Re: what are conductors thinking?


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Posted by Tony Clements on March 08, 2001 at 09:37:51:

In Reply to: what are conductors thinking? posted by in disbelief.... on March 06, 2001 at 20:20:40:

I could write a book!

Two experiences. I was playing a piece with orchestra (NOT the SJ Symphony). We were playing a modern piece with a lot of percussion. After we played the piece, the (guest) conductor turned around and said to the audience,"The percussion section played this piece terribly. We will play it again to see if they can get it right." And we did.....and they didn't.

I was playing the Vaughan-Williams. The conductor did NOT prepare and did not know the piece. The one rehearsal I got with them was their ONLY rehearsal on the piece (I found out later). The next day, I got together with the conductor to TEACH him the piece. Got to the gig, at BOTH cadenzas, he got lost and I had to wait for him to bring the group back in. At the second cadenza (near the end) I counted a FULL 20 SECONDS before he realized there were 3 more bars of music to be played.

I got a million of 'em.

To answer the question: "What are they thinking?" They're not!


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