G.P.

To make people better understand what conducting technique really is, I often give them the example of a situation, where someone has to replace an ailing conductor at a moment's notice, just before the concert. Of course, in the worst case the podium is taken by someone superficially familiar with the repertoire in question, who merely starts every piece and follows the orchestra during the rest. And who knows, if the orchestra does a good job we might end up reading in the news that "a new star is born"!

In a good case nevertheless, the replacement will be someone who is experienced and knows intimately all the pieces the orchestra has prepared for the concert. With the motions of his baton he then will be able to guide the orchestra through the concert even if he has never met this group of players before. "But can there be an interpretation?" you might ask, or "isn't the orchestra merely playing how the other conductor told them in the rehearsals? The one who got ill, you know?"

What Is an Interpretation?

There are, of course, some conductors who claim that there is no such thing as an interpretation anyway - you just play what is written and that's it! Even Igor Stravinsky at his most provocative defended this view. But most of us, musicians and music lovers, agree that there is more to the performance than to deliver just the right notes and nothing else.

The basic problem of interpretation arises already from the fact that the musical notation is not precise enough by its nature, and all the tempos, dynamics and articulations need careful balancing and fine-tuning to enable us to hear everything that the composer visually marked into the score. But a master interpreter is not a taskmaster who teaches the orchestra how every note should be played. A master makes us enter the spirit of the composer and exposes the drama of the music so that it becomes obvious even without explanations, that this is the way to interpret this notation!

The Possibilities of the Baton

But to get back to our example, let us think for a moment what are the parameters in the music our courageous conductor is able to influence during the performance. Already with his first motions he is able to establish the tempo of the music that is to follow, and not only that! Even before the music sounds he has given the musicians an idea of the loudness and type of attack they have to use. When the music has started he will be able to determine also how long an opening chord is to be sustained, and what are the inner dynamics of it.

He will be able to mould the pulse of the music and do a little rubato if the music asks for it. He can point out the players of the important motives so that the rest of the orchestra will pay attention and not overpower them when there is a risk. He can regulate the general balance by encouraging one section and keeping down the other. He can influence the way the string players move their bows and play vibrato. In the bigger picture he is controlling the dynamics of the orchestra in the long run so that they will concentrate their full power only to the most important moments of the work - this way he can help the form of the piece to be better heard and understood.

The better your technique is, the finer details you are able to influence. Already your posture and expression carry a "set of instructions" to the players - "light", "festive", "tragic", "solemn" - not everything needs to be transmitted through elaborate stick movements!

The Limitations of the Baton

As you can see, a virtuoso of the baton is really able to build the interpretation "on the run", and accomplish many things that mediocre conductors will not get right even during the rehearsals. But many things are left that you really cannot influence, so both rehearsals and excellent technique are needed for an ideal performance. The conductor is severely limited when it comes to intonation or balancing large chords - he really cannot do much more than remind the players to listen to each other. If in rehearsals bad bowings or unmatching articulations are left in the notes, nothing can be done in the performance to fix it.

When you are really striving for perfection, like when you are doing a recording, you need two more tools in your toolbox. One, of course, is the spoken word. With carefully selected words you can give the orchestra exactly the right idea and save them from lengthy explanations about how, where and when to play the given note. The other time-saver is preparing the parts in advance. You can fix the errors in advance, plan the bowings, pencil in your favorite rubatos etc. and be spared from a lot of distractions during the rehearsals.

So, to be successful, you need three time-savers: Prepared parts, well chosen words, and conducting technique. And the greatest of them is conducting technique.