How much does the Conductor affect the performance of classical music?

I'm trying to get back into classical music after a long time passing without it. As I read up on composers, albums and performances I notice that for a lot of people it comes down to the conductor.

Now, I know the conductor sets the tone for the piece but if you had the LSO perform the same piece with 3 different conductors would it really sound all that different? Do some conductors do better with certain composers?

By the way, I'm picking up Ravel's Bolero and Schubert's 8th "Unfinished." Both are Living Stereo SACD.

 

Depends on how much they flail around.

 

The notes are the notes, but timing, pace, and dynamics are open to some interpretation. Thus, a piece performed by the same orchestra led by different conductors can result in completely different 'feels' of the piece.

 

I see. So sort of like the Beatles playing Come Together versus Aerosmith playing it. Same song, same lyrics, same notes, way different feel.

 

More or less. For your analogy to be complete, both bands would have to use the same instruments. They have to stick to the melody as written but can play with the pace and the distance between notes. They can also play with dynamics to a certain extent. (If a part of the song was labeled 'play quietly', it is not within the band's purview to play that section 'very loudly'. But 'play quietly is completely open to interpretation.)

Hope that helps.

 

Not exactly. I would never confuse the Beatles with Aerosmith for the same first chair violinist in the LSO with someone playing a violin in a high school concert.

Conductors can't be compared with players, and even players themselves have good days and bad, so that violinist may sound world class one day but not the next.

Think of it this way: a conductor is there to interpret and direct members of his orchestra to perform an artistic creation. Because no two conductors think precisely alike, their readings are likely to manifest small, subtle differences in the way they think a classical work should be played.

As for the same orchestra under different conductors, don't forget that the personnel in that orchestra are likely to change over time.

 

I think Leonard Bernstein is a really good example. If you listen to his versions of West Side Story or Candide, compared to some other conducters versions of some of those pieces, Bernstein's is almost chaotic, he knows how to let the beautiful parts swell, but he also knows in more chaotic parts, it almost feels like the orchestra is about to careen off the rails. Specifically thinking of the Candide overture.

 

Can you point me to Schubert's 8th (Unfinished) Living Stereo SACD? That's one of my top five classical pieces and I've never had it on SACD. Thanks!

 

Exactly right.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Symp...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1223646017&sr=8-1

 

Yeah, but let's just say it was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with a different conductor each day.

 

Good point and I know the tunes!

 

It also depends upon the composer. Baroque and early Classical music was never intended to have a conductor. The musicians were to read through the score as written. Into the late Classical and Romantic periods the conductor plays a larger role.

For example, compare two Bach orchestral pieces by different composers and you won't hear much of a difference. Conversely, compare two renditions of Mahler and you'll hear a completely different piece.

 

The consequence of this is too easily understated. I saw the Atlanta Symphony
about 4 times in the 2006 season, of those 4 shows I enjoyed about 1 1/2.

Their conductors are not created equal to say the least!

 

I'm not a classical buff but I can offer this:

In high school, our orchestra was playing a piece called Hopak. Just before the big school concert our teacher got sick. In comes the supply.....hears us play it and says WTF? We just played it with no dynamics, no tempo variation, no accents, nothing. By the time he finished with us we sounded like the London Philharmonic. So that should tell you what a conductor can do.

 

In classical music, everything is a matter of interpretation.
From the dynamics to the tempo to the orchestral balance everything needs interpretation. For instance, let's take a hypothetical piece where the tempo is marked as allegro meaning "quick" or "cheerful".
How do we understand quick? It is quick enough for you and me?
Then the same piece is marked piano meaning softly. But again, what is the definition of soft?
So the conductor will offer his own PERSONAL interpretation on the above but not only those.
His performance needs to reflect the spirit and the intentions of the composer, something that takes years of studying but also a great level of intuition.
In a nutshell, the conductor is everything.
The orchestra of course needs to be able to materialize the conductor's vision, but without him, the orchestra is a body without a head or a brain.

 

Nice points!

 

They would likely sound quite different. Some conductors do better with some composers. some conductors just plain do better in general. Better is very subjective in this case. There are entirely different schools of thought in conducting.

 

I've seen a TV series about how a conductor worked with an orchestra during rehearsals. That was fascinating. He let's them play a short piece and then explain what he liked and did not like about the timing and how every part of the orchestra behaved. And then let's them play the same short portion again - as often it may take till the orchestra sounded the way he wanted it to sound....T

 

A bass player I know, not that it matters he plays bass, but his opinion of a conductor is like the engineer at a mix console. It's all up to him how a piece might sound.

I remember when I played trumpet & barotone in school band and paying attention to the band instructor. The notes are written but it is the conductor to give it life.

 

This is an area where you will find widely different aproaches to the performance. From very scholarly performances using strict interpretations of the sheet music and original instruments to wildey romatic interpretations on modern instruments. If you want to get an idea on how much a conductor affects the music think of how much Sinatra affected the stylings of the songs he sang. many onductors will have that much of a personal imprint on a piece of music while others will be very much by the book.

 

How much does the conductor (or for that matter, performer(s)) matter?

It can mean the difference between finding a work bland, unexciting and boring or loving it so much that it becomes one of your favorites.

In classical music, interpretation comes (way) ahead of SQ for me.

 

the conductor is the man in charge of the "band". end of story

 

You only need to hear two or three versions of a peice of music, preferably one that is familiar, to see that the conductor's input can be huge. As mentioned earlier, the most evident differences are pacing and timing but it does not stop there. They can make or break an interpretation. I have heard well known pieces ruined by a conductor and I have also been witness to insights in the music that I was previoulsy unaware of.
I have, I think, 11 different versions of Beethoven's ninth and they are all different. Four of those are with Furtwangler conducting and they are all very different from eachother. I have 9 different versions of Gluck's opera "Orfeo..." - again all very different. You must also realise that for some works, such as Orfeo, there are different revisions and with Orfeo - two different language versions.

 

That guy wasn't just a conductor, he was a wizard!