He has a point

One of the readings for my conducting class was Gunther Schuller's 'The Compleat Conductor', in which Schuller, a hornist, composer and occasional conductor discusses the conductor's freedom of interpretation. Actually, Schuller denies that there is really that much room for 'interpretation' - instead a score should be 'realised', a word that Ravel apparently preferred. With such an approach, a conductor can much better preserve the fidelity of the composer's intentions, and given that most of the popular composers are celebrated as geniuses, one certainly should! He then goes on and exhaustively catalogues the failings of hundreds of recordings by a great many conductors, saving his acclaim for only a precious few. Having written that book (and no doubt pissed off conductors all over the place), Schuller went as far as hiring an orchestra to record a couple of symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms (the fifth of the former and the latter's first) to demonstrate his convictions. That, he did really well!

I listened to the Beethoven today, and Schuller's really quite a unique Beethoven (haw haw, anime reference *), and I mean that in the best way. The orchestra was pressed for time when recording, and few of the players were professional orchestral musicians, rather hailing from string quartet or chamber backgrounds, so there are a bunch of technical imperfections in the music, but the blemishes even highlight the quality of the performance. The Beethoven felt really alive, with the unrelenting attention to the tempo markings and dynamics, and without the romantic histrionics that are often inflicted on the piece. The last movement in particular was mind-blowing. Mostly it's the fact that the clearer texture of the music allows parts to surface that are often lost in the focus on the very familiar main themes, but also because the tempi and dynamics are adhered to more, the excitement is maintained better throughout. There are actually some refreshingly unusual choices of execution for some of the markings, which I'm not sure I agree with, but the general premise that we should pay more attention to the requests of the composer is demonstrated quite effectively.

On that matter, it occurred to me earlier this semester that, when it comes to orchestral performances, the piece that the listeners experience is really a second- or even third-hand translation. The original, Platonic composition exists only in the head of the (possibly decomposing) composer. The manuscript score then is copied into parts and printed, hopefully with minimal errors by a publisher, to whom we can probably afford to give some credit... or blame, if appropriate. This score then is translated into an idea in the conductor's head, and it's his responsibility to shape the orchestra's sounds into a representation of that idea, be it faithful to the composer's intentions or not. In all cases, the composer and conductor can never directly produce the music - they may suggest, stipulate, even demand a certain execution, but even if either was to personally demonstrate on the instrument concerned how a passage ought to be played, the only actual sound issues from the wood, metal and other materials in the hands of the players. As far as reproducing a composer's compositions is concerned, there's the rub.

That's probably enough for now (yay! finally a proper post!), but I have more to say on conducting, with my class drawing to an end. I leave you with a gripe about a different composer, who I shall not presently name. I'll be able to discuss the matter more fairly once we rehearse with the full orchestra and soloist, but for the moment, suffice it to say that Berlioz's 'Harold in Italy' now has a rival for the title of 'longest viola joke'.

* Nodame Cantabile, about a guy who wants to be a conductor. How more appropriate a series could there be for me to watch? It's amazing - it started as a manga (in some ways inconceivable to me), then became a TV drama and anime series for which the producers put together an orchestra. The performance of the music is exquisite, and at times hilarious. If I knew the piano repertoire better, I'd likely crack up even more often, but I did get a good laugh at the 'Youth and Lightning' version of Beethoven's 'Spring' Violin Sonata. That just possibly lends credence to Schuller's arguments.