Dream of Dobbs then add sugar

It has now been established that I am going to get on with the rest of my life and do everything in my power to make some sort of contribution which will be a form of payment for the wonderful life I have been blessed with.

So today I am going to begin this journey with my version of what a conductor is, or at least should be.

As recently as last night I was asked that question which I have been answering for the last 50 years in one fashion or another.  The eternal question is some version of “what does a conductor do, why do they need a conductor, they are looking at the music and know how to play it etc”.

I will begin with a negative.  There are several words or combinations of words that are frequently used in part as a description of a conductor.  One which crops up often is interpret or interpreter.  There are many musicians including some conductors who feel this is what a conductor should do or be.  For me this is the last thing a conductor should do or be.  I will elaborate (I am sure that will surprise you).

When talking about interpreting it always implies some sort of personal input or juxtaposition.  I am more than willing to admit that there is no way any performer can perform without adding something of himself.  This is as it should be.  However, I feel that this something should be from the training, background and experience which will influence the choices made, but should not be an attempt to interpret the composer’s intents by superimposing his own ideas particularly when it results in actually changing what the composer indicated.  I know this is wordy and not very clear, but I feel it is important to make a difference in one’s mind between ‘interpreting’ and ‘realizing’ a score.  I will try in the words to follow to explain exactly what I mean and where I feel there is a difference between interpretation and realizing.

In very simple language I think of a conductor as a medium.  It is his responsibility to get the sounds the composer heard and wrote down firmly fixed in his mind’s ear so that he feels he genuinely can hear what the composer heard and intended for the world to hear.  Once this is done then the conductor’s job is to be the medium through which the composer’s intentions are related to the orchestra and soloists in such a way that the composer’s sounds and intentions are related and revealed to the audience.  In this way the audience has the emotional and musical experience that the composer intended.

I will in the next pages elaborate even more about the conductor and what I feel his job is as well as how he goes about doing it.