Do you like apples? If you caught my rather sassy rant about Philippa Ibbotson’s recent article “The Myth of the Maestro”, you might enjoy this one. Another Guardian writer has outright disagreed with Ibbotson’s aforementioned piece. Wait, did I say disagree? More like, called her out on it. How about them apples?

In his opening remark of the article “Conductors – the cash and the confusion,” author of the Guardian’s blog On Classical Tom Service agrees with Ibbotson that conductors are overpaid. Immediately after this short-lived agreement, he openly points out the underlying theme of her piece which we all sensed:

I can’t agree with her premise that conductors make no difference to the performances you hear all over the world

He proceeds to cite comments from the extensive comment thread following Ibbotson’s article (which I spent several hours reading through, some of it was absolutely hilarious). He mentions the absurdity of her “air traffic controller […] responsible for the red arrows on the landing strip” comment, and says that her argument neglects the key point we all wanted to tattoo on her forehead: that a concert is a small part of a very long journey, led by the conductor. During every rehearsal, who leads the interpretation? Focuses the ensemble’s attention on issues of musicality, intonation, historical accuracy? I could go on for hours. How about, who never takes a break? The conductor.

What I cannot figure out: Ibbotson has played in several of the top UK orchestras. She has a resume that does more than suggest she knows what she is talking about, it demands that you respect her opinion. Upon re-reading “The Myth of the Maestro”, I notice her very well-placed criticism, and relative neutrality in suggesting that anything is her opinion. For the most part, she simply tries to make suggestions to the reader. Perhaps she is more clever than we thought, and was simply attempting to see if anyone was reading her column.

I leave you with my favorite quote from Service,

love them or hate them, the conductor – or, more accurately, the chemistry between the conductor and the players, created through hours of preparation, rehearsal, and collaboration – defines the musical experience of an orchestral concert or an operatic performance

Update: Link to Tom Service’s article at The Guardian

Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 9:16 pm | Filed under Articles of Interest |