In Reply to: Jeez, Chris. posted by Rick W on January 7, 2017 at 15:57:23:
Yup, good point. But it's also true that the days of a single conductor carefully molding his orchestra for decades are long gone, and instead we have international "big name" conductors jetting from city to city, though that doesn't mean they don't develop good working relations with certain orchestras on a semi-formal or informal basis.
And imo Chris is right (darn it!) that a top orchestra could play the Dvorak symphonies without a conductor, even the relatively obscure early ones. The most a guest or even a regular conductor would likely do is make some general decisions about overall approach, tempo, balance and certain key passages. All that matters, but often less than one might think.
OTOH, the success of a recording, as opposed to a live performance, depends very much on a team of people in addition to the orchestra, only one of whom is the conductor. All of which means it's hard to judge a conductor from competent recordings of standard repertoire by top orchestras.
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Follow Ups
- "The personality is in the music" - rbolaw 19:33:22 01/07/17 (25)
- RE: "The personality is in the music" - Rick W 21:52:57 01/07/17 (24)
- I'm a Kertesz fan - rbolaw 07:59:03 01/08/17 (6)
- There's a bit of arrogance when someone claims to follow your (and Rick's) last statement - Chris from Lafayette 09:33:44 01/08/17 (4)
- RE: There's a bit of arrogance when someone claims to follow your (and Rick's) last statement - Rick W 12:37:53 01/08/17 (0)
- Well, no arrogance intended, rather respect - rbolaw 12:24:33 01/08/17 (1)
- My bad - I tried to word that last subject line carefully - didn't mean you or Rick were being arrogant - Chris from Lafayette 16:36:48 01/08/17 (0)
- RE: There's a bit of arrogance when someone claims to follow your (and Rick's) last statement - Ivan303 10:02:27 01/08/17 (0)
- If you like Kertesz and Dvorak, this box set is worth a look... - Ivan303 08:53:47 01/08/17 (0)
- The point is not that an orchestra couldn't play without a conductor in charge - Chris from Lafayette 00:34:25 01/08/17 (16)
- Kind of a general response. - Rick W 09:04:28 01/08/17 (15)
- RE: Kind of a general response. - Old Listener 10:54:57 01/08/17 (10)
- I see a list like yours, and I think. . . - Chris from Lafayette 16:53:43 01/08/17 (9)
- RE: I see a list like yours, and I think. . . - Old Listener 08:41:50 01/09/17 (7)
- Excellent idea - Chris from Lafayette 01:10:32 01/10/17 (6)
- RE: Excellent idea - Old Listener 23:25:08 01/10/17 (2)
- RE: Excellent idea - Chris from Lafayette 01:12:19 01/11/17 (1)
- RE: Excellent idea - Old Listener 07:17:20 01/11/17 (0)
- RE: Excellent idea - johngladneyproffitt 11:14:40 01/10/17 (2)
- Excelent recording.... - Ivan303 16:12:59 01/10/17 (0)
- Yes - Thanks, John - I haven't gotten around to that Bosch cycle yet - Chris from Lafayette 12:11:34 01/10/17 (0)
- RE: " but music making just didn't stop in the 70's" - Ivan303 20:47:44 01/08/17 (0)
- Rick - I don't disagree with your post, but see my post above ("There's a bit of arrogance. . . ") - Chris from Lafayette 09:44:25 01/08/17 (3)
- Part of it us one's upbringing. - rbolaw 14:35:22 01/08/17 (2)
- Understood - no problem with that [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 16:38:09 01/08/17 (1)
- But having said all that - rbolaw 18:40:58 01/08/17 (0)