Kevin Sutton responds to Ron Chaplin:

>Ron Chaplin asks:
>
>>I was wondering if any list members would care to comment on gymnastic
>>conductors they've seen.  Thanks, as always.
>
>Yes indeed.  As a conductor myself, I must say that the gymnasts are about
>as annoying as an out of tune oboe.  Andrew Litton is notorious for the
>amount of hang time he gets in a concert, and I cannot see where is serves
>the music at all.
>
>Those conductors who hop and dance and carry on are doing so simply to
>attract attention to themselves.  It's distracting and unclear to the
>musicians, and tiresome from an audience perspective.  As a younger man,
>I did all that stuff too, until I watched a video tape of myself and
>realized how stupid I looked up there gesticulating like a wounded octopus.

Jun'ichi Hirokami comes to mind as one of the most unnecessarily and
annoyingly athletic conductors I have ever seen.  To paraphrase:  extensive
sound and fury signifying nothing.  The first time he stood up precariously
balanced on the rungs of a tall stool during rehearsal I feared he might
fall off.  To my dismay, I realized as the rehearsal wore on that I was
waiting for him to do so.

Jane Erb