Views from the podium

Legendary conductors recalled

Leonard Slatkin (conductor) ‘Arturo Toscanini was legally blind towards the end of his life and yet he was still conducting, from memory. He had beady, penetrating eyes that told you everything about what he wanted from the music – much more than his actual conducting gestures, which were stolid and rigorous. If you watch any video of him, you can see that the main point of communication with the orchestra is through those eyes.

Fritz Reiner scowled a lot – he could completely devastate people with just the look of his glassy eyes. Watch a Leonard Bernstein video, and for all the gyrations and extrovert tendencies he had on the podium, his eyes are always wide open, gathering information.’

Sian Edwards (conductor) ‘When you look at a film of any great conductor, you’ll see them looking around the orchestra all the time. Carlos Kleiber hardly ever blinks – you see him panning around the orchestra as he’s conducting. It’s not an inviting gaze, but it joins everyone together – it’s irresistible. Bernard Haitink had big blue eyes, always looking early enough that the players felt like he had created a space for them to put the sound in.’

Arnold Steinhardt (violinist) ‘In videos you can see how engaged Bernstein was with the musicians, how he would look at them. Sometimes his look is stern, sometimes filled with rapture. When Bernstein has that ecstatic look, your vibrato gets hotter, your bow pressure has to change – all kinds of things have to happen within that parameter of good solid ensemble playing. That’s what creates goosebumps in music.’