Is command useful?
Where does the conductor come from
Is the soul of the orchestra a conductor?
Let's talk about conduct in the conductor chapter...
Seiji Ozawa is the most accomplished in the Eastern command world, ranking among the world's masters of conducting. Especially after Karajan and Bernstein withered away, Ozawa had the momentum to replace them, and everywhere he went, everywhere he went, everyone admired them.
The teacher is unforgettable
Seiji Ozawa was born in Shenyang, China in 1935 and spent his childhood in Beijing. He is a nostalgic and grateful man who never forgets the cultivation grace of his mentor Hideo Saito. He thought that without his teacher Saito, he would not have his own today. In 1978, Ozawa led the Boston Symphony Orchestra back to Japan to perform, especially in the middle of the first batch of vacated a place for the deceased mentor. At the end of the curtain, he also walked off the stage with a bouquet of flowers and personally placed it in the position reserved for his mentor Saito. Ozawa was excited and tearfully said that he finally lived up to his mentor's expectations and showed his musical achievements in front of the people.
Europe and the United States break into the world
Japanese people also believe in the perverse principle that "foreign monks chant the scriptures": Ozawa returned to Japan to conduct the NHK Symphony Orchestra when he debuted as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In accordance with the European and American approach, he is right about things and wrong people, and he should revise them when they should be revised, and he is not at all accommodating. However, the members of the orchestra could not pull down their heads to bow to this offspring junior, and actually collectively caused a strike storm. Ozawa stood on the empty stage and shed tears, and he vowed never to return to Japan to direct; so he broke the boat and devoted himself to creating the world in Europe and the United States.
Seiji Ozawa has had a smooth sailing since then, and he has been appreciated by two non-communicative masters, Karajan and Bernstein, and has learned many different styles of command essence from them. Ozawa served as conductor of the Toronto and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, and finally became the thirteenth conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1973, and he did it for more than 20 years. Later, the orchestra was afraid that he would run halfway through, so they simply signed a lifelong contract with him. Under his creation, the Boston Symphony Orchestra finally recreated the glory of Kushevitsky and Meng Xu at the helm.
The Way of the East
Seiji Ozawa's conducting style is different, just like his clothing, styling, and easy to impress. He directed Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," and the scene was a frenzied sound. He is best at French, Russian and modernist repertoire, and his ability to parse musical scores is difficult to match. Every day before dawn, Ozawa began to read the score, ten years as a day, quite a spirit of seeking.
Saito Memorial Regiment
In 1984, Seiji Ozawa called on Saito's children who had served in major orchestras in Europe and the United States to return to China and form the Saito Memorial Orchestra. They take advantage of the summer vacation work gap, careful rehearsals and concerts, in order to remember the common patriarch. The orchestra has toured Europe and the United States several times, and has been very successful, and has recorded several extremely high-standard records, such as Brahms Symphonies No. 1 and No. 4.
In 1992, Seiji Ozawa combined corporate and non-governmental forces to hold Japan's first international music festival, the Saito Memorial Music Festival, in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, passing on the spirit of Mr. Saito's lifelong dedication to music; and also realizing Ozawa's biggest dream in life: to hold a world-class music festival in his own homeland.
Live charm
Seiji Ozawa has recorded a lot of records, but we still recommend that you pay attention to his live performances - "performances" that you can never experience when listening to records alone. He conducts with oriental ritualized concentration, combined with fascinating conducting techniques, pushing music to a realm that shocks the soul and shows the power of concentration.
Maybe this is the oriental charm of Seiji Ozawa!