Axwell@a... wrote:
>A Choristers' Guide To Keeping Conductors In Line > Funny thing about this. 35 years ago, when I was a young tenor in a major Utah chorus, we were preparing for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. In the choral section of Gustav Mahler's Symphony #2 the tenor section was given the melody line by the conductor, Maurice Abravanel. But the double viola section seemed to be overshadowing us (it's a Tenor thing). I called out to Dr. Abravanel during a lull and explained that I believed the conducting at pages ?, measures ?? (don't remember) were not right. 360 faces turned to me, wondering who had the gall to challenge the famous conductor. Dr. Abravanel stared at me and said, "Can you do better? Come up here and you show me how you would conduct it." I hesitated. "Now" he said! You could hear a pin drop. I had completed a years study with Leonard Bernstein at Juilliard but had never been given the opportunity to conduct a symphony of this size. But I was a tenor and tenors can do anything.
I took the baton and leaned over to the viola section and told them to play that one passage softer. Then I conducted the symphony and choir for that one passage. The tenors could be heard much better than before, I felt. I handed the baton back to Dr. Abravanel and rejoined the tenor section. Dr. Abravanel returned to the podium and instructed the viola section to disregard my instruction then said to all of them, "I am the conductor. You will heed me, not some upstart who believes he knows better." Some laughter. He paused. Then continued, "I want you to continue to play the passage you just did as he told you." And we went back to the rehearsal.
Tenors RULE!
Dr Dean
================================== "We have to keep in mind we are a nation under God, and if we ever forget that, we'll be just a nation under." (Ronald Reagan) ==================================
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