Primer for Conductors

On the podium, all his movements are clipped and economical. Every muscle is under rigid control. But the moment the music stops, Conductor Igor Markevitch cuts loose. For quick relief from artistic discipline, he unlimbers his tongue. Occasionally his cutting comments have helped cost him a job. "Paris musicians," he announced, "are a Mafia." Markevitch played several variations on the same theme, and was forced to resign from Paris' Lamoureux Orchestra a year ago. Last week, in Tel Aviv, where he appeared as guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic, he sounded off at the drop of a question. This time he casually blasted his baton-wielding colleagues.

The trouble with modern conductors, said Markevitch, is that many of them have only a hazy idea of the instruments of the orchestra and of the repertory. Even worse, they are inclined to play to the galleries rather than to the orchestra. Most of today's "unprofessional" conductors, according to Markevitch, have not had the basic eight years of intensive study that are necessary before taking over an orchestra.

Markevitch's minimum requirements for practicing his craft: thorough knowledge of musical history, fluency in at least three languages, mastery of all the classical symphonies, plus six operas, ten oratorios, and accompaniment for all the major concertos. "If you don't know the works by heart," says Markevitch, "you don't know them." As for himself, Markevitch added casually, he knew 300 compositions by heart several years ago, but "it's far more than that by now."

Compared with conductors of the Koussevitzky-Toscanini generation, Markevitch pointed out, the modern conductor has far less rehearsal time and about four times as many concerts to give each year. To combat the fatigue of traveling, he must build "the body of a conductor. One's body must be completely independent of the music." His own body, Markevitch boasted, has become so independent that "at the end of a symphony. I'm breathing at the same rate as at the beginning."

This winter, Markevitch will return to his native Russia, where he has been invited to help organize a conductors' school at the State Conservatory in Moscow. Starting with twelve-year-old students, he will apply his highly personal training techniques, confident that they will eventually lift conducting out of its "prehistoric period."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.