Young conductors

[Megan]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOSEWeD8d6w&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]

[Peter]

Not bad - I'm sure most players ignore the conductor anyway - most conductors are probably best ignored!!

[Megan]

Not bad - I'm sure most players ignore the conductor anyway - most conductors are probably best ignored!!

In my naivety I have always wondered why a conductor is needed.
I mean , I am sure that for instance , Sir Simon Rattle is very good, but nobody can tell me that the BPO really need a conductor, I was fortunate to see them perform at the Royal Albert Hall a few years back now, I must say they were like great powerful, purring machine. Brilliant!
I can't help thinking that excellent though the London orchestras are, there is really quite a gap between them and the very best world orchestras, like the BPO, and the Cleveland orchestra.

[Peter]

In my naivety I have always wondered why a conductor is needed.
I mean , I am sure that for instance , Sir Simon Rattle is very good, but nobody can tell be that the BPO really need a conductor, I was fortunate to see them perform at the Royal Albert Hall a few years back now, I must say they were like great powerful, purring machine. Brilliant!
I can't help thinking that excellent though the London orchestras are, there is really quite a gap between them and the very best world orchestras, like the BPO, and the Cleveland orchestra.

I think in many cases you are right and there are probably only a handful of top notch conductors out there - the conductor's job is actually largely unseen and goes into the preparation for the performance, his own interpretation of a score. So yes the BPO can perfectly well play anything I would imagine without a conductor but of course then you hear the same orchestra with different conductors and the results are different.

[painter_mindscapes]

Most performances are for show but it is the interpretation. Furtwangler blows away any other conductors for LvB's symphonies.

[Sorrano]

There is an orchestra, European I believe, that does not have a conductor. Every now and then I hear some snippets from their recordings on the radio, but I don't recall which orchestra it is. What I've heard from them sounded pretty good to me.

[Chris]

There is an orchestra, European I believe, that does not have a conductor. Every now and then I hear some snippets from their recordings on the radio, but I don't recall which orchestra it is. What I've heard from them sounded pretty good to me.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a first-rate orchestra, and they have no conductor.

[Sorrano]

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a first-rate orchestra, and they have no conductor.

That's the one I was thinking of, thanks!