Most musicians cannot conceive of what orchestral conductors used to be like. They could be petty, personal, unappreciative... and there was a dark side.
I ran across this quote from Arnold Jacobs about Fritz Reiner, thought I'd share it.
"The late Arnold Jacobs, a legendary brass man who served 44 years as the CSO's principal tuba, spoke perceptively of how Reiner operated in front of an orchestra:
"As a conductor, he was magnificent," Jacobs recalled in a 1988 interview with the Tribune. "With him, communication was never a simple thing. It was in the facial expression, the eyes, the hand, in that precise, small beat that forced you to look at him. If you did something he didn't like, he'd mete out a punishment much greater than the crime. But if you did something he liked, boy, he'd respect and acknowledge it, because that meant he had really taught you something."
When not for print, I found the old CSO members had few nice to say about Reiner as a person which tempered their comments about him as a conductor. Thank goodness those days are gone.
The entire article is available here http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013 ... -orchestra
Great quote
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Alex C
- pro musician
- Posts: 2225
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:34 am
- Location: Cybertexas
Great quote
City Intonation Inspector - Dallas Texas
"Holding the Bordognian Fabric of the Universe together through better pitch, one note at a time."
Practicing results in increased atmospheric CO2 thus causing global warming.
"Holding the Bordognian Fabric of the Universe together through better pitch, one note at a time."
Practicing results in increased atmospheric CO2 thus causing global warming.