the United States, across the globe even! As musicians will tell you, "standards are always rising," and that may well be attributed to these festivals.

So if musicians know the repertoire better than ever and can get along without a conductor, what's the point of a conductor these days?