Composer as Conductor

Abstract

With an offer from the London FFRR label to conduct and record his works, including the Medea Suite and the Cello Concerto with Zara Nelsova, Barber studied conducting with Nicolai Malko in Denmark. He bravely took the challenge and was well accepted. Rehearsals proceeded well, and eventually he was invited to Berlin to conduct his Violin Concerto with Charles Turner as soloist. After answering an invitation by Charles Munch to conduct his Second Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Barber decided he was “tired of rehearsing his own music.” He believed that good composers did not make good conductors, and he decided to devote all his energy toward his primary creative passion: composing music.