Maestro: Conductor or Metro-Gnome?: Reflections from the Rostrum

In this light tome for the music lover, Fredman, a conductor in Europe and Australia, describes the intricacies of the career, the knowledge and education required, rehearsals, operatic conducting, a few famous conductors in history, and musical terms, with the second half of the book devoted to a narrative of his own training and experiences. Distributed in the US by ISBS.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

In this light tome for the music lover, Fredman, a conductor in Europe and Australia, describes the intricacies of the career, the knowledge and education required, rehearsals, operatic conducting, a few famous conductors in history, and musical terms, with the second half of the book devoted to a narrative of his own training and experiences. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This book explains what is actually involved in being a conductor and unravels some of the mystique that surrounds this intensely public profession. The author, who has worked with orchestras and opera companies all over the world, writes about all aspects of the art and craft, and discusses how a career can progress and is the result of the observation of many conductors in action. MaestroConductor or Metro-Gnome examines the musicianship requirements and physical gestures that have to be subconsciously embedded during formal training. The book also covers the differing needs of a permanent or a guest contract, the pitfalls of building a program, and relationshipsbe they with the orchestra's leader, soloists, composers, the audience or the critics. Additionally, the book observes how conducting for opera and dance is distinct from concert conducting, as well as the process of preparing opera for performance and how conductors came into being and how they evolved into the powerful f