Conductors do create music
Re: “Conductors and the cult of charisma” (Opinion, Nov. 3)
Russell DeVuyst presented a frustrated critique of the cult of the modern conductor. Although valid, the argument oversimplifies the role of the conductor.
Blaming conductors for how they are perceived by the public is one oversimplification. Often these situations tell us more about how fickle and uninformed public opinion is. I agree wholeheartedly that there are many conductors who conduct the audience more than they conduct the orchestra. But I think it is fallacious to assume that the less a conductor does, the more useful he or she is.
Although a conductor is seen and not heard, different conductors do create very different sounds. It does not take a PhD to hear striking differences between a Toscanini recording and a Stokowski recording of the same work. There is a decisive influence by the conductor on the quality of the music-making. We cannot reduce our criteria of art and of artists to formulas; there are no formulas in art!
The real conductor — the great musician, without gimmicks, not a slave to public opinion — should not be concerned about these incidental issues. If Furtwangler cared what his own musicians, let alone critics, thought of his unorthodox conducting, we would not have the musical treasures he left behind. A true interpretation of a work of art is not achieved through democratic consensus by the orchestra, much less the audience. However, a highly skilled conductor may give the illusion that this is so.
I am frankly sick of conductors, alive or dead, being promoted on the basis of their image rather than their musical accomplishments. While some of these are truly great musicians, their image usually exaggerates the fact in a way that is unapologetically commercial and debasing to their art. A Bruckner CD that features our Yannick Nézet-Séguin putting on his jacket on the cover is possibly the most distasteful thing I have ever seen in a record store, save a giant poster of Karajan. It reflects the time we live in, the age of mass culture. One eagerly anticipates a truly inspiring musician: a Coriolanus of conductors. But even if such conductor materialized, would his or her worth be recognized by the concert-going public?