Conductor-composers

[Florestan]

knew a guy in high school, one of those who assumed that he was one of the Smart Kids: he once asserted that Pierre Boulez had written Planet of the Apes and The Bridge Over the River Kwai.   

Well, the difference between Pierre Boulez and Pierre Boulle is not that big for an American kid, is it? 

[Cato]

Well, the difference between Pierre Boulez and Pierre Boulle is not that big for an American kid, is it? 

Well, after all, it's French!  Who knows about spelling?  Like in English!  It's just kind of random: "Go Ghoti!"   

[Florestan]

Well, after all, it's French!  Who knows about spelling?  Like in English!  It's just kind of random: "Go Ghoti!"   

Precisely. And now that I think of it, enough women nation, if ended with an exclamation mark, makes sense in itself.

[Daverz]

Well, the difference between Pierre Boulez and Pierre Boulle is not that big for an American kid, is it? 

Pierre Boulez was just two Pierre Boulles in a trenchcoat.

[Roy Bland]

Highly reccomended

[DaveF]

I've seen Berlioz hailed as the first conductor in the modern sense of the word (interpreting the music, I imagine, rather than just giving a beat).

[pjme]

Ivan Fischer

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I've come to learn Antol Dorati was also a composer.  Also, just because a composer conducts their music doesn't mean they are good conductors.  They are separate skills and being very good at one doesn't automatically make you good at the other.  They are mostly competent but standing in front of a great orchestra, it's actually hard to make them sound bad.  The real test is if the conductor can add or elevate what they would do otherwise.  In a conducting masterclass, the pro ensemble demonstrated what they sound like playing without any conductor and it was damn good.  A student conductor came up to lead them on the same work and they sounded less convincing.  You could also see that most players were ignoring the conductor and following the concertmaster who had his eyes glued on the conductor. 

Good point!  Hadn't realized that Dorati was a composer.  Which of his works do you enjoy most?

Benjamin Britten had an active career as a conductor, as has Thomas Adés, Gyorgy Kurtag, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. 

I've greatly enjoyed the recordings that I have on the BBC series "Britten the Performer".  I have about a half-dozen on them.  The Tchaikovsky and Holst works I particularly enjoyed (Serenade for Strings and Egdon Heath).

PD

[vers la flamme]

Another (living) example: Emil Tabakov.

[pjme]

Highly reccomended

Thanks! And I discovered this on YT.
Composing conductors often know all the tricks of the orchestration trade. This should appeal to all Respighi-Bax-Schmitt...lovers.

[Atriod]

Another (living) example: Emil Tabakov.

Have you heard his symphony cycle, if so what did you think?

[vers la flamme]

Have you heard his symphony cycle, if so what did you think?

Not all of it, but I have heard the 1st & the 8th. They're similar to one another, both in three movements and predominately slow, but I did find things to enjoy in them. They are very dark in tone and kind of similar to Shostakovich and even Schnittke in style.

[Owen David]

I've hear of Furtwängler's music, but haven't listened yet. I wasn't aware of music by the other conductors you listed, but it's not surprising given the amount of conductors who composed, e.g Gielen, Skrowaczewski, Svetlanov. I've heard some of Svetlanov's music which is interesting with some Spanish influence.

Also there's another very famous (and fabulous) composer-conductor: Bernstein!

Yes Bernstein was great in both roles! But I am sure I read somewhere he had help with orchestration, like many a "composer" of musicals.  Most musicals were as much the product of great orchestrators.  It's not confined to the tradition of musicals - many classical pieces are assumed wrongly by listeners to have been orchestrated by the composer.