The most important thing for the conductor is that he or she listens. Her listening will make things sound a certain way. If the conductor listens well, the musicians listen each other better. The conductor can in effect impose a certain kind of listening for everybody.
There's a spectrum of possibilities. You can underline the bass, or not at all. You can create something that is well-anchored or that is floating and never arriving. You can make a melodic line dominant or barely visible. The conducting gesture is akin to painting or sculpture.
I think the classical music is on a dangerous downward slope, because it's not seeking strong enough resonance with its society.
I'm more authoritarian with the orchestras than I used to be. You need to hold your ground, I've noticed, or you'll be swept aside.
With a group of people, it's easer to say, I want this, this and this. It's different with the soloists, because they are the ones who will be in the spotlight. You can't force an interpretation on them. With soloists, it's all about diplomacy.
Like many musicians, I can hear the weight in the sound. Sound is matter. We speak of the colour of an instrument, of transparency... We can demand more sombre or lighter colours, deeper playing and singing, heavier or lighter sound. And manipulating those means is like creating a painting.
Musicians ought to reclaim some of the power in the houses of production. The opera houses are run either by managers or by stage directors, never by musicians.
