sawyl | Sheer bloody hypnotism (Reply)

Simon Callow, in his rather wonderful review of Lucas' biography of Thomas Beecham, provides some interesting details about the maestro's rise to greatness and provides a suggestion as to the source of his power:

...when, aged 20, he was placed in front of the renowned Hallé Orchestra (only the second time he had conducted in public) he acquitted himself, on a minimum of rehearsal, with considerable distinction. Moreover, he showed no signs of nerves, conducting the long programme from memory.

The concert was to mark the investiture of his music-loving father Joseph as mayor of St Helen's, Lancashire: when the orchestra's regular conductor, the great Hans Richter, failed to show up, Beecham senior imposed his son on the players. All the more reason for them to be uncooperative, as only orchestral players know how; but he effortlessly asserted his authority and created an immediate rapport with them, as he did with every orchestra, of whatever level of accomplishment, he ever stood in front of.

John Lucas, in this meticulously researched study, cannot explain the phenomenon, but he gives startlingly vivid examples of what he calls Beecham's "musical shamanism". Working with the unremarkable Melbourne Symphony Orchestra during the second world war, Beecham turned them, after a single rehearsal, into a crack band. "Hypnotism," said their regular conductor, bewildered, "bloody hypnotism."