Product Description

Written by many working conductors, this book considers all facets of musical conducting. It includes practical advice on how to conduct different groups (choral, opera, symphony, early music) and a history of conducting presented as a study of national traditions. Designed for the lay reader who wants an inside look at the world of conducting as well as for potential students, it is a revealing study about a secretive industry. Managers, artistic directors, soloists, players and conductors openly discuss their different perspectives in this comprehensive work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313658 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 366 pages

Review
'... a rewarding and often revealing read ...'. Classical Music '... this volume clearly succeeds in providing illuminating insight, practical advice and insider information that is otherwise often unavailable in academic circles. The current volume encourages conductors, and to a certain extent scholars, to seriously examine their own music philosophies and performance concepts. It offers examples of how to rethink, retool, and make responsible and informed choices about the presentation of music to a variety of listeners. Most notably, however, this collection of essays displays the fundamental impact the conducting profession has had, and continues to have, on fostering creativity and engendering social and cultural change.' Nineteenth-Century Music Review

Review
"Fascinating reading...Dozens of absorbing topics make this collection a page turner. Highly recommended." --Opera Journal

“These essays, brought together by José Antonio Bowen, are exploratory rather than didactic...Of particular use are the two bibliographies...By chossing practical musicians as his contributors, Bowen ensures that the vast majority of the commentary is perceptive and relevant to working musicians as well as to the interested reader.  The essays are pithy, touching on a massive range of subjects without becoming stuck in a bog of polemics.  Perhaps most admirably, Bowen is not afraid of opposing points of view...This is a rewarding and often revealing read.
Robin Newton, Classical Music                                     

“This volume presents a comprehensive (sometimes intersecting, sometimes contradictory) range of views about conducting. ... [Bowen] provides depth and informed criticism of the conducting styles of different conducting luminaries...[and] meticulously detail how these conductors handled tempi, marking, the rehearsal process, a conducting ethos, realization of the composer's intentions, and sonic ideals...The American tradition as Bowen and David Mermelstein suggest, is unique in the paradox of its simultaneous rootedness in European origins and struggle to become independent of them...Their approach is original: they reference cities and their orchestras, instead of prominent conductors, as the central core of conducting traditions...As a whole, this volume clearly succeeds in providing illuminating insight, practical advice and insider information that is otherwise unavailable in academic circles...Most notably, however, this collection of essays displays the fundamental impact the conducting profession has had, and continues to have on fostering creativity and engendering social and cultural change.”
Dr. Joel Novarro, 19th-century Music Review                                

“The essays on national traditions in the Companion are rich in anecdote...The 'Issues' section is also unusually interesting.”
Richard Osborne, The Oldie

“This is a very comprehensive, honest and highly interesting book , both for a broad public who wants to see behind the face off this profession and for practicing conductors: dieses Buch nur also sehr umfassend, ehrlich und hoch interessant ansehen kann, sowohl, für ein breites Publikum, das etwas hinter die Fassade dieses Berufs sehen will, als auch für angehended Dirigenten.” Pizzicato 5

“José Bowen's aim is to bridge the gap between textbooks on conducting and biographies of conductors through the “combination of practical details with a fresh look at the musical, social, and economic history of conducting” (pp. xvi-xvii). The result is a highly engaging and colorful book, reflecting the complexity of the subject... Bowen avoids the danger of overlap in the use of so many different voices... Bowen's opening chapter to Part II of the book on “The Rise of Conducting” is an excellent brief historical introduction to the ensuing six chapters on the most influential conducting traditions... Bowen did a superb editing job, avoiding redundancy as the contributors offer their individual perspectives... The Cambridge Companion to Conducting delivers on its promise to be an “unusually honest book about the secretive industry, (in which) managers, artistic directors, soloists, players, and conductors openly discuss their different perspectives for the first time” (p. i). It is highly recommended for any serious conducting student and the sophisticated musical layperson. The broad range of essays will raise more questions than the book itself can answer, which seems appropriate and necessary. Because Bowen and his contributors identify many of the important issues to be considered before entering the complex and exceptional world of conducting, this volume will be an important companion and catalyst for further discussions in the near future. "
Dr Siegwart Reichwald, Journal of Musicological Research

“The Cambridge Companion to Conducting, edited by José Antonio Bowen, offers tangible observations on the real world of conducting.  This is a welcome addition to the current choice of conducting texts, which consist mainly of extensive description and illustrations of conducting technique.”
Paula Zerkle, IAWM Journal

“This book falls into three parts - 'Practice', 'History' and 'Issues' - which is as good a way as any of getting this almost unwieldy subject into some kind of order...I welcome the contributions from the practitioners of the craft...worth the attention of any aspiring accompanist...full of practical and valuable advice."
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review

About the Author
José Antonio Bowen is Caestecker Chair of Music and Director of the Music Program at Georgetown University. He is also the Director of the Music Program and Director of the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (C.H.A.R.M.)

Customer Reviews

Couldn't put it down
Full disclosure: I wrote one of the chapters (see the TOC below for detail -I can't figure out how to put my name in the "public nickname" slot at Amazon). But I don't get paid royalties as far as I know, and I don't mind if you skip my chapter when you get the book - I did! (Haven't had the courage to read it yet.) I mention all this to be upfront, and not use a pseudonym on Amazon - a common practice by authors, I've heard.

I'm writing because I read the book (the parts by everyone else) and feel too enthusiastic to keep quiet about it. I literally couldn't put the book down. When I received my copy, I stayed up way past my bedtime reading it, ignoring sleepiness and the fact that I had to go to work the next morning. If you are at all interested in the topic, I don't know of anything of its type that's richer or more engaging. Don't assume that it's another collection of academic papers; instead it has insights not only from scholars but also from conductors (e.g., Mackerras), orchestral players, record producers, and managers. To give you an idea and help you determine if this book would interest you, here's the table of contents, with my short notes on a few chapters - ande they all deserve comment, but I will leave that to others:

Part I. Practice:
1. The technique of conducting - Raymond Holden
2. Conductors in rehearsal - Charles Barber [conductor, archivist of conducting films, so this has details on historical greats like Furtwaengler]
3. Studio conducting - Michael Haas [producer of Solti and Abbado recordings- fascinating information about their recordings and why conducting in the studio, which is what most of us hear in our CD collections, is so different from conducting in concert]
4. The conductor and the soloist - Joseph Silverstein [he's outstanding both as a conductor and a soloist, and former concertmaster at Boston so he played with many greats; again, a lot of interesting stuff]
5. Choral conducting - Vance George [SF chorus master, great choral conductor, very useful]
6. Opera conducting - Sir Charles Mackerras [need I say more?]
7. The orchestra speaks - Robert L. Ripley [played in Cleveland and Boston SOs for many years. Great chapter! A lot of detail about famous conductors and what they did well or badly in working with orchestras.]

Part II. History: [as good a history as I've seen. It really clarifies the context out of which such apparently unique figures as, say, Toscanini arose.]
8. The rise of conductors - José Antonio Bowen
9. The central European tradition - José Antonio Bowen and Raymond Holden
10. The French tradition - David Cairns
11. The Italian tradition - Michael Rose
12. The American tradition - José Antonio Bowen and David Mermelstein
13. The English tradition - Stephen Johnson
14. The Russian tradition - David Nice

Part III. Issues:
15. The conductor as Artistic Director - Bramwell Tovey [if you're aware of his work you will need no further encouragement]
16. Women on the podium - Michelle Edwards
17. Conducting early music - Bernard Sherman [that's me]
18. Training conductors - Harold Faberman [Perhaps America's leading teacher of conductors; his own book on conducting technique is outstanding]
19. The composer/conductor and modern music - Martyn Brabbins
20. Managers and the business of conduction - Stephen Wright
21. The future of conducting - Leon Botstein.[Again - need I say more? Fascinating chapter by this extraordinary conductor/scholar/university president.]