by TomService (Author)
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.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Published: 07 Jun 2012
ISBN 10: 057124047X
ISBN 13: 9780571240470
Book Overview: Music as Alchemy: Journeys with Great Conductors and their Orchestras by Tom Service is a journey into the deepest mystery of classical music: how do great conductors do it?