In article <3bqdnTqqA7Wso4_VnZ2dnUVZ_viunZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
"Soundhaspriority" <nowhere@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Last night, I was at Philadelphia's Verizon Hall for one of Christoph
> Eschenbach's final performances as music director. Despite the internal
> dissension that shortened his tenure in Philadelphia, I have had only
> positive feelings about his choice of music, and the performances
> themselves. His style on the podium is almost balletic in nature. But
most
> im****tant, he refused the easy course of giving the somewhat aged
audience
> the comfort of familiarity, instead championing new music, such as that
of
> Jennifer Higdon, while mentoring young performers.
>
> But to the question. The orchestra for the 6th was huge, the stage
packed
> end to end with strings. The cellos, which were normally
conductor-right,
> were clustered just in front of the podium. The bases, which were
normally
> far conductor-right, were not within my view, since my low vantage
> restricted the sightline. While there seemed a roughly equal
concentration
> of violins on the left and the right, Eschenbach's conductorial finesse
was
> significantly biased toward his left, while the entire "right" of the
> orchestra received far less attention.
>
> Would you be so kind as to explicate?
>
> Bob Morein
> (310) 237-6511
He probably felt the need to pay the most attention to the 1st violins,
which is a particularly heavy part in this work.
The seating that you describe is gaining in popularity, and it depends
on how good balance can best be achieved. In works earlier than
Bruckner, the 2nds often sat to the conductor's right, to highlight the
play of 1sts vs the 2nds. But even in later works, orchestras are more
and more sitting with the 1sts and 2nds split. Sometimes the purpose is
to bring out the tenor and bass string sound, since when sitting in the
middle, their sound is more directed toward the audience.
Hope that helps!
By the way, I'm going to FINALLY get to your CD this weekend!
j
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