I am still working my way through the Haydn Edition, just coming to the end of the string quartets. Next up are the piano trios, of which I only know a few. I have been watching a few videos of Valery Gergiev conducting lately, like this one, Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade with the Vienna Phillies:
Much of the time, as here, he conducts with no baton and a lot of finger wiggling. But I have seen him conducting with what seems to be a cocktail skewer as in this performance of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 with the National Youth Orchestra of the US:
And here he seems to be conducting with what almost looks like a toothpick:
Maybe he just likes to travel light? I can't find any mention in the Wikipedia article on Valery Gergiev that mentions his propensity for really tiny batons. Do any of my readers have any information?
2 comments:
Do orchestral musicians actually look at the baton or more likely are they just catching the rhythms of his swinging white cuffs? Maybe the baton is just to give his fingers a point of fixation, and the not for visibility after all?
Oh and I must mention how my awesome 18yo son Justin often explores my box set of complete Haydn symphonies, or like just a few nights ago took out my CD of Haydn piano sonatas on historic pianofortes. And he often explores the Mozart chamber music sets I have too. I've been driving very far to work the last few weeks and take consolation in how Sirius XM Symphony Hall radio plays a lot of Haydn and Mozart symphonies.
Let Rome burn, I have a fiddle to play.
The standard baton, white and about a foot in length, I think is meant to be quite visible. But yes, of course the orchestra follows the whole movement of the arms.
Great stuff, Haydn!
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