Descriere
How are conductors' silent gestures magicked into sound by a group of more than a hundred brilliant but belligerent musicians? The mute choreography of great conductors has fascinated and frustrated musicians and music-lovers for centuries. Orchestras can be inspired to the heights of musical and expressive possibility by their maestros, or flabbergasted that someone who doesn't even make a sound should be elevated to demigod-like status by the public.
This is the first book to go inside the rehearsal rooms of some of the most inspirational orchestral partnerships in the world - how Simon Rattle works at the Berlin Philharmonic, how Mariss Jansons deals with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and how Claudio Abbado creates the world's most luxurious pick-up band every year with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. From London to Budapest, Bamberg to Vienna, great orchestral concerts are recreated as a collection of countless human and musical stories.
'Service's passion is evident from the opening page ... he blends in-depth musical understanding and analysis with an armchair conductor's enthusiasm and VIP access to rehearsals. The result is fascinating ...This book shows us how, through the efforts of this shamanic figure, live music can be simply good enough or, sometimes, utterly electrifying.' --New Statesman, July 2012
'With infectious and easily worn enthusiasm, a British radio presenter focuses on what exactly happens when a conductor raises his baton an offers some startling insights.' --The Economist Books of the Year
'Many a forest has been felled to produce unnecessary books on music, but that is most definitely not the case with this utterly fascinating volume ... It's difficult to know what to praise first ... But it is not just the star names which are illuminated by Service's lively prose - economical but vivid characterisation of everyone involved is the order of the day here. Also evoked with great skill, inter alia, is the experience of listening to great music, which is of course the raison d'etre of the journeys described.' --C D Choice, July 2012
'The sum is a book of great intelligence and vivacious reportage, easily enjoyed and digested.' --Literary Review, July 2012
Many a forest has been felled to produce unnecessary books on music, but that is most definitely not the case with this utterly fascinating volume ... It's difficult to know what to praise first ... But it is not just the star names which are illuminated by Service's lively prose - economical but vivid characterisation of everyone involved is the order of the day here. Also evoked with great skill, inter alia, is the experience of listening to great music, which is of course the raison d'etre of the journeys described --C D Choice, July 2012
The sum is a book of great intelligence and vivacious reportage, easily enjoyed and digested. --Literary Review, July 2012
