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« on: August 26, 2013, 06:23:38 am » |
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well, composer-conductors should be differentiated from composer-virtuosos like Shostakovich, Bartók, Rachmaninov, Medtner, etc who may not have ever conducted their works but did nonetheless interpret and present them on many occasions on the instrument that they played (usually piano, although there are exceptions e.g. Holliger on oboe, Globokar on trombone, etc). the ones who didn't conduct their own music probably felt their conducting skills were too shaky to do so.
among non-performers, i suppose stage fright is too mundane an explanation? :P
the large number of British & American composer-conductors is probably because most of the mainstream British and American conductors (whether native or imported) were not inclined to present native contemporary music more than once a decade or so. as such, composers who wanted their orchestral music heard had to conduct it themselves most of the time. that's my hypothesis anyway
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