Word: markevitch
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DIED. Igor Markevitch, 70, exacting Russian-born, Swiss-reared conductor who began as a composing prodigy-dubbed Igor II, he was expected to follow in Stravinsky's footsteps-but in 1930 picked up the baton and became best known as a master of conducting precision; after a heart attack; in Antibes, France. Markevitch advocated the use of standardized gestures on the podium, saying, "Baton technique is to a conductor what fingers are to a pianist. Certain movements produce certain sounds...
...orchestra, joining the double-bass section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His real ambition, though, was to swap his bow for a baton. He got conducting experience in the military with the Seventh Army Symphony, and later organized the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1961, he substituted for Igor Markevitch with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and within a few years he ranked as the outstanding Negro conductor in the U.S., though he had no orchestra...
...Markevitch's minimum requirements for practicing his craft: thorough knowledge of musical history, fluency in at least three languages, mastery of all the classical symphonies, plus six operas, ten oratorios, and accompaniment for all the major concertos. "If you don't know the works by heart," says Markevitch, "you don't know them." As for himself, Markevitch added casually, he knew 300 compositions by heart several years ago, but "it's far more than that...
Compared with conductors of the Koussevitzky-Toscanini generation, Markevitch pointed out, the modern conductor has far less rehearsal time and about four times as many concerts to give each year. To combat the fatigue of traveling, he must build "the body of a conductor. One's body must be completely independent of the music." His own body, Markevitch boasted, has become so independent that "at the end of a symphony. I'm breathing at the same rate as at the beginning...
This winter, Markevitch will return to his native Russia, where he has been invited to help organize a conductors' school at the State Conservatory in Moscow. Starting with twelve-year-old students, he will apply his highly personal training techniques, confident that they will eventually lift conducting out of its "prehistoric period...