Lintu acknowledges that most orchestras nowadays could play quite well together without the involvement of a conductor. “Conducting technique is not as detailed as piano technique or violin technique, where you really have to know where you put your finger, and what you do after that. Conducting is a more general thing. It’s more like creating atmosphere. But it’s more demanding, because you have to create this sound. You have 100 people contributing to that sound, and it is your duty to create it. Because most of the orchestras in the world can play together without any conductor. You are there to help them play better musically, and help them make a sound that is more coherent, that makes more sense from the composer’s point of view.”
Well heck … sometimes we can’t play together with a conductor! They can do that to us at times. Really. 😉
I’m reminded of the time George Cleve said to us in San Jose, “I’m standing in front of 100 musicians with a combined experience of several hundred years of playing. It’s my job to show them, ‘We play it THIS way TONIGHT…'”