The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters

Product Description * A Financial Times Book of the Year *'What does a conductor do? It may be a favourite joke among the musicians in an orchestra, but Wigglesworth wants to find a more thoughtful answer. Avoiding jargon, he analyses what he has discovered during 30 years in the job.' Financial Times, Books of the Year A conductor is one of classical music's most recognisable but misunderstood figures, attracting so many questions:'Surely orchestras can play perfectly well without you? ''Do you really make any difference to the performance?''Are the musicians even watching you?'The Silent Musician is not a manual for conductors, nor a history of conducting. It is for all who wonder what conductors actually do, and why they matter. Review What does a conductor do? It may be a favourite joke among the musicians in an orchestra, but Wigglesworth wants to find a more thoughtful answer. Avoiding jargon, he analyses what he has discovered during thirty years in the job. ― Financial Times Books of the Year Invaluable . . . [Wigglesworth] writes, with immense insight, in often rather beautiful prose . . . It is not merely a very clever book, revealing a depth of learning lightly displayed, but a very wise one, whose appeal moves beyond the world of music. ― MusicWeb International If you've ever wondered what's going on in the mind of that person on a rostrum waving a white stick at up to 100 musicians, Mark Wigglesworth's The Silent Musician is the book for you. But, more than that, it's also rich in musical insights and phrased with wit and elegance. Need I say more? -- Stephen Hough ― Tablet Books of the Year Book Description A unique insight into a conductor's world About the Author Mark Wigglesworth has been conducting for thirty years, working with over a hundred orchestras and collaborating with many of the world's finest orchestra musicians, soloists, singers, and directors in venues ranging from Vienna's Musikverein to New York's Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House to the Hollywood Bowl, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, made a six-part BBC TV series entitled 'Everything to Play For,' and recorded a highly acclaimed cycle of Shostakovich symphonies. In 2017 he won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.