Let’s hear it for the nice conductors
NewsRichard Morrison in The Times today:
When, how and why did top conductors become so nice? It’s a fascinating question because I can’t think of another artistic profession for which the qualities needed to succeed have changed so much in my lifetime.
The most obvious change, of course, is that it’s no longer a giant advantage to be male. Yes, I know that a few pioneering women were conducting orchestras decades ago, but when I first began reviewing concerts you could go for years without encountering any of them.
Now, however, if I had to name the 20 most interesting conductors in the world under 40, at least ten would be women. Finally, classical music is harnessing the talent of the other half of humanity! It’s centuries too late, but still a massive transformation.
What’s worth debating is whether women conductors have made this breakthrough because the dynamic between conductors and orchestras has changed beyond recognition, or whether it’s the other way around. Has it been the arrival of women conductors that has changed the dynamic?
Read on here.
Nett ist die kleine Schwester von Scheiße
(the German definition of “nice”)
That’s what old mysigonistic, cantankerous farts tell, yes.
That´s what mysogonist,frustrated,cantenkerous farts keep telling,yes….They didn´t even notice their war is over
What does that say about German orchestral players if they need a not-nice person in front of them before they can perform at the highest level…? Let’s hope this is not true for professional orchestras.
Impressive, did you Google translate this off of the book? You’re (you are) really smart…
Never ever heard this supposed “German definition”, and I am German and reasonably fluid in my native tongue. Might be local wherever you reside – and I’m glad I apparently live somewhere else in Germany.
Most likely it´s an old GDR joke…
Now if only Dalia were a good conductor…just imagine
Won’t happen…
We talked about this! No hate mongering before bed, or we will have to discuss the treatment again.
She is,enjoyed playing for her.
Oh gosh, your comment made me laugh so hard, I had to wipe tears. I mean, just the thought that you know what a good conductor is! I can’t even…you should really do a show.
No, women have not caused the “kinder/gentler” leadership phenomenon. Lots of psychology has revealed that people prefer to not be yelled at and HR tends to support an emotionally healthy work environment. I enjoy the nervous precision inspired by some of the past autocrats – Toscanini, Szell, Reiner, Klemperer – but I’ve enjoyed performances by more genial conductors as well.
What it really comes down to is a worker’s rights issue, and musicians feeling the freedom to bow out of unfavourable/uninspiring work environments. I can only speak for myself as a musician but I’ve been noticing a trend with concert season planning in the majority of orchestras. You either get:
Beethoven. Again. Because someone with a ton of money really likes Beethoven.
OR
A cheap, one-time-only, throw in of (insert non-white/male 19th C composer here) to appease what the CEO thinks will appeal to the current audience market, but which will really be utterly derivative music that if you squint sounds just like (insert white male composer here) INSTEAD of doing the right thing which would be to promote living composers.
OR
Yet another Beatles tribute, because slapping a 100 piece orchestra onto Hey Jude is what a spreadsheet somewhere said would grow audience numbers in 2003 and nobody’s bothered to redo the survey since then.
The future of orchestral programming really is music making by accountants rather than by artists, so if this is the way orchestras are going AND ON TOP OF THAT I have to be face-to-face with a complete ***-hole on the podium, I’d rather just not play in orchestras and do my own thing.
You’re on the fast track for management!
“The future of orchestral programming really is music making by accountants rather than by artists…”
Can you sketch your ideal season? Genuinely curious
You did not ask me, but…
I ran a “reader write-in” competition at Stereophile magazine, asking my readers to send in their ideal seasons, and it was a smashing success. Here’s my Fantasy Symphony Season. (Asbestos undies on!)
Concert 1
Toru Takemitsu: From Me Flows What You Call Time (1990) (32 min.)
Intermission
Frederick Delius: Piano Concerto (1906) (22 min.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1919) (14 min.)
TT: 68 min.
Concert 2
Jean Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise (1907) (16 min.)
Alexander Glazunov: Violin Concerto (1904) (22 min.)
Intermission
Jean Sibelius: Symphony 7 (1924) (24 min.)
TT: 62 min.
Concert 3
Roy Harris: Symphony 3 (1938) (16 min.)
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs (1948) (26 min.)
Intermission
Howard Hanson: Symphony 2, “Romantic” (1930) (32 min.)
TT: 74 min.
Concert 4
Fikret Amirov: Struggle and Immortality from A Tale of Nasimi (1969) (3 min.)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto 2 (1957) (22 min.)
Intermission
George Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (1911) (11 min.)
Claude Debussy: La Mer (1905) (24 min.)
TT: 60 min.
Concert 5
F.S. Kelly: Elegy in Memoriam Rupert Brooke for Harp and Strings (1915) (9 min.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: An Oxford Elegy (1949) (24 min.)
Intermission
Morten Lauridsen: Lux Æterna (1997) (28 min.)
TT: 61 min.
Concert 6
Sir John Barbirolli: An Elizabethan Suite (1942) (11 min.)
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto (1919) (28 min.)
Intermission
Edward Elgar: Symphony 2 (1911) (52 min.)
TT: 91 min.
Concert 7
Modest Mussorgsky: Dawn on the Moskva River, from Khovanshchina (1883) (8 min.)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (1934) (25 min.)
Intermission
Gustav Holst: The Planets (1916) (46 min.)
TT: 79 min.
Average TT: 71 min.
I think this proves that you can exclude 12 top-shelf composers, yet still have a captivating symphony season. My season tries to balance pieces most concertgoers may never have heard in concert (the Khovanshchina prelude) with pieces almost everyone knows (The Planets). And unless I missed something, with only one exception, my entire season is all 20th-century.
You might get decent attendance at Concert 7, perhaps also Concert 6, depending on the soloist.
Indeed – Dutoit quit over this in 2002, and was replaced by Lacombe (First guest conductor) and then Nagano, both eminently ‘nice’ conductors, though no less demanding. It’s not a ‘last 5 years’ kind of change.
Yes Bone – quite so. To your list, I could add Mravinsky. Listen to his white-hot Leningrad DG recording of Tchaikovsky’s 5th. Amazing what can be achieved when each player knows that if he doesn’t deliver perfection, he will end up in the gulag. The guy himself looked as though he spent his spare time off the podium as an amateur executioner.
Yes,it is a very good recording.Yet,the playing is tense,tight lipped,stifled…it doesn´t breathe…..Give me the Berlin Phil under Kiril P or the Concertgebouw or Czech Phil under Bychkov any time….As a longtime orchestra player:The best results come,when an ensemble of great,individual players interact,become part of the artistic vision of the conductor.Top level musicians don´t need a traffic cop,nor some opiniotated guy who doesn´t even produce physical sounds during the performance.And believe me,you can´t produce your best whwn you are under pressure and without being treated respectfullly.Conductor and musicians are equal….Concentration level is always higher whwn you are happy and inspired…Thanks God,those guys would not stay one term today…..On the other hand….Mrawinsky was also a victim,living under horrible pressure and oppression in an evil political system..Pressure always creates pressure.
I can assure you that for a top orchestra the likability of a conductor is absolutely secondary.
Glad to hear it. If it’s a choice between “Good” and “Nice”, I’d take “Good” every time.
Be honest. How often does that choice happen?
Then there are the “bad” and “not nice” conductors…
“for which the qualities needed to succeed have changed so much”
I couldn’t agree more – now you can succeed as a conductor without actually being capable of doing the job of performing music at the highest musical and intellectual level. Now the qualities you need are ticking the right boxes and looking good.
So come on then, don’t be shy, let us all see the names of the ten most undeserving conductors on the circuit i.e. those lacking the talent but tick the boxes.
Ladies First:
Mirga, Alondra, Mallwitz, Lyniv, Jacquot
And Gentlemen:
Bringuier, Rouvali, Wong, Macelaru, Cox
East german provincial bull,part 67…
Would you care for another cup of positive discrimination ?
Better yet, maybe there’re due for their next acid sweat of bigoted banter. They get it all out so that they can go out in public the next day.
Ben Gernon did pretty well with Walton 1 last night with BBC Phil (20oct22). Dunno what his ‘nice’ rating is tho…
I’m going to hypothesize that the jet airliner is a primary factor.
A major orchestra’s “music director” rarely conducts as many as half of their orchestra’s programs today because they also wish to guest conduct elsewhere and their orchestra can now easily fill the gap with interesting guest conductors from far off places.
All this guesting demands they be nice or they won’t be asked back… there is no shortage of other conductors who can get the job done well without being an ass about it.
Also… musicians unions have ended the era of conductors being able to scream, “YOU’RE FIRED!” Fear is no longer a useful tool.
It’s not rocket science to work this out.
Orchestras and the arts have become further and further professionalised – a good thing.
With modern professionalism comes things like HR departments. (Usually a good thing.)
The whole industry is just much more mature now when it comes to this stuff.
Why put up with a tyrant? We’ve all seen them. Conductors, directors… SOMETIMES, the artistic result at the end is so extraordinary that the artists think “well I suppose it was worth the abuse.” But most of the time it isn’t.
We’ve all worked enough now with great leaders who are sensitive, sensible, coax brilliant playing/singing out of their musicians without being an arsehole. We know it’s possible. So why would we put up with such behaviour any more?
The days of the diva opera singer are largely over. When Gheorghiu retires perhaps they will officially be gone.
The days of the tyrant conductor are largely gone too. Being a resident of the fair city of Sydney, I can think of a couple at Opera Australia who have built such a poor reputation within the orchestra and company for being arrogant, boastful, condescending, rude, and actually pretty crap at conducting too – it seems astonishing that the company hasn’t seen that inviting those conductors back is such a bad idea. Two or three made regular appearances – one bad idea is enough, another may be lic-ing his wounds otherwise unemployed in Italy, a third may be molling his next career move.
Directors too. Why do professional singers and professional choruses have to put up with megalomaniacs/tyrants/arseholes/monsters/sleezes.
We all know genius when we see it. Sometimes we can tolerate a little of the above in service of genius. But not much. When the above character traits are coupled with mediocrity? Why the hell bother?
So yes, it has changed – and absolutely for the better, for all involved. The only people upset about it are those without talent or genuine skill, who have got by on bluster for so long, and now aren’t being asked back.
It’s destruction of art. Leveling of talent to raise up mediocrity.
Ten women? What an appalling lack of standards for a professional. I can’t think of even one who has done something truly great.