The art of . . .

June 12, 2016 11:20 AM

The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past - The Art of Conducting: Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era - The Art Of Piano: Great Pianists Of The 20th Century - The Art of Violin

Only have a few minutes? Try one of these shorter excerpts:

• The Art of Conducting - Leonard Bernstein
• The Art of Conducting - Carlos Kleiber
• The Art of Conducting - Karl Boehm
• The Art of Conducting - Eugen Jochum
• The Art of Piano - Glenn Gould
• The Art of the Piano - Michelangeli

posted by flug (7 comments total)

Our public radio station used to syndicate the BBC show My Music, before they switched to all news and talk. That's another story. Anyway, once they had this great episode where they had an outtake from a recording session with a famous conductor - I can't remember who. There was a huge rainstorm and the rain beating on the roof of the studio was audible; so, there was dead time. The conductor entertained everyone with jokes and anecdotes, in great style. And someone kept the tape rolling. It was really cool getting a peek behind the scenes of Very Serious Music.
posted by thelonius at 1:46 PM on June 12, 2016

Sir Thomas Beecham. Referring to the light that came on when a take was being recorded: "Come out, little red light, don't be bashful. We've seen you in very different circumstances."
posted by in278s at 3:31 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wonderful!
posted by cleroy at 3:36 PM on June 12, 2016

Dogs hate conductors. Just throw the damn stick!
posted by adept256 at 3:54 PM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Amazing! Just dove in for a quick peak and found this gem at 4:40: https://youtu.be/LYnqU4AJvtA?t=4m40s

He is so intense, but so right! Definitely gonna watch all of these.
posted by SNACKeR at 8:07 PM on June 12, 2016

Thank you flug

These are just what I need to take my mind off Orlando
posted by james33 at 3:17 AM on June 13, 2016

These historical videos are great, especially watching the technique of early modern conductors like Walter, Klemperer, or Furtwangler evolve through Bernstein to the exquisite gracefulness and specificity in technique of Kleiber.

If you want to watch a contemporary master to see where conducting technique is today, look for videos (or clips) of Simon Rattle: beautiful, whole-body engagement and vivid collaboration with (rather than direction of) the players.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:43 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]