The master at work

It is cool to watch Herbert von Karajan rehearsing with an orchestra.

There is a classic series of videos that shows him going over Schumann's Fourth Symphony the day before a recording. Part I did not allow embedding but Part II did. Get on YouTube, if you like what you see, and you can find the other parts. The whole symphony takes seven parts, or something like 40 minutes.

I was glued to it the other day and watched the whole thing! Then I watched a few sections over again. I found it that fascinating.

It is amazing, the things Karajan hears, and the ideas he has on how to fix them.

What is even more amazing to me is how gentlemanly he is. He is never impatient. He is humorous and respectful. You can tell he is always conscious that he is working with fine musicians. Frequently when he stops the orchestra he smiles. Even when he has to go over something a second or third time, he never becomes flustered or angry. Not even close to it.

Musicians must have loved working with him. I have not really read up on whether they did or not -- I just imagine they would have had to have loved it.

Not just every conductor should watch him in action. Every boss should.