Conductors Accompanists Mood Dynamic Expression

New York Diary (20-11): Hush! Establishing The Mood, Conductors as Accompanists

Audiophiles Prefer Concertos My once hectic schedule of Home Visits (sometimes several in a day) in Hong Kong taught me many things, among which: audiophiles play classical music the least, if at all; when they do it usually leaves much to be desired; if they do play classical, a violin concerto is usually the first choice. More than one time, on a mediocre system, I couldn't wait for the lengthy orchestral introduction of Beethoven's Violin Concerto to stop and the violin soloist to enter, so as I could politely ask to change to something else. Judging from reviews in magazines and forums, it is not that different for the Western audiophile either.

What are We Listening to in a Concerto? This is simple to answer: although a concerto is a partnership of equals, most listeners pay more attention to the soloist(s) than the orchestra and conductor. The conductor becomes an "accompanists", a term that I highly dislike.

When I listen to a concerto, I listen to everything equally. Things go back and forth between the soloist and orchestra and ideally one would wish for a dialogue, some chemistry between the musicians (there IS such a thing), though that doesn't happen that often. There are many reasons for this. A soloist and conductor that are not familiar with each other have a lot of things to work out, the tempi for instance (the most famous instance being Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein, which has a wiki entry of its own!), and they frequently disagree. Coordination can sometimes be tricky. In recordings, often soloists are asked by producers to record music that they have never previously played before the public, and the quality usually suffers. Even in the charged environment of live performances, by my standard, a performance with a sense of dialogue is relatively rare, but when it happens it is a miraculous thing. One senses the soloist, conductor and musicians are listening and "talking" and responding to each other. Given the rarity, these days I usually don't go to a concerto performance, unless it is followed by a big symphonic work that I love. The conductor shows more of his mettle when he doesn't have to worry about the soloist; ditto the soloist, who would be completely himself in a solo recital.

The corollary is: it is rare today to see a conductor who passes his "accompanying" test with flying colors. The reason is simple: most of today's conductors have not had that much experience with the art of "accompanying". This is definitely not true of the good old days, when most conductors rose from being conductors, even repetiteurs, of regional opera companies to become conductors of larger ones or symphonic orchestras. Being a conductor watcher, I often prefer the conducting of those who have spent considerable time working in opera and ballet (the great Ernest Ansermet was first a ballet conductor). They see the long line and everything as a whole. And they find the "vocal" element of non-vocal music.

I'll try to use the two youtubes below to hopefully illustrate some of what I am talking about. Of course, the computer speaker does not remotely compare to horns for the conveyance of mood. More than that, the compressed files significantly diminishes the conveyance of mood. Now, the music in question are not the most "dynamic" in the commonly perceived sense (not loud or base-rich) but actually demands the most of dynamic expression from the system to even play quiet. This likely shall be treated in another HiFi Basics article.

Basic Repertoire
Here is another Largo, from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Here, do not focus on the playing of Claudio Arrau, lauded for his Beethoven. Instead, focus on the response of the excellent Philharmonia under the almost forgotten conductor Alceo Galliera. This conductor started as an opera conductor and his experience shows in the many EMI/Angel concerto recordings, all of which are worthwhile. Many years ago, when I began my audiophile journey, I was grabbed by the same pairing here in the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, played out on the legendary Magnepan Tympani. I still remember the opening, sheer stormy passion! Forward to now. As I made my way through 3 Beethoven Piano Concerto cycles, I was grabbed by the way this conductor handled the scores of all 5 concertos. Nowhere is this more evident in this movement. Time is arrested; it is vocal, it is a dialogue; it is atmospheric. I think it is the best orchestral "accompaniment" I have heard for this concerto.



While I was listening to the above, and pondering what audio elements carry the mood, something suddenly popped into my mind. The atmosphere of the above recording made me recall the the pregnant introduction to the famous 1954 recording of Maria Callas' Casta Diva, from Bellini's Norma (the opera is otherwise quite boring to me). Callas re-recorded this more than once, and there are a lot of her live recordings, but this one remains the best. Why? Because there is a great conductor behind it, the opera conductor Tulio Serafin.The introduction, before Callas' entry, is priceless as it sets the stage and has one expecting. This is one of my favorite arias, and I have listened to many others. None needs apply, Callas reigns supreme.


If you think these two fragments have something in common, send me a comment!