Volume 18 Number L \TinterlSpring L997 Journal of the ConductorsGuild Table of Contents I i COMMENTARY A CONVERSATION \TITH LUKAS FOSS by David Thomas BOTH SIDESOF THE FENCE 13 by Barry Tuckwell FRANZ IEHAR, THE coMpLETE cosMopoLrTAN 20 by Edward Michael Gold SCORES6. PARTS 49 Hanseland Gretelby EngelbertHumperdinck compiledby Kristi Sloniger BOOKS IN REVIE\T 60 Erich Leinsdorf, Erich Leinsdorfon Music reviewedby John Jay Hilfiger Edward Heath, Music.A loy For Life reviewedby Henry Bloch '$flalter Frisch, Brahms:The Four Symphonies reviewedby Kenneth Morgan CONDUCTORS GUILD, INC. Thelma A. Robinson Award Vinners 103 South High Street,Room 6 BeatriceJona Affron Miriam Burns West Chester, PA 19382-3262 Laura Rexroth Annunziata Tomaro Tel.: 610/ 430-6010 Steven Martyn Ztke Fax: 6t0/ 430-6034 'Vinner E-mail address:[email protected] Max Rudolf Award W'ebsite:www. condudors guild.org Gunther Schuller Officers tournal of tbe ConductorsGuild President Barbara Schubert President-Elect ....'WesKenney Editor .....Jacques Voois Vice President .....Harlan D. Parker AssociateEditor .... David Daniels Secretary Mark Ettinger Treasurer Thomas Anderson Editor-at-large Jonathan Sternberg PastPresident........ Adrian Gnam Board of Directors Contributing Editors to Vol. 18, No. 1 Lukas Foss Timothv Tull Nurhan Arman Henry Bloch'r Voois Victoria Bond Emily Freeman Brown Jacques David Lewis Crosbv Murray Gross Robert Gutter Martin Hardy JosephHenry Kenneth Kiesler Contributing Authors to Vol. 12, No. 2 Andrew Kurtz TaniaJ. Le6n Michael Luxner Frederick Morden Henry Bloch Edward Michael Gold Melinda O'Neal Brian Priestman JohnJay Hilfiger Kenneth Morgan Eve Queler Kirk E. Smith Kristi Sloniger David Thomas Jonathan Sternberg'r' Leslie Stewart Barry Tuckwell \Wagar JacquesVoois Jeannine Diane M. \flittry Tsung Yeh Burton Zipser '? ex-offi.cio Production Staff Administrative Director J.rdy A. Voois Advisory Council Publications Coordinator HannyBleeker'White Production Linco Printing Co., Inc. Charles Ansbacher Michael Charry Sergiu Comissiona Harold Farberman The publication date of tlte present issue of the Lukas Foss SamuelJones JounNer oF THECoNoucrons GuIro is Summer, L998; Daniel Lewis Larry Newland consequentlytbe publication date and tbe issuedate do Maurice Peress Donald Portnoy not coincide. Gunther Schuller Evan \flhallon Effectiae Volume 13, rle JounNer oF THE CoNoucroRs Gurro hasbeen published semi-annually, the tuo issuesbeing numbered I and 2; the seasonal TheodoreThomas Award'V'inners referencesremain unchanged,as is tbejournal's lengtb. The ICG's editors and staff, in eoaluating mate- Maurice Abravanel Leon Barzin rial acceptedfor publication, utill determine a.ppro- Leonard Bernstein Pierre Boulez priate credit for sucb contributions. Frederick Fennell Margaret Hillis Library of CongressNo. 82-644733. @ Max Rudolf Robert Shaw Copyrigbt 1998 by the Conductors Guild, Inc. Leonard Slatkin Sir Georg Solti All rights reserved. /SSN# 0734-1032 Commentary The year 2000, a uniquemoment in the lives of ev- to providea cogentexposition ofthe variousfeatures con- eryonewho will experienceit. On its eve, champagne tainedin theproposal. One whom I remembermostfondly corks will fly in unprecedentednumbers. If the Y2K wasBeatrice Vradenburg, then manager of the Colorado computerglitch is solvedand correctivesoftware has by SpringsSymphony. When her voice was needed,Bea thenbeen developed and widely distributed,even the supportedthe Guild's admissioninto the ASOL andcon- leadersof government,business, and communications veyed much-neededinsights to those of her board col- will join the festivities,probably with a gustobordering leagueswho wereeither undecided or opposedto the plan. on giddiness. Perhapsthe most persuasiveboard member at the Although it might not raise an eyebrow beyond the Memphisconference was the lateMorton Gould,a gentle- fields of music and conducting,when the calendarturns man possessedof a delightful, irresistiblewit and,when to 2000the ConductorsGuild will be in its twenty-sixth needed,an arrestingeloquence. According to all reports, yearof operationand will commencethe official celebra- Morton (he rarely allowed a fellow professionalto call tion of its silver anniversary. him 'Mr. Gould' for very long) used convincingargu- The proposalto form the Guild as a division of the mentsto facilitatethe Guild's admissioninto the League. American SymphonyOrchestra League was developed He was a genuinechampion of our cause;the CG owes andput forth by Harold Farbermanand severalother con- him andhis memoryan enormousdebt of gratitude. ductorsat the League's1974 annual conference in Mem- After theproposal passed, a hostof conductorvolun- phis, Tennessee.One year later, at the ASOL's 1975 teersworked throughout the following twelve monthsto "Conductors' conferencein San Diego, California, the producethe Guild's bylaws,identiff its mission,establish Guild of the American SymphonyOrchestra League" was its operationalstructure, and develop an organizational officially launched. philosophythat would be in placefor the SanDiego Con- The eventsat the Memphis conferenceand the orga- ferenceand the birth of the CG. nizational year leading to San Diego were far lesspro Now, back to the future. In the fall of 2000, the formathan onemight imagine.The youngermembers of Journol of the ConductorsGuildwill celebratethe twen- the CG shouldunderstand that duringthe 1970sthe pro- tiethanniversary of thepublication of Vol. l, No. 1. It is prietary atmospherethat existed in the music world was not our intention,however, to rematn"statusquo" until antitheticalto the idea of an organizationthat would unite thattime; in 1999we hopeto addnew or reinstateprevi- conductorsof seriousmusic under a singleumbrella. Upon ous featuresin the JCG. Previousfeatures? Keep in learningabout the proposal,many in the music industry mind that duringthe history of theJournal,, several topic "What asked, will this CG do for and with its member- areaswere established by memberswho, for professional "conductor's ship?" Suddenly,concepts such as a union" or personalreasons, had to discontinuethem. Serieson "national anda conductors'strike" formed in the minds suchtopics as program building and critiquing, theme, of many, some of whom were then on the board of the light classic,and pops programming, publishers' corner, ASOL and in a position to block approvalof the new and forgotten-yet-qualityliterature were among them. division. Of additionalconcern to the entireLeague board Newtopic areasnow beingconsidered include opera, CD wasthe fact thatthe bulk of the CG's initial membership reviews,and the styleand content of pre-concerttalks to would certainly be drawn from the existing conductor the audience.Additional ideasare welcome; a new sur- membersof the ASOL, which, if memory serves,then vey of readerpreferences is being contemplated.Natu- numberedin the 700 to 900 range. Justthe prospectof rally, for any suchexpansion to be successful,more area having many of the ASOL's conductormembers orga- andassistant editors will be needed. nized into a separatedivision mademany uneasy,despite Which bringsus to the purposeof the openingnarra- the considerablebenefits that suchan arrangementwould tive: a retrospectiveof the productivevolunteerism that producefor boththe ASOL and its conductormembers. took placein theGuild duringits afFrliationwith theLeague On the positive side was the fact that in 1974,the and in the early yearsof independence.Between 1974 ASOL boardincluded several members who werequick and 1985the Washingtonoffices ofthe ASOL processed to seetheproposal's long-term advantages; each was ready continuedon page 64 JCG Vol.18. No.I I A Conversationwith Lukas Foss by David Thomas you, but I am not the leastbit Thefollowing article is a compositeof an in- LF: This may surprise terviewwith Lukas,Fossconducted by David Tho- concernedabout structure. I let structuretake care masin New York City on February 13, 1998,and of itself, an approachthat usually works for me. In three pre-concert talks by Maestro Foss,given so many words,I don't carewhether a work devel- at Boston (Jniversityon |rlovemberI I and Decem- opsthe form of a sonataor any other form during the berB, 1997,and March 30, 1998. It is published compositionalprocess. here in an edited version with permission of the author and Mr. Foss. DT: In your opinion,what elements need to bepresent in "greatmusic?" 2k*tt?kJ<t<?krk LF: It is importantto realizethatthe essenceof great DT: Mr. Foss,it is a pleasureto meetyou afterhav- musicrests in its uniqueness.Too muchtime is spent ing admiredyour work for many years. Do I have analyzingthe formal aspectsof great music, which your permissionto tapeour conversation? usually are quite similar to the ones found in bad music. We should analyzeor concentrateon the ele- LF: Yes,as long as you don't sellit to KennethStan! ments that make a given work unique. Also, we shouldlook for any inherenthumor. DT: Fairenough! To begin,could you sharewith me When I was writing a cello concertofor Slava your thoughtson the compositionprocess that you Rostropovich,I had greatdifficulty when it wastime use?Are your works completelyplanned out before to write thecadenza. Ihad alargenumber of sketches you setpencil to manuscriptpaper? that I couldnot piecetogether. It was really becom- ing difficult. Then I thought, why not leavethem as LF: It depends.At givenmoments in my life, I have sketches,and let Slavapractice and play them? The usedvarious approaches with differentpieces. Some- cadenzacould