Customer Reviews

Handbook of Conducting

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When I studied conducting I thought only contemporary works will give one a technique,but no matter what you conduct Scherchen's book here makes you realize that music is music and we are simply examining timbre,and balance,its structure(top to bottom or vice versa) its shape and articulation.Whether you want to conduct only the new or only the old this is a wonderful compendium of basic problems. Scherchen focuses upon timbral problems, articulation and dynamics,what it means and how certain instruments "speak" or fail to within certain contexts.

The shapes and direction of phrases and musical lines are explored here and it makes you search for similar passages from Beethoven to Stockhausen. The structure of this book is by orchestral familes with an ample amount of real examples, excerpts from primarily classical literature, some excerpts by Hindemith.And I can tell you from experience that there is no shortage of knowledge in learning the unique features of each instrument. You can also accomplish this work from a rich survey of solo unaccompanied literarture. Bach's famous "Sonatas and Partitias" for solo violin, Berio's numerous "Sequenzas" would be great places to start.

There are no interpretive insights offered here as none can be. Scherchen lets you, he respects one's intelligence to make up your own mind and simply gives you the problem to be resolved and contemplated.

Scherchen was a seminal figure for post-war Europe, the new and old where young conductors as the young Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna had attended his rehearsals. Scherchen also encouraged young composers to submit works to him for performance. Xenakis tells a story where he had visited Scherchen in his hotel room where he found him covered in the enormous pages of his "Metastasis" 3 foot by 3 foot (on the bed)

This book leads any students conductor through a series of excersises and musical examples that cover nearly every combination of ritards, stops, pauses etc. By this book, even if it is only for a reference or opinion on how you might handle a particular situation.