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Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Full disclosure: I wrote one of the chapters (see the TOC below for detail -I can't figure out how to put my name in the "public nickname" slot at Amazon). But I don't get paid royalties as far as I know, and I don't mind if you skip my chapter when you get the book - I did! (Haven't had the courage to read it yet.) I mention all this to be upfront, and not use a pseudonym on Amazon - a common practice by authors, I've heard. I'm writing because I read the book (the parts by everyone else) and feel too enthusiastic to keep quiet about it. I literally couldn't put the book down. When I received my copy, I stayed up way past my bedtime reading it, ignoring sleepiness and the fact that I had to go to work the next morning. If you are at all interested in the topic, I don't know of anything of its type that's richer or more engaging. Don't assume that it's another collection of academic papers; instead it has insights not only from scholars but also from conductors (e.g., Mackerras), orchestral players, record producers, and managers. To give you an idea and help you determine if this book would interest you, here's the table of contents, with my short notes on a few chapters - ande they all deserve comment, but I will leave that to others: Part I. Practice:
1. The technique of conducting - Raymond Holden
2. Conductors in rehearsal - Charles Barber [conductor, archivist of conducting films, so this has details on historical greats like Furtwaengler]
3. Studio conducting - Michael Haas [producer of Solti and Abbado recordings- fascinating information about their recordings and why conducting in the studio, which is what most of us hear in our CD collections, is so different from conducting in concert]
4. The conductor and the soloist - Joseph Silverstein [he's outstanding both as a conductor and a soloist, and former concertmaster at Boston so he played with many greats; again, a lot of interesting stuff]
5. Choral conducting - Vance George [SF chorus master, great choral conductor, very useful]
6. Opera conducting - Sir Charles Mackerras [need I say more?]
7. The orchestra speaks - Robert L. Ripley [played in Cleveland and Boston SOs for many years. Great chapter! A lot of detail about famous conductors and what they did well or badly in working with orchestras.] Part II. History: [as good a history as I've seen. It really clarifies the context out of which such apparently unique figures as, say, Toscanini arose.]
8. The rise of conductors - José Antonio Bowen
9. The central European tradition - José Antonio Bowen and Raymond Holden
10. The French tradition - David Cairns
11. The Italian tradition - Michael Rose
12. The American tradition - José Antonio Bowen and David Mermelstein
13. The English tradition - Stephen Johnson
14. The Russian tradition - David Nice Part III. Issues:
15. The conductor as Artistic Director - Bramwell Tovey [if you're aware of his work you will need no further encouragement]
16. Women on the podium - Michelle Edwards
17. Conducting early music - Bernard Sherman [that's me]
18. Training conductors - Harold Faberman [Perhaps America's leading teacher of conductors; his own book on conducting technique is outstanding]
19. The composer/conductor and modern music - Martyn Brabbins
20. Managers and the business of conduction - Stephen Wright
21. The future of conducting - Leon Botstein.[Again - need I say more? Fascinating chapter by this extraordinary conductor/scholar/university president.]
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