Face to Face with Orchestra and Chorus: A Handbook for Choral Conductors
Stephen Cleobury · Music and Letters · 2006
It is sometimes said, unkindly, not always unfairly, but in many cases wrongly, that there are singers and musicians. Likewise, a distinction is sometimes drawn between choral conductors and conductors. This is a pity, so it is good that three distinguished American musicians have set themselves the task of equipping those who have specialized in training choirs to come ‘face to face’ with an orchestra successfully and confidently. (Norman del Mar used to pay handsome tribute to the ability of the best choral conductors to cultivate a particularly acute ear for intonation, and commended this to his ‘orchestral’ colleagues.) The best advice the authors give is that which relates to music-making in general. In a passage addressing the need for conductors to be well prepared, they write: ‘above all, be certain to get far enough into the scores in your own study to really know them. . . . the players will respect that, whether or not you have experience in all the subtleties of instrumental technique’ (p. 24). Welcome too is the espousal of a no-frills approach: ‘There should be no difference between a good “choral beat” and a good “instrumental beat” . . . in every gesture you make, work to be economical . . . what the orchestra wants to see is the cleanest, clearest pattern possible. . . . Everything you want must show in the stick’ (pp. 35–7). This last sentence should be engraved on the heart and in the head of every conductor. Too much talk is the enemy of efficient rehearsal, and over-elaborate gestures (and distorted facial expressions) may beguile sections of the audience, but do not impress the players.