Postings discussion This link allows you to see others thoughts on this piece and contribute to the debate yourself if you want. We look to guarantee this link for a number of years, though after 3-6 months the page may be closed to further additions. Why are ballet conductors so bad? ROH Orchestra History page RB Reviews

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I was struck by Ismene Brown's interview with the leader of the ROH orchestra in todays Telegraph:

Why are ballet conductors so bad?
Ballet music's poor image comes from the way it is conducted, says the ROH orchestra leader. He names names to Ismene Brown

It's certainly an interesting interview with Vasko Vassilev and in a nutshell seems to imply that any and all problems with the poor playing for ballet are the conductors' fault!

I don't think this is entirely true - what about all those bum notes that come from the brass for example - conductors ask for those do they?!? It's getting better but they still don't really bother and that comes across to the audience overall. And why have the established Opera House ballet conductors effectively gravitated elsewhere? The ROH band are obviously capable of the greatest work and yet come over as a very precious lot - with regard to ballet - only capable of bothering for one or two conductors they happen to like. The result is that the BRB and ENB orchestras generally put on a more reliable show. It's an attitude thing and while they might not be technically so good they actually care about what they are playing.

As a way of seeing what is important to the ROH orchestra have a look at the following page (from the ROH website) on the History of the orchestra - count the operas mentioned and the then the ballets:
ROH Orchestra History page

I don't see one ballet named - but over 30-35 references to opera and other pieces. Are these the words of an orchestra and organisation that think ballet matters? - I think not. Would you look at this page and think that half their costs are covered by the ballet's coffers?

On the very rare occasion Haitink bothered to conduct a ballet the orchestra sounded amazingly good. I think it was R&J and Haitink had brought in more musicians than normal and commandeered the Stalls Circle seats near the stage. Fabulous and very memorable stuff. But he didn't conduct even once a year for ballet, such was his apparent lack of interest in the music for half the performances his 'band' put on.

I hope that Pappano does better. Here's what Michael Kaiser said about his appointment "...And he's excited about trying ballet, which he's never done. He wants to make sure the orchestra is strong for ballet as well as for opera." Kaiser well knew - as do most who go regularly - that the ballet get poor value from the pit. Of course at the time of the appointment (March 1999) Kaiser was happy to sign a contract with Pappano that said he (Kaiser) would stay as executive director until at least 2004! All things change, but Pappano needs to go out of his way to bother with ballet as both a message of reassurance to the public and more importantly to the orchestra.

Returning to Vassilev, it's interesting that he talks of Andrea Quinn not being in sync with the dancers - that was true - she rarely looked at them. She was concentrating on the pit too much, or eyes closed going with the musical flow. And what were the musicians doing - looking everywhere but at the conductor. It was desperate stuff as Quinn would summon part of the orchestra to do their thing only to find them doing the equivalent of filing their nails - no eye contact or acknowledgement, they just sailed on without any care or bother. There were disconnects all around. The leader and orchestra should recognise that they are part of a problem and not palm it all off on the conductor or others.