Albie:

>I must also admit that, having played many of those pieces (albeit in a
>student orchestra, where the conductor's gestures *must* be simple and
>crystal clear), and then watching Karajan's conducting, most of the time
>I hadn't the foggiest idea what he was doing!  So rarely did a gesture
>coincide with an actual beat (or even look like a beat at all), or he might
>look to be beating out a different tempo to what you were hearing the
>orchestra actually play...  I mean, I like most of the musical results,
>but WHAT THE HECK WAS GOING ON???!!!:-P

This interests me a good deal.  My own orchestral experience only extends
as far as "simple and crystal clear" (for fear of all the players getting
completely lost), and I have never played for a conductor who did not
regard clarity of expression as a primary duty.  But I have also been a
concert-goer for 35 years or so, and I have seen many conductors who have
produced wonderful performances without making a single movement that could
possibly be described as clear, unambiguous, rhythmical or in time with the
orchestra.  Obviously whatever it is that they do must be either done in
rehearsal or done in ways so subtle that they can only be picked up by the
orchestra and not by the audience.  Would orchestral players be able to
shed some light?

Ian C
[log in to unmask]