Inside Conducting

Reviews / Votes

[Seaman's] experience is wonderfully crystallized in the pithy observations here. TLS [Michael Downes] -- Michael Downes * TLS * Engaging, uncomplicated overview of the conductor's role ... Very readable, with some good jokes, hoary anecdotes and nice analogies. * CLASSICAL MUSIC's Books of the Year, December 2013 * Chosen by Financial Times as a Classical Music Book of the Year * . * One of Classical Music's Best Books of the Year * . * With humor, clarity, and wisdom, Christopher Seaman gives insight into the mind of a conductor. A feast of inside scoops for music lovers. -- -- Yo-Yo Ma, cellist and Artistic Director of the Silk Road Project * Yo-Yo Ma, cellist and Artistic Director of the Silk Road Project * This book is simply typical Christopher, something I would consider one of the highest compliments. Typical of Christopher to combine so much wisdom with so much wit. Required reading, I think, and one of the friendliest books about music ever penned. -- -- Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra * Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra * To hear the human truths from an experienced music director, enriched by examples from his life, is marvelously illuminating. I learned many little things and some big ones. -- -- Norman Lebrecht, author and critic Christopher Seaman, who is renowned for his teaching work at the Guildhall School of Music, and has conducted at the highest level, provides a barrage of straight answers. Most are directed towards real would-be conductors, rather than bedroom-mirror amateurs, but there's plenty for the outsider looking in. . . . The conductor's work is not often discussed in such plain detail. Conducting is 'like riding a horse not driving a car'. A tighter grip on the baton produces a harder tone. Keeping the arms moving upward very slowly can restrain an audience's desire to rush to clap after a quiet ending. . . . Demystifies the art and the figure of the conductor. -- James McConnachie http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/8966601/inside-conducting-by-christopher-seaman-a-review/'>Full Review * THE SPECTATOR * The art of conducting is hard to nail but Christopher Seaman does just that in exemplary fashion. . . . Interesting reading for all lovers of music, students of conducting as well as fellow professionals. . . . Serious practical application and in-depth musicological insight laced with the author's engaging humour. Highly recommended. -- Christopher Fifield * MUSICWEB-INTERNATIONAL *