Can an orchestra play without a conductor?
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Today I'll try to answer the age old question: can an orchestra play without a conductor? For this I will break down what a conductor does into 5 sections and see whether they could be done by the orchestra alone.
00:00 Intro
00:27 1.Setting the tempo for a piece and starting the piece
02:42 2.Dynamics and balance
05:00 3.Cues and bar count
07:18 4.Interpretation
09:50 5.Inspiration
12:14 Final thoughts / Claudio Abbado's Memorial concert
LINKS TO ORCHESTRAS WITHOUT CONDUCTORS
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings // Tønnesen & NCO // Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky: Serenade ...
Elgar: Serenade for Strings - Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra
• Elgar: Serenade for St...
Memorial Concert for Claudio Abbado - LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, Andris Nelsons
• Memorial Concert for C...
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This video uses two small excerpts from the following orchestras for educational purposes: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra /
Hey everyone! I linked in the description box the concert in memory of Claudio Abbado that I mention in the end. Sadly I couldn't find the whole concert here on YT but there are clips of the conductorless orchestra at the beginning, and generally the whole video is worth watching, will definitely give you the feels
Unless you play in an orchestra, most people don't realise that 90% of a conductor's job is in preparing the orchestra for the performance through rehearsal. By the time the performance comes along, the conductor tends not to make radical changes although I've had plenty who increase tempo when they get excited. But also plenty of times (usually final rehearsals), the conductor will indicate to keep playing, and walk down to the back of the hall to see what the balance is like, and the orchestra may keep playing for quite some time. Usually section leaders will look to the concert master, especially if there are tempo changes or rit / accel etc. It's always a fun joke afterwards to say the conductor isn't needed, but it's simply not true. the conductor is vital during rehearsal and also for final touches in performance. There's more to making music than just keeping time and indicating dynamic.
Really well said. I stopped attending live concerts for a while but started going again and I forgot how different a live orchestra, especially a great one, is from a recording. Heard Beethoven’s 9th and it was so intense words fail me.
@@derycktrahair8108Don’t agree about the music industry. The insane amount of practice, the pressure, etc. It isn’t an easy job and I think they deserve every penny. It would be nice if we had some subsidies for the arts but that would require we build one less B2 bomber and we couldn’t have that, someone has to keep the world safe for corporate profits.
Some people forget that the most important job of the Conductor is during the rehearsals
This video was extremely interesting and answered an old question of mine! Thanks for the content, please keep posting =)
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the links in the description! I appreciate CZcamsrs who take the effort to give links and extra info.
Thanks! Yes, I appreciate that too in other creator's videos so I try doing it myself as well
Excellent review!
As a conductor myself, I love your videos. You would make an excellent conducting teacher--something there are very few of.
Thank you for the excellent discussion. I've always wondered exactly how important the conductor is to the performance of the ensemble. You have a new fan of your channel.
Hello Anna. Since many years, I have been a huge fan of classical music with zero knowledge, and I really appreciate your videos! Please continue your work! 🙂
I'm a big fan of classical music but I don't play an instrument. This landed in my queue and really is illuminating. I subscribed both because I love the content and appreciate the comments, often from folks who are in an orchestra and/or who conduct. I feel as though I've intuited much of what you describe but it is nice to hear it expressed so clearly. Thanks. I'll be back.
That makes total sense and great insight on how it works. Didn’t know the conductor a back and side conductors giving them feed back.
Thanks for the well explained video. 🙏🏼
Thank you for your videos.
Really great explanation.
thank you! :)
You are amaaaaazing, very humble person, you have a talent in explaining things and getting to the points. I had this question from long time and I couldn't get a complete satisfactory answer to it until I saw your video. If you decide one day to become a judge, believe me you gonna succeed because I felt you are very fair. Again thanks for being existing on this earth. People like you will make life better and more beautiful. I am a very very beginner in music. Thanks, sincerely Saif, a guy from UAE.
Very interesting video, good work!
Thanks for watching! 😉
A musical work is a single whole. There has to be at least one person who understands the music as a whole and gets it out to life in a way that makes sense and puts it into context. A conductor to an orchestra is like a soloist to its instrument.
Thanks! I’ve wondered about this before and only just thought to actually look it up. My curiosity is satisfied
Glad to hear that!
The Leonard bernstein's interpretation of shostakovich's fifth symphony is completely different from kirill kondrashin's interpretation. It's the most drastic difference i have ever founded, and i always use it as an example of how a conductor's work is essential and indispensable.
Absolutely! Different (good, or in this case great) conductors can completely shape an orchestra's sound, and even more so if the orchestra is completely on board and respects their interpretation
@@howimettheopera I assume Kondrashin also had the luxury of consulting and taking notes from Shostakovich personally since I believe they were good friends for most of their lives.
You can check out how the old Bernstein played Sibelius' 2nd symphony, and how did Neeme Järvi in Gothenburg. Very different approach!
Great explanation 👍
thanks for watching!
This was my childhood question,thanks for the video
haha glad I could help, thanks for watching!
i saw Alexander Vedernikov i think it was (after a bit of Googling) conduct the pizzicato movement of Tchaikovsky 4 (in Adelaide ... 2010) with his hands in his pockets, leaning on a balustrade, facing the audience.
At least we can say it was a memorable performance! (I also found out Googling he died of Covid in 2020 ... RIP)
(Edit: i think i have those same postcards on my wall ... from the Secession Gallery Vienna gift shop ...)
I am supposed to write essay and the deadline is tommorow. So i was just procrastinating and randomly thought about this. Thanks for answering
Also havent watched the video but my first thought is that Tønnesen & the NCO singlehandedly made me a chamber fan, their Metamorphosen is incredible
The same question was discussed in a great video by the then young conductor Leonard Bernstein. And he says a bit more than was handled here. Check it out!
From my understanding a conductor is absolutely needed........before the actual performance. All the work put into the interpretation and rehearsal work makes sense to me. But during the actual performance I see the conductor standing there like a coach for a sports team, helpful but the players can do it on their own.
Thanks for your comment! It depends: for some things certainly it would be possible, and some orchestras play regularly without a conductor. But some technical things need to be led by one person: if there is for example a stringendo, which means the music gets quicker and quicker organically until a certain speed, someone needs to lead that otherwise it is a mess. If the conductor isn't there, usually the first violin would do this and players would follow him/her. There are plenty of details like this where you need one person to lead (say even the beginning); if the orchestra is small enough they can follow the first violin but when its too big, then you really need the conductor.
Would love to hear explanation on how each musician within each instrument group knows when it's their turn to play. Does each one get their own set of sheet music?
yes, every player has a sheet of music with only their part in it. When they don't play they have empty bars written, and they count internally those bars until they play again. If there is too much time in which they don't play, they have a number of empty bars that they have to wait for, and then it will say just *25* and they know they have to count 25 bars until they come in again. This usually only happens with some bras instruments or percussion, the rest of the instrument usually play very often and don't have to wait that much. Thats why a conductor needs to pay attention and cue the people that wait a lot, but maybe not so much the people that are constantly playing. Hope this helps!
Is it right to think that the need for a conductor varies with the size of the band? I follow a couple of Baroque HIP groups, and they're led by the first violin. And they are all happy together and play with smiles on their faces, but the first violin is definitely the Leader (and, often, the musical director). I also follow a community orchestra whose conductor and musical director is an internationally recorded instrumentalist and conductor in a slightly recondite field. You can see that the whole orchestra loves him, and occasionally the programme notes say how glad they are that he enabled them to play a piece that was on their wish list. And last, I remember seeing Leif Segerstam conducting the New Zealand SO. The big thing was his symphony No. 114 (or thereabouts), but during a Haydn piece, he stopped conducting, leaned on the podium rails, and invited the audience to see how good the orchestra was. But he, of course, is an eldritch wight.
Dosent a song already have a set beat/ tempo?
It depends! Some only say things like "fast" or "slow" which is obviously subjective. In that case there is a broader margen of decision making to work with. Some composers are very specific and do set a BMP mesure, like beat=60. Then there is not much of a decision to make but someone still needs to show the beat, either the conductor or the first violinist. Imagine this, if you start singing a song you know well and has a set tempo, chances are every time you sing it you will be slightly slower or faster; multiply that times 60 people and that's why you need one person to "show" the tempo. Hope this answers your question!
What’s gonna happen if the orchestra has one set of music sheets (let’s say, Beethoven The 5th), and the conductor conducting a whole other one (Mozart A La Turka)?
I could not remember how many times that BPO and VPO auto piolting the conductors.........
As my grand daddy used to say: an orchestra without a conductor is like Reich without a Führer. Funny man he was. Greetings from Argentina.
Let me guess: you think you're witty and amusing, and not just another immature CZcams jerk. 🙄
She’s even conducting in this video.
"You see, they can get along perfectly well without me."
(Music begins to deteriorate)
"Well, maybe not _perfectly_ well..."
- Leonard Bernstein
Oi! Us horns always listen!! Haha
Well... even in a string quartet someone is always the lead regardless of the title. The bigger the orchestra the more you need a conductor.
And people can also play without them, just like we can play an instrument without constantly needing to turn the pages. White people just can't seem to get out of abstractions and enter the actual world.
And one of the largest orchestras without conductor - New York Philharmonic plays Candide Overture without conductor czcams.com/video/bqUgFBSN-w8/video.html
I think the conductor may soon be replaced by an AI holo ? Yes or No?!🤪 Personally, I think not. Its interpretations of the composer and the composition. The interpretations of the conductors varies and maybe complex.
Yes, you can make music without conductor and even without an orchestra. simply by mathematics. All of this music has been calculated by a computer: czcams.com/video/q_PqaKHyY60/video.html
??? Of course they can... that's the point of being a conductor ... TO LEAD THE PRACTICE ... and in the performance to be a human metronome.
lol lol lol whiplash
Gotta feel sorry for conductors, all their parents could afford to buy them growing up was a stick.
contemporary music is not music anyway, so why bother with a conductor?
Contemporary music. Generally you don't know whether it is some kid practicing, some drunk playing or the whole orchestra is individually trying to play different pieces. Contemptible would be more like it.
Who in the orchestra really watches the conductor? Nobody! 🤣