Simon Rattle | What Does A Conductor Actually Do? | Classic FM

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What does a conductor actually do? It's a question asked by many - and here answered by one of the greatest of all time: Sir Simon Rattle.
Classic FM presenter and soprano Catherine Bott recently caught up with legendary conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, at the Barbican Centre in London.
The two talked towering tasks like choosing repertoire and taking music to the masses; the enduring magic and existential weight of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, and what it’s like to take on a vibrant world-class orchestra like the London Symphony Orchestra.
One of our favourite parts of Catherine’s encounter with the Rattle, though, is when she dares to ask him “what does a conductor actually do?” - a question that’s repeatedly been asked throughout her show Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Classical Music’s history on air.
Watch full interview here: • Simon Rattle | Full in...
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[@Chunkfterbi7183]

„I would love to be Jürgen Klopp“ - this is essentially Simon Rattleish! Love that one! ....“it’s done with love and care and thought and intelligence ... I wish a few of our politicians would take a masterclass with him“

[@gretareinarsson7461]

I think the best conductors, the best musicians actually, are the ones that make you remember more the experience and feelings of the music they make, then the mannerisms of their performance.

[@JasonChamberlain]

“It will sound like someone put silk through a gold ring” funny that we know exactly what he means just from that

[@TheRealDoctorBonkus]

He should do audio books as well though

[@donaldforbes3458]

Picking up on the idea of a "match of the day" for music, France Musique has a Sunday afternoon programme in which a group of critics listen to different recordings of the same pieces without knowing who the players are and dissect them mercilessly. Identities are revealed after opinions have been finalised and the soloists and orchestras, often famous, have been subjected to very candid analysis.

[@VallaMusic]

i put Simon in my top 5 list of favorite conductors

[@ttrons2]

Or they would not given him the top orchestra.

[@rushana1956]

Val, how about Mravinsky?

[@shreysurendralodha7308]

Who are the other 4?

[@VallaMusic]

@@shreysurendralodha7308 Wilhelm Furtwangler, Carlos Kleiber, Eugene Ormandy, and Daniel Barenboim

[@adityapurohit8232]

@@shreysurendralodha7308 4 other virtuoso conductors are Wilhelm Furtwangler, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham & Sir Adrian Boult .

[@ramdasvj]

My favourite composer, especially Mozart 40 and 41.

[@user-wp4ju4hp5w]

Not often do you see a Percussionist transition to being a first class conductor. BRAVO to you , Sir Simon Rattle

[@vishva.vanshanatha]

A conductor distributes and enhances the each part and instrument at the orchestra. He is the one who translates those movements in the body of orchestra to audience.

[@TheFrizbaloid]

What are you talking about??

[@andrewknight8778]

Two lovely people. Thanks!

[@ramseypietronasser2]

Great interview

[@villain7140]

The conductor is like a movie director. Give Michael Bay and Martin Scorsese the same script and actors- same score and musicians and you get two completely different films (of drastically different quality as well probably)

[@BryanKujawa1]

Great explanation!

[@williamrbuchanan4153]

Everyone has to be part of it at the right time and volume and length of the part. It’s like, do you want them to all do what they feel is right.? They must start and end their bits as instructed. That’s with an orchestra. Small groups have one of their group they depend on too. Why anyone should be asking what a conductor does, seems the don’t understand the whole procedure?

[@ViniVPinheiro]

1:01 Barney Stinson

[@shirleyswinnerton169]

Rainer Hersch. Finest of all composers.

[@UberAlphaSirus]

When did he answer the queastion?

[@adesorcuppy4225]

He answered it very well to classical listeners. To non-classical listeners short answer is: “a conductor is organizing (in rehearsals before concert) a group of 100 people playing in harmony and not chaos” hope now its clear!

[@GenjiLangless]

At 5:05, he said, "It's my job to try and translate what the composer is saying to the orchestra, and then to the audience." What I took from that is the conductor is master of knowing what energy every single instrument should be giving at each part, what to enunciate and when, and really make the music dance, rather than sounding like a mechanical reading of sheet music. ...Or so I gathered. c:

[@olivia-performanceartist3693]

Haha was waiting for that part too. Maybe a better question would have been 'how do you conduct?' or 'what is conducting?' I sort of get it but would have liked a more practical understanding of how it all works.

[@pega17pl]

Der deutsche Dirigent Ferdinand Leitner sagte "Dirigieren sei wie Luft sortieren." - Heinz

[@SergejRazinkov]

Was macht Maestro wirklich in unserer Zeit? Sehr gute Frage. Der technische Niveau bei vielen Orchestern ist sehr hoch geworden. Die " technische " Seite Orchester Probe ( Zusammenspiel , Spiele in guten Ensemble,....) ist schon nicht sehr grose Herausforderung für einen Dirigent. Leider werden in unserer Zeit meistens scheinbaren Proben gemacht einstat fördern die Musik zu spielen. Der Resultat dieser scheinbaren Proben hören wir in Konzerten. Alles klingt auf gleicher guten Technischen Niveau ,wie von einem der selben CD. Ich glaube sogar der neuen Dirigenten Star Bradley Cooper besserer"Interpreter" ist als viele andere " richtige "Dirigenten von unserer Zeit.

[@DeeDeeLecter]

😕 im confused 😕

[@furdiebant]

Wrong person to ask

[@wei2190sd]

Why?

[@williamhumphrey1084]

I wonder if he’s ever kissed a girl

[@notmyworld44]

I have - several times - and I really enjoyed it!

[@frankstein9982]

he mentions being a dad to three kids, so I guess he did and more than that.

[@merryweatherbytheseashore941]

@@frankstein9982 Yes. He may have even gotten a hug.

[@visionz3638]

I meannnn he has 3 kids bro

[@sabinejahnichen6845]

🤣I am sorry, but this question is only 😂🤣