Pretty good Bolero

[12tone.]

Youtubed Ravel's Bolero and got this.

Daniel Barenboim conducts...but doesn't do much.  You'll note at 4:09-4:17 on video part 1 he just stands there doing nothing.  He throws his hand in the air for a second and that's it.  Later on, still standing there, he throws punches and makes awkward, jolty moves.  Is this normal for him?  Where's keeping the 3/4 time (or 9/8)? 

Anyway, a pretty good performance!

[MishaK]

Daniel Barenboim conducts...but doesn't do much.  You'll note at 4:09-4:17 on video part 1 he just stands there doing nothing.  He throws his hand in the air for a second and that's it.  Later on, still standing there, he throws punches and makes awkward, jolty moves.  Is this normal for him?  Where's keeping the 3/4 time (or 9/8)? 

There is nothing for him to do here, except indicate phrasings and dynamics. There is a constant meter provided by the snare drum. Absolutely no reason for the conductor to beat time. Any idiot can count bars if you have a competent percussionist manning the snare drum in this piece. And yes, Barenboim is not one to unnecessarily play traffic cop when there is no reason to do so.

BTW, this is from a "Latin Night" DVD of a Waldbühne concert of the BPO which is a lot of fun.

[jochanaan]

Daniel Barenboim conducts...but doesn't do much.  You'll note at 4:09-4:17 on video part 1 he just stands there doing nothing.  He throws his hand in the air for a second and that's it.  Later on, still standing there, he throws punches and makes awkward, jolty moves...

That just shows the orchestra knows what they're doing.

[karlhenning]

Daniel Barenboim conducts...but doesn't do much.

Sometimes, less is more.

[karlhenning]

 

[BachQ]

Daniel Barenboim conducts...but doesn't do much. 

We only see what's above the waist .......

[jochanaan]

We only see what's above the waist .......

Reports I've heard from musicians who've seen Barenboim live suggest that he's no Elvis.

[MishaK]

Reports I've heard from musicians who've seen Barenboim live suggest that he's no Elvis.

You evidently forgot the "Barenboim Hula".

[MishaK]

BTW, another great example of no need to keep the beat for the Berliners, because the percussion section knows what they're doing: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i84zyG_ts78&feature=related

[MishaK]

12tone,

I just ran across this radio interview with Max Raimi, one of the CSO violists. Some wonderful anecdotes as to why Barenboim sometimes just gives no beat at all.

http://www.cso.org/main.taf?p=15,1,39,3

[12tone.]

12tone,

I just ran across this radio interview with Max Raimi, one of the CSO violists. Some wonderful anecdotes as to why Barenboim sometimes just gives no beat at all.

http://www.cso.org/main.taf?p=15,1,39,3

Thanks for that.  Sounds kind of weird though...telling the orchestra that the timpanist is the conductor.  That's a bit minimalist for me.  I like more action-oriented conductors. 

[jochanaan]

Thanks for that.  Sounds kind of weird though...telling the orchestra that the timpanist is the conductor.  That's a bit minimalist for me.  I like more action-oriented conductors. 

And yet, as an orchestral player myself, I understand exactly why Barenboim does this: to force the orchestra to think musically, rather than mechanically, as Mr. Raimi describes.  I've heard enough wonderfully sensitive performances from Barenboim's orchestras to make me respect him as much as any conductor working today.  I know of no conductor working today that draws a similar kind of flexibility and sensitivity from orchestras.  (Historically, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Fritz Reiner, Günter Wand, Sergiu Celibidache, and Wolfgang Sawallisch among others had such flexibility.  George Szell, Herbert von Karajan, and Lorin Maazel, on the other hand, although they sometimes indulge in considerable tempo fluctuation, seem to do so with calculation rather than with Barenboim's apparent spontaneity.)

[MishaK]

Thanks for that.  Sounds kind of weird though...telling the orchestra that the timpanist is the conductor.  That's a bit minimalist for me.  I like more action-oriented conductors. 

A conductor is not simply there to give a beat like a metronome. Or as Haitink put it "I'm not a traffic cop".