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A world-renowned conductor and composer who has lead most of the major orchestras in North America and Europe, a talented musician who has played under the batons of such luminaries as Toscanini and Walter, and an esteemed arranger, scholar, author, and educator, Gunther Schuller is without doubt a major figure in the music world. Now, in The Compleat Conductor, Schuller has penned a highly provocative critique of modern conducting, one that is certain to stir controversy. Indeed, in these pages he castigates many of this century's most venerated conductors for using the podium to indulge their own interpretive idiosyncrasies rather than devote themselves to reproducing the composer's stated and often painstakingly detailed intentions.
Contrary to the average concert-goer's notion (all too often shared by the musicians as well) that conducting is an easily learned skill, Schuller argues here that conducting is "the most demanding, musically all embracing, and complex" task in the field of music performance. Conducting demands profound musical sense, agonizing hours of study, and unbending integrity. Most important, a conductor's overriding concern must be to present a composer's work faithfully and accurately, scrupulously following the score including especially dynamics and tempo markings with utmost respect and care. Alas, Schuller finds, rare is the conductor who faithfully adheres to a composer's wishes. To document this, Schuller painstakingly compares hundreds of performances and recordings with the original scores of eight major compositions: Beethoven's fifth and seventh symphonies, Schumann's second (last movement only), Brahms's first and fourth, Tchaikovsky's sixth, Strauss's "Till Eulenspiegel" and Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe, Second Suite." Illustrating his points with numerous musical examples, Schuller reveals exactly where conductors have done well and where they have mangled the composer's work. As he does so, he also illuminates the interpretive styles of many of our most celebrated conductors, offering pithy observations that range from blistering criticism of Leonard Bernstein ("one of the world's most histrionic and exhibitionist conductors") to effusive praise of Carlos Kleiber (who "is so unique, so remarkable, so outstanding that one can only describe him as a phenomenon"). Along the way, he debunks many of the music world's most enduring myths (such as the notion that most of Beethoven's metronome markings were "wrong" or "unplayable," or that Schumann was a poor orchestrator) and takes on the "cultish clan" of period instrument performers, observing that many of their claims are "totally spurious and chimeric." In his epilogue, Schuller sets forth clear guidelines for conductors that he believes will help steer them away from self indulgence towards the correct realization of great art.
Courageous, eloquent, and brilliantly insightful, The Compleat Conductor throws down the gauntlet to conductors worldwide. It is a controversial book that the music world will be debating for many years to come.

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Library Journal Review

This is a detailed analysis of eight standard symphonic works as seen from the conductor's podium. A distinguished conductor as well as a composer, performer, and educator, Schuller starts with a simple premise: the composers knew how they wanted their music to sound and marked the music clearly. He then goes into exhaustive detail in comparing the composers' stated wishes with recorded performances over the last 50 years. He discusses the implied logic behind the original directions, praises those who interpret as directed, and takes pot shots at a number of prominent musicians who place their own egos ahead of their music. The opinions are strong, well researched, and convincingly argued. Invaluable for advanced musicians.‘Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Conductors compete for bookings and recording contracts, which has led many of them to interpret the standard orchestral repertoire idiosyncratically. Horn player, composer, and conductor Schuller argues vehemently that a conductor realize a composer's intentions faithfully and resist "personalizing" the performance. Schuller's principles of conducting include conscientious adherence to a composer's tempi, dynamics, rhythm, balance, and phrasing, which a conductor achieves through thorough understanding of the details of the score. Drawing on hundreds of recordings by tens of major orchestral conductors, Schuller illustrates his philosophy by analyzing phrase-by-phrase Beethoven's fifth and seventh, Brahms' first and fourth, Schumann's second, and Tchaikovsky's sixth symphonies; Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks; and Ravel's second Daphnis and Chloe suite. He includes a brief history of conducting and a postscript in which he emphasizes his principles and how often conductors violate them. His analyses should be read by all serious conductors, for they contain insights that the ordinary listener does not consider but that, if followed, will help truly realize a composer's work. --Alan Hirsch

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About the Author:
Gunther Schuller has written a wide range of orchestral and chamber music, as well as jazz compositions. As an educator, he was associated with the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for twenty-two years, mostly as its artistic director, and he was president of the New England Conservatory of Music from 1967 to 1977. He is also the author of two landmark studies of the history of jazz, Early Jazz and The Swing Era. He was also a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.