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Sat, 3 Nov 2001 19:48:09 -0700 |
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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
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