ON CONDUCTING
Jorma Panula
May this introduction be an
intimidation-stimulus-encouragement.
The curious will of course continue. How will you be able with your
being and hands to express everything going on in your head. You are impatient.
You want to bring out all your knowledge and explain your vision in any way
possible. It is good to have a vision, not just stand there beating away. That
too the orchestra senses. Whether the performance machinery is ensemble, choir,
opera, symphony orchestra, whatever, there are in the group
many artists
behaving in a different way who also have their own opinion of the piece at
hand. Let's take for example a symphony where there is usually four movements.
Have you thought of their relationship to each other? How much silence between
the movements do you want and why? For example Brahms 1, where transition to
the Finale must be sensed exactly, or Sibelius 2 the transition to Finale. Are you slowing down under the tempo of
Finale? Rather not, because Romantic tempos go al next tempo.
Questions are
pouring forth while examining the score. It is worth exploring for a lifetime
(Zecchi). Because you always find something new if you are open for changes, an
innovative musician. Yet, we haven't even talked about beating or rehearsal
technique. That is already a new subject.
When you open the
score, there is the name of the work. Opus number, composer, key maybe, tempo?
And the menu…instrumentation. Where do you begin? You relate notation to tempo.
For example, if there is no tempo mark (older music) look at bass lines, they
cannot go very fast. Think carefully before starting, otherwise the pulse will
not live. It is most important. Everything is movement, rhythm. Everyone has
their own pulse. Find with it the pulse of the work, the composer. Does it
reject it.. .or?
In older music,
markings were not so necessary. Dances
were known, and the suites are in their tempos. Menuet, allemande, gavotte,
sarabande, etc., how many can dance them? it is worth taking some courses. One
has to only listen to tango or waltz to know that they are played too fast. In
the beginning of the waltz, women had long skirts, not miniskirts (waltz
musette). Men had heavy uniforms. These just as hints for the tempo of these
times.
Now we are only in
the tempo marking. Easy but dangerous path is to listen to the masters'
recordings. Accelerated course to surface gliding. Examine the score yourself
The notation gives the answer, the piece will bring itself into focus. Character
will also be found in the instrumentation. Read the whole work in your chosen
tempo. Now you have a picture of the work in your head. Leave it there to stew
in its own juices. You can take pictures of other works. Take the same works out after a week. You
note that you remember many parts and at the same time you can deepen the
whole. Also those places
you were wondering
about at prima vista have cleared. Now
starts slower and deeper exploration. Maybe tempo changes and modulations will
clear, if not, do it more times. If you can't hear it in your head, play it on
your instrument until you can hear the harmonies in your head. Explore the
phrases, bowings, balance. There you
can find problems because quite few composers were masterful in instrumentation.
On the other hand, the strength and colour of the instruments have changed over
time. For example, corno has doubled in power, French bassoon has changed to
Heckel I have observed countless poor
balances. Many
places don't function without changing them a little. Even Mozart has a couple
of spots. Why only every hundredth conductor corrects? Don't they hear or dare?
Beethoven sounds "dumpier" than Mozart. Brahms sounds too often brass heavy. Sibelius doubles too much
(many octave and fifth pedals). In Berg it is already a question of colour. . .
.difficult... For example the use of tuba and timpani in Sibelius is an eternal
drag. One can't leave them out but
dynamics must be changed. Could it have been Kajanus imposing his Germanness?
More difficult case are the low notes of oboe and bassoon. Not many players can play them ppp as marked. Second oboists are afraid among other things of Dvorak cello
concerto second movement. It can be played by the way by English Horn. The same with Sibelius in many places for
example in the Fifth Symphony second movement long low notes. Tchaikovsky Fifth
and Sixth are also troublesome in this way. Try different kinds of bowing if
possible. With famous orchestras it is no longer possible but.. .(Berglund).
Ask experienced concert masters, don't trust tradition. There you can find only
many bad habits. Funtek was a skilful violinist in his time, but his fingerings
in countless Bruckner passages didn't go through anymore in the sixties. In Prokofiev's and Stravinsky's scores are
bowings and other markings of which only part is in use anymore. Punta d'arco for example in Sibelius has
been erased in many spiccato places. One must find a sound vision in the
notation. It is more important than the marked way of playing.
The tempos of the
work are more important than one would believe in the beginning of the studies.
A young person is in a Sturm und `Restaurant' period for many years and tempos
go up and down (as it should be), but they settle into their own little by little.
They become personal. There probably are not two people who think exactly the
same way. Above we mentioned already
the transition to Sibelius 2 Finale.
More examples of "mis"-understanding: Brahms 2 first movement Tranquillo towards end -
before that is rallentando, ok, but later again rallentando, but sempre tranquillo - so more
but rallentando may not go under tempo. And
then new tempo. Mamma mia! There are countless of these. Explore for example Sibelius' use of al !!?? There is not always where to.
Then also he marks A Tempo and Tempo Primo. It looks like it is meant
to be the same but no. Valse triste for example. Read. There are also many
misprints, mainly missing dynamics. Not all conductors even know the difference
with A tempo, they pronounce it
wrong, like "ay" tempo. What then is B Tempo or C Tempo? I noticed
this again and as recently as May 21, 1997. Unknown markings are also piu and sometimes meno. Sibelius' meno
is in many places not observed, even on recordings. Explore
Sibelius 1, meno andante = faster....