Harding cancels LA with repetitive strain
mainThe LA Phil, caught short by a late Daniel Harding cancellation, has had to change its programme and press assistant conductor Paolo Bortolameolli into service.
Paolo will conduct
KNUSSEN O Hototogisu! fragment of a Japonisme (U.S. premiere)
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5, “Egyptian”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5
after Harding phoned in the recurrence of a a repetitive strain injury in his right shoulder.
He can’t conduct with the left arm?
Guess you’re not a conductor.
No, but I’ve played under conductors who can rehearse and conduct just fine without needing to mirror left and right hands and I’ve played under conductors for whom using both doesn’t help.
It doesn’t take two hands to beat time and cue and it doesn’t take two hands to explain what you want at rehearsal.
Keyboard players have been conducting with their chins for decades.
Conducting from the keyboard is doable when playing something like Mozart or Baroque music. But something like Bruckner or more modern stuff really does require a conductor able to use both hands.
Bernstein used to conduct things like Shostakovich and Ravel piano concertos from the keyboard.
Nothing about conducting that necessarily has to be done with the right arm. Donald Runnicles does quite well as a lefty. But he does have the use of his right arm for the stuff many conductors do with their left.
If he didn’t flail so much, he might have fewer problems.
If you didn’t talk so much, you might have a better life.
The best way to avoid repetitive strain is not to take the repeats!
This was the original program
KNUSSEN : O Hototogisu! fragment of a Japonisme (US premiere)
Olga NEUWIRTH : Masaot/Clocks without Hands (West Coast premiere)
Intermission
BRUCKNER : Symphony No. 4
Overperformed and undermaintained: not good for conductors’ health… Sorry. Cynicism aside, I hope Daniel recovers well. He might benefit looking at footage of Richard Strauss: the man barely uses his arms and hands, and mostly his eyes – keeping time and giving only the most necessary indications.