I agree that chattiness can get out of hand. But....

2005-06-22T23:54:58.760+01:00

I agree that chattiness can get out of hand. But.....

we all know the terror that a brand new piece of music--or, say, even something Schoenberg wrote in 1909! :-) -- can be for 98% of the audience. I saw Zubin Mehta conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in some pieces of Messaien. He gave a short intro to each piece and then, best of all, had the orchestra play very short excerpts that highlighted the musical structure. It was very effective, because although I knew the pieces, the "musicalogical" explanations that Mr. Mehta gave really added to my enjoyment.

I'd really encourage conductors who are doing a "difficult" piece of music to do this "background + examples" thing; it would go a long way towards demystifying music that doesn't sound like Mozart or Beethoven.

Comments on On An Overgrown Path: .....and the soloist talked beautifully

I agree that chattiness can get out of hand. But....