Conducting Business: Unveiling the Mystery Behind the Maestro

by Leonard Slatkin

Conducting an orchestra is something that is seen as well as heard, but it is quite misunderstood when it comes to knowing what this person actually does for a living. This most mysterious of jobs is brought to life for the music lover as well as for the aspiring maestro in a new book by Leonard Slatkin. Drawing on his own experiences on and off the podium, Slatkin brings us into the world of the baton. He tells tales of some of the most fascinating people in the musical world, including Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams. He takes the reader to the great concert halls and orchestras, soundstages in Hollywood, and opera pits around the globe. Mr. Slatkin recounts his controversial appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, his creation and direction of summer music festivals, and a shattering concert experience that took place four days following 9/11. Life in the recording studio and on the road as well as health issues confronting the conductor provide an insider's glimpse into the private world of public figures. Covering everything from learning how to read music to standing in front of an orchestra for the first time, what to wear, and how to deal with the press, Conducting Business is a unique look at a unique profession. Conducting Business is a recipient of the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award.

Genres: Music

312 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2012

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

In pedestrian prose, Leonard Slatkin, who is currently the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre national de Lyon, and in the past led the symphonies of St. Louis and Washington, D.C., explains the job of being a late 20th -early 21st century conductor. “Keep your day job, Maestro,” our evil twin whispered.

If you’re being chased by bears and only have the time or presence of mind to read one chapter, go for Chapter 29, “Ten Essential Decisions,” where Slatkin picks ten very brief examples from orchestral works that present problems for conductors. E.g. at the end of the fourth movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, what to do with that diminuendo? In Mahler’s first symphony, given how the first violins are playing with a crescendo and the second violins without crescendo at one point, is it better to keep all the violins together onstage, or separate them so that the ear can hear both things? In Beethoven’s Ninth, can a conductor change what the composer wrote? (Not the actual notes, but the number of instruments? Many celebrated conductors did.) This chapter also contains interesting thoughts on historical performance practice; Slatkin makes the relevant point that composers welcomed progress that occurred during their lifetimes, such as improvements in instruments, and that this should have a bearing on how music is played today. Also, something I was not aware of: passages of symphonic works that begin with one solo instrument are not physically conducted: the opening to Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, which begins with one flute; the opening to Sibelius’ First Symphony, or to The Rite of Spring. Rather than doing anything with your hands, you can discreetly nod to the instrumentalist.

The “shattering concert experience that took place four days following 9/11” can be skipped. It’s boring.

The chapter on conducting La traviata at the Met in 2010 can be summed up as: soprano Angela Gheorghiu is the worst kind of diva, a passive-aggressive dick. The kind who skips rehearsals for no reason, does things onstage she didn’t do in rehearsal. Slatkin admits that opera is not really his thing, which is fine. There’s enough different stuff to like in classical music that haters come across as frank and refreshing.

“Stiff formality is not necessary, but beachwear isn’t appropriate, even at the Hollywood Bowl.” That’s a smack at Yuja Wang, the brilliant pianist, and a performance in 2011 that sent pearl-clutchers to their sofas, begging for cool compresses. Calm down, and please understand what “beachwear” is before you use it in a sentence. Wang was wearing a short cocktail dress.

When Clinton was president (Bill), Slatkin asked him to conduct The Stars and Stripes Forever. Surprisingly (to me), Clinton knew the piece and even asked, “How do I conduct the ritardando before the big brass entrance?” I bet even Obama doesn’t know what a ritardando is.

I’m going to guess a lot of conducting memoirs have a paragraph like this one: “At the turn of the century, I was undergoing a major shift in my personal life. Life on the road is one easy excuse, as is midlife crisis. I found myself searching for companionship away from home. Perhaps I was trying to avoid responsibility or attempting to remind myself that I could feel younger. Consequently, I engaged in activities that should not have happened, and perhaps would not have if I had realized the impact of my actions on my family, friends and orchestra. As a result, everything suffered – relationships, rehearsals and concerts.” Ugh, could it sound any more like a press release? Reading between the lines, I gather that Slatkin developed a meth habit and had an affair with Yo-Yo Ma.

One interesting chapter focuses on the American composer Elliott Carter and the time Slatkin conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in his work Symphony of Three Orchestras, inspired by Hart Crane’s poem “The Bridge.” The conductor Erich Leinsdorf “had a particularly rough time with Carter’s Piano Concerto and told me that he never again would conduct a piece by him.” Slatkin had performed some Carter works before which he liked, but by the 1970s “Carter had moved on to very complex structures that simply did not speak to me. Once in a while, I would try studying a piece or two, just to see if I could warm up to this style, but the writing did not appeal to my own aesthetic.” (This in itself is interesting because Slatkin is a big proponent of American music.) Slatkin strongly felt the audience needed some verbal introduction and explanation to Carter’s piece, but Carter felt even more strongly that the work could speak for itself, and that if Slatkin insisted on addressing the crowd, he could just read “The Bridge.” On the first night, Slatkin did introduce the work, whereupon Carter immediately got up and walked out. On the second night, Slatkin stayed silent, and the applause was quieter. On the third performance, he gave his introduction again. He was surprised a year later when he got a call from the New York Philharmonic, which was performing the piece; it turned out Carter had asked for Slatkin to conduct it. “He thinks you do the piece very well.”

“I observed Aaron Copland conduct many times, and I was struck by how tempo seemed his lowest priority when leading his own material…Like innumerable composers, Copland’s technique was limited, but seeing such a legend on the podium compensated for most of the weaknesses.”

Chamber music is the most sublime. “Is there really a Beethoven symphony that reaches the heights of his Op. 132? Or an orchestral work of Brahms that aches as intensely as the slow movement of his C Minor Piano Quartet?”

Well this is interesting: Women’s “bodies are uniquely built and they should not necessarily try to imitate their male counterparts when conducting.” I really have zero idea what that means, given that male conducting styles cover the gamut, as do the physiognomies of the female body. So should women develop a totally new conducting style? And what would that be?

In a chapter on labor issues, such as wages and strikes, we are told that the weekly wage of an orchestra member is radically higher in 2010 than it was in 1953, sometimes more than twenty-five times higher. (Five major orchestras are compared.) Unfortunately, these numbers are not adjusted for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, the members of these five orchestras are paid between 2.3 and 2.8 times more in 2010 than they were in 1953. This is due to unions.

The Detroit Symphony will not reveal what it pays Leonard Slatkin. (Source: http://www.adaptistration.com/blog/20...)

The most underrated composer is Hindemith.

Finally, “there are only three scores you need to study to learn how to orchestrate: Beethoven’s Eroica, the complete Nutcracker, and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges.”

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

The position of orchestra conductor evolved only two hundred years ago. Before then, the composer or concertmaster led the ensemble. Which is one reason I enjoy concerts featuring Jeffrey Kahane and similar others, when they appear as guest conductors. He conducts from the piano. I like that less formal style. A professional orchestra, with several rehearsals before the concerts, knows what it is doing.

Meanwhile, while on a podium, conductors work with their backs to the audience, the paying customers, while consumed by competing feelings of power and helplessness as they wave their arms in front of their hundred employees on stage, Leonard Slatkin writes in his opening paragraph of this memoir and insight.

This story tells of the rewards and challenges of a big-city music director.

Felix, Leonard’s father, led recording sessions for Capitol Records beginning in the early fifties. Leonard served as the music director of the St Louis Symphony for many years and now comes to the end of his time at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which is active on stage but also off stage in the community and neighborhoods while working with thirty-thousand students every year on music education, which is a good investment in the future.

But conductors also need to relax. In seventy-four, the Chicago Symphony called Slatkin to substitute as a conductor. On the afternoon of his opening night, he went to see “Blazing Saddles,” which just opened, to clear his head and relax before his big night.

This book broadened and depend my understanding of the role that conductors play on stage, backstage and in their communities. I worked many years raising funds for the arts. This book added to my appreciation of the leader’s role. Slatkin writes a good first-person story of his life and experience in music, published by Amadeus Press, an imprint of Hal Leonard, in Milwaukee.

SYMPHONIES PLAY TO ABOUT FIVE PERCENT of the population, writes Slatkin, which can expand, depending on the number of one-off and pops concerts in the mix of each orchestra. I, for example, go to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra half a dozen times a season, favoring the piano concertos. I am one of these audience members who goes to hear and see the soloist then leaves at intermission fully sated with a melody lingering in my head.

While compiling my musical memoir, almost five hundred tracks so far, one of my playlists bears the label Classical Music for People Like Me Who Do Not Like Symphony Music, which already runs over four hours of the familiar and tuneful.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very valuable information for an aspiring conductor. The 1st section is biographical and will largely appeal to any specific fans of Slatkin. He grew up as the son of Hollywood session musicians, and the household of his youth was a parade of all sorts of celebrities. The 2nd section deals with his conducting career and reveals how much personality conflict can exist among musicians in higher level orchestras, and how so much of a conductor's challenge is being a diplomat. There are some great stories throughout. The 3rd section and the appendices are where this book really excels. The 3rd section explores the conducting problems associated with some very famous pieces, and the appendices address the common questions asked about becoming a professional conductor.

[Mort · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this. I've had season's tickets to the DSO during Mr Slatikin's entire stay here, and years before. I like him. I've enjoyed his talks. If I were honest about the book, it would be unkind. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood.

[Austin Hood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A candid and insightful look into the conducting profession!

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the life and work of a major symphony conductor. Not an autobiography, though it does include some details about Slatkin's life, and not a manual on how to conduct -- very little technical material. More an overview of what a conductor does to lead an orchestra. Slatkin's style is rather straight-forward, with little linguistic flair, but it is clear and informative.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story of the life of Leonard Slatkin. From his early childhood it was as if he was destined to be a conductor. The book tells the inner workings of a big city orchestra, basically how the sausage is made.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review in MusicMediaMonthly.com August 2012

[Viswa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Mr. Slatkin pulls no punches and tells it like it is. Part biography and part "owners manual".

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If GoodReads would let me, I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars. It was better than average, but only by a little bit.

[Michel Emile · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of interesting detail for classical music lovers. At times tedious, too practical considering the creativity which goes into conducting.

[Patty Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent look at the life of a conductor, with especially valuable information for anyone interested in symphonies and what it takes to lead them.