Have you ever wondered what the function of a conductor is? Why is his figure so important in a symphony orchestra if he does not emit any sound and his only activity is to trace figures in the air with a baton?
In this article we explain it in detail and with an example given by Carlos Miguel Prieto, our artistic director, about Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, which is part of our Summer Season 2022.
By HRJ
Waiting for sound
Darkness sets in and the voices die out in the concert hall.
On stage, the symphony orchestra is also silent.
Instruments and audiences expect
What are you waiting for?
Sound.
And when the sound arrives, the pause becomes a presence, but no longer an individual one, but a mystical one:
People pause their own presence, for a moment they stop recording themselves, their private life full of commitments and worries, and through music they open up to the encounter of something inexplicable.
But between the silent wait and the emergence of sound, between the pause and the music, something had to have happened.
And that something is the conductor.
What does a conductor do?
The conductor walks out with his baton in hand, crosses the middle of the stage, goes up to the podium and stands in front of the symphony orchestra.
Some people in the audience applaud because they somehow sense that they must rely on his figure for the music to emerge.
But the music begins and the conductor does not make any sound, the only thing he does is to trace figures in the air with his baton.
And again:
Some people in the audience sense that what he is doing is very important for the symphonic music to be sounding so good, but they are not able to define exactly where that importance lies.
And they are absolutely right, because it is not self-evident.
The obvious thing is the sound (the instruments joining their voices).
What is obvious is that a score needs an orchestra to exist.
What is obvious is that an orchestra needs a score to make music.
But the role of the conductor is not obvious, but invisible:
The result of what you are doing cannot be heard or seen directly.
He performs in silence, in the shadows, and the importance of his work lies precisely in the fact that between a score and an orchestra an interpreter is needed.
The notes are written and immutable. However, in a work there are endless details, nuances and readings that need to be interpreted and expressed from a defined expression.
Let's think, for example, of a literary simile:
Read aloud a poem:
Although words and punctuation are defined and cannot be changed, the experience of this poem will be radically transformed from one voice to another, as each person will give it his or her own particular timbre, his or her own reading, and, above all, his or her very individual expression.
And let us take into account that at a technical level there are some readings that are simpler than others. For example, there are experimental writings that dispense with periods (such as some stories by García Márquez, whose sonorous equivalent could be to eliminate the bars of musical phrases, as Erik Satie did for the first time in music).
In these cases, the reader must have a deep prior knowledge of the intentions, structures and meanings of each text.
The same is true for sounds:
They must be read, interpreted and expressed from an individuality.
Just as there are virtuoso violinists, pianists and singers, there are also virtuoso musicians, and these are the ones who conduct orchestras.
Therefore, the importance of a conductor lies in making sense of the sounds. Without his or her intervention, the music would be a disorganized and incoherent chaos.
The orchestra conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería
Since 2006, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería has been conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto, one of the most outstanding conductors of his generation.
As our Summer Season 2022 revolves around Beethoven, we asked Carlos Miguel what his particular interpretation of the very famous Symphony No. 5 is, and his answer is a perfect way to exemplify what a conductor's job is all about:
"About the Fifth Symphony I would say that when you start to do it you have technical challenges that initially seem very difficult and little by little you realize how to overcome them and then you enter into very specific challenges related to the fact that there are certain traditions or certain ways of thinking some phrases that are not written like that, but it has become common to do it, like a certain ritardando in this or that measure. What happens with Beethoven, at least for me, is that every time is an opportunity to do what is written in the score without modifying it. Why? Because what is written is already enormously challenging, enormously unique. And that is already a very special challenge. In the case of the Fifth Symphony, of the very famous first movement, the challenge involves for me trying to do what is written, which implies not making variations in tempo until the first movement appears. variations in tempo until the first ritardando that is actually written in the piece appears. Lately for me it is a very interesting pursuit to phrase in a longer way. Beethoven sometimes writes in very short units, in very short motives that are repeated and it is very easy, if it is not done well, that the sound can fall into the repetitive. And for me the obsession of my recent times is to deviate from certain bad habits that we acquire when we want to imitate something. For me the challenge is to make my interpretation based on my reading of the score, which has been changing after having played this symphony many times".
"Join us for our 2022 Summer Season!
