You're wondering what an orchestra conductor does? and here we’ll answer that for you.
If all the musicians already have their sheet music on their music stands, why do we need someone with a baton in their hand making strange gestures?
Is it pure just for show?
No.
Its function has to do with interpretation.
That is why we need a conductor
Musical composition can be divided into two dimensions:
- The obvious one: where there's an F-sharp, it's always an F-sharp.
- In *The Invisible*, the F-sharp can be used to build suspense, convey hope, evoke fear, or heighten the sense of mystery.
In this regard, the composer has an expressive device:
Dynamic markings, which help you describe tempo, volume, and expressive intent in words.
Three examples:
- Beethoven: “sad, with great expression.”
- Mahler: “like a sound of nature.”
- Satie: “play as if you had a toothache.”
What would happen without a conductor?
Now imagine 60 musicians in a symphony orchestra.
Everyone has their own way of interpreting sadness, nature, and toothaches.
What's going on?
60 different emotions in a single sound.
Chaos.
Intemperance.
The play becomes incomprehensible.
The role of a conductor
Therefore, the role of a conductor is, to a large extent, to clearly establish how “sad” it should sound.
A longing sadness, a heart-wrenching sadness, or a light sadness?
Clearly define what kind of “nature sounds”
Reassuring, annoying, scary, or distant?
Clearly define whether “toothache”:
Is it just starting, can it be relieved with pain medication, or does it require bone removal?
Once the conductor has clearly established the expressive intent behind each sound, he must be able to convince the 60 musicians to follow his lead.
To persuade them to inhabit his poetry.
The Importance of a Conductor
A painting doesn't change.
The starry night is always the same starry night.
Something incredible happens with music:
The same play is never the same play.
Let's take as an example Parsifal, Wagner’s last opera:
- A version by Pierre Boulez lasts three and a half hours
- A version by Reginald Goodall is about five hours long.
The same play, the same music, the same score…
The Paradox of a Conductor
The paradox of being a conductor is becoming the go-to authority on a piece you don't like.
Let's take the example of the legendary Pierre Monteux (1875–1964).
- He conducted the world premiere in Paris of the The Rite of Spring (1913) by Igor Stravinsky.
- He led it continuously for five decades.
- He recorded it four times in the studio.
However, The Rite of Spring was not to Pierre Monteux’s liking!
What is life like for a conductor?
When he was conducting Beethoven and Brahms, Pierre Monteux was in his element.
In fact, almost any 19th-century work brought him joy and peace of mind.
His ideal life was to travel the world performing the works of Schumann, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky.
But Stravinsky prevailed in the end.
For its success in The Rite of Spring, theaters began to regard him as the perfect conductor for the daring music of that radical composer.
So Pierre Monteux conducted more works by Stravinsky, such as Petrushka and the Symphony of the Psalms.
Without meaning to.
Without asking.
Without enjoying it.
The Spiritual Profile of a Conductor
The example of Pierre Monteux is ubiquitous and universal:
To be a conductor, you need to cultivate a sense of impermanence.
Understand that sometimes fate decides for you.
If there is one thing that Pierre Monteux’s example shows, it is that he did not choose his artistic legacy.
But he didn't resist.
On the contrary, she served him with infectious passion.
Listening to his recordings of The Rite of Spring, from the oldest to the newest (1929, 1951, 1956, and 1963), one thing is clear:
Each one is wilder than the next.
More striking.
More powerful.
So, what does a conductor do?:
To perform a piece until it becomes extraordinary music.
