MUSIC

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28974, 15 August 1959, Page 3

MUSIC

(Reviewed by HJV.H.)

The Art of Conducting. By Michael Bowles. Doubleday. 210 pp.

Mr Bowles, having undertaken to write a handbook, tries to make it look more imposing by adopting a lofty historical standpoint The material thus added is not only valueless in itself but detracts from the worth of < the solid advice which he has to offer. He begins with three chapters of historical introduction: in the first, on the history of the orchestra as a musical instrument the- accuracy of his facts is impugned by the wildness of his generalisations. His first sentence reveals the sort of thinking we may expect: “Apart from its charm as an intellectual pursuit, the study of history has its uses.” The second chapter on the history of conducting is a little better, but again the slenderest corpus of quotations and source references ekes out a monstrous deal of padding. The third chapter on interpretation is so vague and noncommittal as to tell nobody anything which five minutes reflection would not reveal.

The reader who. perseveres so

far, however, will find his patience rewarded: for when Mr Bowles cuts the cackle and comes to the horses he shows us that he keeps quite a fine stable. He has a very sensible chapter on gesture, an informed chapter on instruments and their capacities, and a slightly nanny-ish chapter on rehearsal. This is a difficult book to recommend to any but the. merest beginner, since so much of it is dross and the gold is little more than informed common sense. Any student of music will presumably be familiar with Mr Bowles's historical facts and technical information, or can find these things more copiously recorded in the appropriate handbooks. The concert-goer will hardly be interested in the technical information and can only be misled by the facile historical analysis which Mr Bowles provides. Good enough for standard three, perhaps, but the jacket informs us that the basis of this book was a course of University lectures. Well, students have to put up with a lot, but that seems no reason for foisting a book of this kind on the public.