Conducting an Interview

Traditionally, conductors have had a certain reputation. Arturo Toscanini and Gustav Mahler were untouchable gods alone on their mountains. Artur Rodzinski was said to bring a revolver to rehearsals to help with motivation. For me, the image of a conductor was formed by my 200-kilogram school band teacher who would bash her baton and munch on rum cake, hunks of which she would regularly tear off to throw at the head of whoever hit a bad note. She was very scary.

So it was refreshing to talk to conductor Otto Tausk about control for Nyenrode Now (pages 16-18). He’s not only the most acclaimed Dutch conductor of his generation, but also a nice inspired guy. And he could put things into perspective: “Having a conductor is like using a condom, it might be better without one but it’s definitely safer.”

Our talk made me realise how my musical development was perhaps somewhat stunted by my scary school teacher. Thanks to her I moved away from classical and took on a more rock’n’roll direction. But who knows? Perhaps there’s still time to take control. Thanks Otto.

And thanks to my conductor friend Greg Hubert who gave me a crash course on how to conduct a controlled  interview with a conductor about control  – he was my Deep Throat with a baton.

Tags: Music