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