July 27, 2007

• interesting story to share

  Gary Bertini tells of his experience with Arthur Rubinstein and the Jerusalem Symphony in Israel during the 1970s. Before a scheduled sound check, Rubinstein (then in his mid-eighties) confessed to always having wanted to try his hand at conducting. It was arranged that he would be given one hour to conduct his favorite piece.

  He chose Brahm’s Symphony No. 3. He began and things quickly fell apart; he tried again with no luck. Rubinstein went to the piano and played the opening as he wanted it to sound. He returned to the podium and again a train wreck occurred, at which point Rubinstein put the baton down and smiled, saying “Now I finally understand.” Conducting looks deceptively easy.

  Leon Botstein, “The Future of Conducting”. Excerpt from The Cambridge Companion to Conducting.

  • 5:41 am
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