Word: maestro
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...Piatigorsky's suggestion, "Virtually any mediocrity can rise to fame as a maestro," has little truth in fact. The American conductor, in particular, must be a dedicated, articulate and consummate musician if he is to survive the limitations imposed by our culture...
Piatigorsky notes that many a conductor who seems "desperately in love with music" was not notably enraptured by it when he was an obscure member of the orchestra. The maestro simply develops a keen sense of ownership: "Isn't my orchestra wonderful? Do you know my Ravel, my Tchaikovsky, my Brahms?" All the same, Piatigorsky asks: "How is it that a man who never conducted or studied conducting is capable of giving an acceptable performance without warning and on the spur of the moment? No one can expect a comparable feat on any instrument...
Virtually any mediocrity can rise to fame as a maestro, Piatigorsky suggests, provided that he learn to excel as "a charmer, a speaker, an organizer and a bridge player. His own family life must be irreproachably pure, and at times a single mistake like poor concealment of pornographic material in his luggage, or introducing as his wife a lady who wasn't, has cost a prominent conductor...
...Marin, 66, the island commonwealth's leader for the past 16 years. Into the Governor's La Fortaleza palace went Roberto Sánchez Vilella, 51, Muñoz' able Secretary of State (Vice Governor) and hand-picked successor who has worked faithfully for el maestro since 1948. "There is no substitute for Muñoz," says Sánchez. "I am simply going to be the next Governor, and I hope a good one. We have great jobs to do. We cannot be afraid...
...slightest lapse in direction. But mostly they conduct in total silence under the concentrated stare of Scherchen's glinting blue eyes. "Isn't there a crescendo there?" he will interrupt. Says James Harrison, 29, of St. Louis, who is currently the only Scherchen student in residence: "The maestro has no place for mediocrity, and therefore he outlaws orchestras. One has to listen to music within one's mind, using the powerful force of imagination...