Roger Hecht wrote:

>Memory's tricky, but I seem to remember Stokowski didn't use one.
>
>Others might not have either.  I only saw Szell conduct forty years ago.
>I don't know if he had one either.  What about Furtwangler? Funny: it's
>not the thing I noticed, either in the audience or in the orchestra.  So
>take all this under advisement.
>
>Even without a baton, you can follow the real artist.  You read his/her
>body language and get used to the conductor's style.

I missed the first posting, so I may repeat something here.

Karajan sometime performed sans baton, and with his eyes closed.

Furtwaengler, from the videos I've seen, looked much like a marionette,
no baton, both arms raised - looked pretty difficult to follow to me.

Mark
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