A WEIRD CONDUCTOR

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 65

A WEIRD CONDUCTOR

CFbom Qetb Qme Cobresposdent.) LONDON, March 17. A new Italian conductor is now in London, where ' he has already created-^ a sensation by his weird and' unparalleled antics. A picturesque account of his methods is given by one of the daily papers. Most of it is really too good' net to be reproduced. The best portion runs as , follows : -r- '•" Creatore, the ' contortionist conductor,' surpassed himself at the Queen's Hall last night. Many and various were the involuntary imitations he gave of wild beasts, jiu-jitsu wrestlers, acrobats, and ventriloquists. The enthusiasm of the audience was intense, for musical London has never before beheld a conductor who got quite so much work out of a band of 60. The famous overture to ' Spring. 1 Creatore conducted almost entirely with his hair. In the quieter moments of theoverture he 'chased himself,' as our American cousins would say, round the platform, uttering purring ventriloquial sounds. But when the quiet moments had given place- to the splendid brazen finale, Creatore became for the time being the king of the forest. Emitting low, ominous growls, he sprang on the unoffending and scoreless music stand, which he shook violently, the- while shaking his dark mane to the bellowing of the trombones. As the finale waxed in noise and splendour, Creatore assumed the attitude of a jiujitsu wrestler, and cunningly approached the clarionets, who rose to the occasion and responded with a volume of sound which was entirely uncalled for. Turning like lightning to the right, Creatore pretended he was a windmill — the rise and fall of his mane certainly seemed to suggest it, — and the trombones bravely drowned the efforts of the clarionets. In' the ' Ride of the Valkyries ' Creatore let himself go again — this time like the eccentric gentleman who wanted- to 'make a noise like a turnip to capture a hare. The conductor crouched at the extreme left of the platform, making strange sounds, and then sprang suddenly on the startled clarinets. It was evidently an unrehearsed affair, for the band was demoralised for the moment. Acrobatics or no acrobatics, ho is a musical genius. He gets more vivid contrasts out of his band than any conductor who has e^er visited London."