Became Conductor Out Of Necessity

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30741, 4 May 1965, Page 10

Became Conductor Out Of Necessity

Pierre Boulez, who is becoming one of Europe’s busiest conductors, became a conductor not through ambition but through necessity, because he found few conductors able and willing to undertake satisfactory performances of his work. Boulez is at present sharing with Antal Dorati the conducting of the 8.8. C. Symphony Orchestra during its tour of the United States, and in a 8.8. C. radio interview reported by “The Times” he discussed his position as a conductor of works from the “standard repertory” as well as of modern music. Originally only Roger Desormiere and Hans Rosbaud were prepared to tackle his scores, and when he went to Germany in 1957, working in frequent contact with Rosbaud, Boulez found that although he had received no lessons in conducting, he was able to conduct himself. Learn By Doing “I think that you only learn conducting by conducting,” he said. “You can observe the movements and gestures of other conductors and how they organise rehearsals. I learned much from only seeing Rosbaud and attending his rehearsals.” At first Boulez had no intention of “adding one more conductor to all the conductors who were already playing classical music.” The natural demands of programme building, however, made it necessary for him to conduct familiar works. His aim, when he does so, is “to clean up Pre-Romanticism of all the clothes” which the nineteenth century imposed upon it. The works he prefers to conduct, like those of Mozart and Haydn, are those which show the relationship between his own work and the music of the classical period. He enjoys opportunities, when they present themselves, of directing performances of seventeenth-century music and, whenever possible, medieval works. Geography Boulez believes that the orchestra’s traditional seating plan interferes with the intentions not only of his own scores (which detail the distribution of instruments he finds most effective) but also with the accurate performance of and the audience’s sympathy for much contemporary music. “I find,” he says, “that even in much nineteenth and twen-tieth-century music, when you Want To Be In “Othello” Sammy Davis, jun., said last week he and Richard Burton wanted, tn perform in a musical version of Shakespeare’s “Othello.” “Dick and I discussed it many times while he was in New York playing Hamlet last year." Davis said. “He wants to play Othello. I want to play lago.” Davis said he and Burton hoped to persuade Alan Jay Lerner, who wrote the book for “My Fair Lady.” to write lyrics for “Othello.” Two “musical Othellos” already exist—the Italian operas “Oteilo” by Rossini and Verdi.

have all the strings before you, you cannot hear the woodwind—at least very easily.” The “Klangfarbenmelodie” of Schoenberg, Werber and their successors, with the melodic line passing from instrument to instrument, is often disrupted, he believes, by what he calls “the geographical situation of each instrument,” so that what is read in the score as a continuous line is not heard continuously because of the distance between the instruments which play it. Boulez suggests that, when conducting music of this nature, it would be advantageous to position the orchestra to suit the work. “One must change the geography of the orchestra,” he says, “to materialise directly the continuity which exists on paper.” In the United States tour Boulez is responsible for the performances of music by Berg, Schoenberg. Weber. Stravinsky, and Bartok as well as classical music and a new work of his own, "Doubles.” Added To Occasion By presenting the world premier of Roberto Gerhard’s Concerto for Orchestra at the opening concert of its United States tour in Boston last week, the 8.8. C. Symphony Orchestra added to the occasion, the New York music critics of “The Times” reported. The work is very much alive and likeable; at its outset it bristles with unusual orchestral colour and rythmic pattern and makes particularly strong demands on the percussion section (one especially eerie effect is produced by playing on the rim of a spinning cymbal with a violin bow). Cast in one continuous movement, but divided by a fast-slow-fast plan, the concerto is constructed lineally and probably serially. It meanders near the end. In a programme anchored by modern classics—Stravinsky’s “The Song of the Nightingale” and Bartok’s ballet suite, “The Miraculous Mandarin”—Antal Doral also conducted the first American performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Our Hunting Ftahers,” with Heather Harper as soloist.. The orchestra’s playing, especially in the Bartok, left no doubt that it is a virtuoso ensemble. Its over-all sound is lean but it boasts unusually strong wind and brass choirs. LAST PERORMANCE A farewell performance in honour of Bryan Ashbridge, the leading male dancer of the Royal Ballet Company who is returning to New Zealand, will be given at Covent Garden on July 14, when “Sylvia” will be performed. YOUTH ORCHESTRA Applications are being called for membership of the 1965 National Youth Orchestra. Auditions will be held at, local broadcasting stations, i and in August the orchestra will assemble in Wellington. ' Ashley Heenan will conduct i this year’s concert in which i the main work will be Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.