Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler For JohnK, and others who enjoy orchestra

Would a bad conductor be called a resistor?

Further more, is how good a conductor is measured in Siemens?

Cam, just finished listening to/watching the entire performance. Not bad(very good baritone soloist), but this may have been your first exposure to the piece, and you should realize that there are several CDs(and a couple DVDs)available with performances and sound that would probably impress you even more.

Eric and Peter answered your question about the significance of the conductor well, and many classical compositions are available in over a hundred different recordings, largely although not entirely due to the different interpretations the conductor applied to the same written score. I have several CDs of the same compositions(including Carmina Burana)for quite a few items in my collection and some have dozens of performances of their favorites, each being different enough to bring a new enjoyment.

What did astonish me was your statement that you didn't listen to orchestral music. Naughty Cam! There's a whole world of great music out there waiting for you to give a listen.

I went to the Halloween Midnight Concert put on by the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra. It was 95% for fun and was quite enjoyable. Recorded music would come on the loudspeakers as each section walked out as a group to take their seats. For example, the theme from "I Love Lucy" came on as the Bass section walked out and the theme from "Deliverance" came on when the Woodwinds walked out. Anyway, some of the Timpani came out like Carolina Panthers Football players complete with Referees.

JohnK will have to help me out here - at one point in the performance they began to play the piece that has the "Olympic Kettle Drums" (don't know what that is) in it. The Referee stood up blowing his whistle and threw a penalty flag at the Conductor. Everyone was caught off guard and the place fell silent. Penalty was Delay of Orchestra. I thought it was pretty clever and all the students were cracking up.

I would have thought the theme from Deliverance would have been played when the orchestra's Banjo section walked onstage...

John, this is my preferred orchestra.