Where possible, once I’ve learned and digested a score and forgotten everything I’ve ever heard other conductors and orchestras do in concert and on recordings, I like to do some serious comparative listening. It’s always interesting and often incredibly helpful see what conclusions other performers have come to about the piece at hand.<\/p>\n
Video is often even more instructive. One can see what the conductor was actually doing: this is usually very helpful and interesting, and occasionally rather terrifying. Video also gives one a chance to see what bowings the orchestra is using, and how the players communicate with each other. It’s not at all unusual to listen to an entire performance I find wrong-headed, disappointing or sloppy, only to stumble on one idea, one bowing or one moment that makes the whole process worthwhile.<\/p>\n
As I look ahead to recording the last instalment in my Schumann cycle with the Orchestra of the Swan on December 2nd and 3rd<\/a>, I came across two videos which I thought made for an interesting comparison, so I’ve decided to share them here. One is a performance (alongside a bit of rehearsal footage) of the group Spria Mirabilis<\/a>, who play (very well) without a conductor.The other is by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe<\/a>, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin<\/a>.<\/p>\n The reason the comparison is interesting is because the two groups are of similar size and share a number of the same players (most importantly\u00a0Lorenza Borrani, who leads both groups)\u00a0and the two performances were recorded only a couple years appart.<\/p>\n I’d welcome your reactions and comments- especially if we can get beyond “I liked the ________ one better.”<\/p>\n For me, the two performances raise some very interesting questions about what a conductor does or does not bring to a performance, how players listen \u00a0and watch with and without a conductor, how an orchestra’s sense of line and meter changes with or without a conductor, and so on.<\/p>\n I normally avoid any discussion of living colleagues here, but in this case, it’s clear that these are both very good performances at a high professional level- what really struck me is that not only are the two performances quite different, the relative strengths and not-strengths \u00a0are so different.<\/p>\n I think if you take in both performances attentively, you’ll find that it’s not possible to say “it’s better with\/without a conductor” but you’ll certainly realize it’s different. For the conductor, it’s a chance to see what the players do when you’re not there than you can encourage the to bring to your rehearsals and concerts, and for the musicians, it’s a chance to see and hear what a conductor can bring to a performance and to think about how you can keep those qualities when you work without one.<\/p>\nSpira Mirabilis (performance starts about 10 mins in)<\/h2>\n