Rodney DeCecco ([log in to unmask]) wrote: >Boult was even more economical of gesture than Reiner. He also had the >longest baton in the business. Check out Franz Konwitschny, whose baton also looked about 3 foot long. I have to say that my friend insists that Reiner's beat was so small as to be virtually undetectable; there is apparently a famous story about a bass player with the CSO who had come into money (and therefore didn't care about his job) pulling out a pocket telescope to observe Reiner's beat (opera singers also compalined a lot about it). The bass player was fired BTW. Boult's beat, OTOH, which I did witness for myself, was a model of clarity. Deryk Barker [log in to unmask]