A great quote from an NPR story on Lorin Maazel and his music festival held on his 500 acre estate in Virginia, which you can hear here (and see photos from the festival).
“You don’t talk; you do. And [you] do by having a hand which has been trained to express everything that it should express at any given moment, such as offering a point of reference for ensemble, for players staying together. Such as the kind of sound that you would like — mellifluous or brittle. And then there’s tempo. You could express all of this in one motion, if you can, if you’re a proper conductor. If you have to stop and look around and say, ‘It’s not together,’ just walk off the podium and go home. Because that’s your job, to get it together. If it’s not together, it’s your problem, not theirs.”
2 replies on “maazel on conducting”
Why is it that Maazel’s performances rarely make a lasting impression on me? Try as I might, I can’t think of a single instance where his interpretation of a piece of music has deepened my understanding or appreciation of it.
Triumph of technique over substance, perhaps?