>A friend of mine who was involved in one of his Dutch opera productions a
>year or two ago said that the fact he had no stick technique at all worked
>- in a perverse way - to the advantage of the music, because it forced the
>singers and orchestral players to listen ultra-hard to one another simply
>in order to survive, and made the results unusually involving!

I wonder whether 'stick technique' is the right term at all.  The few
occassions at which I saw Gergiev conduct (a performance of Shostakovich's
seventh in 2002, the recent premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Johannes-cycle
and the DVD of la Forza del Destino), I believe he never used a baton!
The technique with which he moves his hands is probably musically unclear
but fascinating nonetheless.  How can one have his hands so relaxed, yet
vibrate at such a tremendous speed without getting cramps?

Jan