Conductors...what's the point of them?

Essential performers of the classical repertoire, or egotistical monsters incapable of making any actual music?
Let's investigate...
If you wish to buy me a coffee, that would be appreciated:
www.buymeacoffee.com/classicalmk
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Mark Wigglesworth's book "The Silent Musician" is an excellent guide to conducting...www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Music...
And Wagner: www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Condu...
The clip of Toscanini going ballistic: • Toscanini and the bass

[@jacquesracine9571]

Loved that video. And your humour.

[@Lalune350z]

I was at a Bach concert and the orchestra and the singers did not look at the conductor once, but that dude was going crazy with his hands. Not sure why he was there but I guess he must have been important.

[@classicalperformances8777]

thanks for adding one female conductor( Lydia Tar) to this entertaining spoof🙂that's not at all a nightmare I had once the movie was announced

[@ZoltanLehr]

Think about it this way. Contractors are like supervisors if everyone in the team does as they supposed to then they are not needed but some people just can't be left to their own devices

[@soyeux27]

Thank you for this excellent video ! BTW, can you tell us the name of the rock song at the end of the video?

[@enjoyclassicalmusic6006]

My original track was Roll Over Beethoven...I actually just grabbed that from youtube's free use music.

[@diegomontilva6039]

Really well done video, deserves more views

[@germanchris4440]

No, it doesn't. It needs, if it deserves any attention at all, more of the serious, sober judgement that is being lost in today's unculture, especially on KZbin. This is just typical cheap popular crap for total dumbing down and superficialisation.

[@anthonymalone9987]

First! But also how is a upbow different from a downbow and what does that mean for the orchestra?

[@hsprepper]

String player here. Down bow is when you pull the bow across the string in a motion that opens your elbow (moving your hand away from the instrument), up bow is the opposite, closing your elbow. What does it mean? Usually it’s just phrasing, ie “it’s easier to play this passage with this bowing”, but sometimes composers will specify bowings for effect. Hope this helps

[@user-qw5js]

I used to think they were pointless. Saw one earlier and decided i gotta look this up and now i know they're not 👍

[@susanlandsman9572]

The conductor, as I understand it, also sets the tempo. I remember reading reviews of concerts where the conductor was said to have conducted the piece too slowly or vice versa, or there wasn't enough shading and so forth. Sometimes you would read , for example, that the brass overshadowed the strings. So the blame is put on the conductor and rightly so in many cases.

[@yodorob]

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York is conductor-less and seems to do just fine, with the musicians themselves defining the score.

[@alvodin6197]

It's because they know how to practice together. People who think it's impossible are the same tools who turn pages on sheet music that they KNOW from memory. It's somehow impressive to pretend like waving hand, sight reading some difficult music, is to Westerners more impressive than just knowing how to play something from memory. We are obsessed with abstractions and symbols.

[@prototropo]

George Szell changed my life.

[@maksimivanov5417]

The explanation still seems incomplete as it doesn't really cover why some pieces, like Mozart's piano concertos, are still successfully performed without a conductor these days, meanwhile most of other performances do use the conductor. OK, one could say later compositions (say, Rachmaninoff's concertos) are probably too complex and require too large orchestras to be played without a conductor, but why do we see this inconsistency around concertos by Mozart or Haydn or their predecessors?..

[@franckfranciszek]

because classical era composers wrote their piano concertos solely for them to play in public concerts. Beethoven too, wrote his five piano concertos to display his virtuosity and if im correct, conducted the orchestra by himself

[@alvodin6197]

It's because it's an ideology to think it's "impossible" without a Conductor. It's pure nonsense. It's like those people who turn pages of pieces they KNOW how to play from memory. They want to Impress people by pretending like they're sight reading. And with the conductor, we pretend like we need a boss, in order to function. This is part of western ideology. We actually don't think we can function without having some dude telling us what is and wrong.

[@countluke2334]

Do you have conductors you like more than others, even favourites? Now that Karajan is probably not among them (any more)?

[@enjoyclassicalmusic6006]

I used to, now I'm much more democratic in my taste

[@trombonebestinstrument]

bernstein is most certainly the master of mahler, not an ego monster

[@franckfranciszek]

most mahler conductors are not egoistic lmao what're you talking about?

[@CatManDoom84]

I get it kinda, but for the most part no hah. If the maestro/conductor writes the music, sure. But i dont get whey they are on stage when most of, if not all the actual performers arent even looking at him. Its kinda like modern DJs. Yeah they made the songs, but there is little to no point of a person being on stage fiddling around with minor dials nobody knows what is being done while said song is being played.They can "tweak things" for sure live.But yeah. And i love EDM and classical music hah!

[@bruceweaver1518]

This documentary failed to show a clip of arguably the greatest conductor of The Twentieth Century: Sir Georg Solti. In the “Orchestra” series he goes into great detail of what his job is, why it is important, and his important role with the players. The Rock Music has got to go! Replace with Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet.”

[@Tolstoy111]

Solti's rep has severely faded since his death.

[@user-wp4ju4hp5w]

Yes indeed. Solti s long collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is legendary

[@phinyx]

Great video...but perhaps unwittingly you've disclosed how hierarchical and authoritarian large-ensemble art music is; and yet Western nations love to brag about their "democracy" and all. Virtually all non-Western music cultures are far more "democratic" than the orchestra or wind ensemble. That's the main reason I left Western art music and why I don't attend many concerts due to all the restrictive decorum.

[@dannyeugenewaits9486]

😂😂😂😂 all a conductor/composer is..... a little monkey waving a stick in the air, hoping to draw attention to itself to receive more treats! Like the saying goes you can send a baboon to the moon but training it to return is impossible!! Thats my take on what they are!😅

[@noorlight-sz7im]

Yeah, whatever

[@harringtonvo]

Still not buying it. The musicians are always focused on the sheet music… these dudes seem like glorified cheerleaders. Just sayin

[@Lemurian.Quartz]

It’s always confused me, these people practice for many months for a performance together.. along with their sheet music.. if that dude wasn’t standing there waving his hands, you’re telling me they’d just freeze and have no idea wtf to do??😂

[@kotse9129]

Conductors are USELESS. Musicians and choir members have memorized their parts...most of them don't even look at the conductors.

[@theemeraldminecart5280]

Once I’ve memorized my music I’m constantly looking up at my conductor. I’m using their body language AND what I’m hearing to balance myself. I can’t hear the woodwinds well enough to tell if I’m loud or not but the conductor can.

[@kotse9129]

@@theemeraldminecart5280 that's nice to hear. I do have just one question for you...what if the conductor's gesture suddenly becomes different (for whatever reason)...would you still follow his lead or would you stick with what you have memorized?

[@AKI_KARASU]

​@@kotse9129they mess up for sure

[@kotse9129]

@@AKI_KARASU they'd mess up if they don't have a conductor?

[@AKI_KARASU]

@@kotse9129 yea they won't play the wrong note tho just they might go too fast or too slow or too loud, a conductor just guides them how to play not what to play.