Orpheus Finds Its Own Way Into Music

For the most part, an orchestra’s biggest asset is a thoughtful, knowledgeable conductor who runs rehearsals efficiently and tastefully interprets the music. Yet the most experienced of musicians might know the nightmare of playing under an autocrat who may hire and fire at will and interpret the music according to the most personal of opinions.

Perhaps it was inevitable that some musicians would band together and play without a conductor.

“I wasn’t initially inspired by the concept of a conductorless ensemble itself, rather I was simply inspired to create a chamber music ensemble,” recalls cellist Julian Fifer, who in 1972 formed the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble out of musicians from the Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute and the Mannes College of Music. “Then we tested the idea of playing without a conductor and although many people questioned it, it turned out to work.”

Now called the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the 26 musicians performed at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Monday night and will play again tonight at 8. On tonight’s program will be Rossini’s Overture to “La Cambiale di Matrimonlo,” Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, Wagner’s “Siegried Idyll,” and Bartok’s Divertimento for Strings.

All of the members share responsibility for repertory, programming, rehearsal technique and maintaining a seating rotation in which they each take turns being section leader.

“I was definitely influenced by what was going on during the 1960s,” observes Fifer about the era that gave birth to the orchestra. “I guess I wasn’t really aware of it at the time, but there’s no question the original idea of musicians playing without a conductor came out of the anti-establishment, co-op attitudes that drove this country 20 years ago and I was certainly an enthusiastic participant of those times.”

Before the full orchestra rehearses, a few members hold a core rehearsal. Principals are assigned, decisions on how to use rehearsal time are made, the score is prepared and all the duties that a conductor usually handles are taken care of.

“When you’re a leader after being a follower, you know what you want from the followers, and vice versa,” Fifer said. “People are much more attuned to the situation from the juxtaposition and switching of these roles.”

During rehearsals of the full orchestra, the piece is played through, with the concertmaster making many decisions, and corrections. But, according to Fifer, anyone in the orchestra can stop the rehearsal and vent frustrations and ideas.

“Any good symphonic member will stand and give an opinion, but they don’t all have the power to change things as we do,” he continues. “Some of it is spontaneity, some is just experimenting.

“But usually you can tell when there is a consensus on a bad idea. Either a lot of people will moan, or someone will say: ‘We really don’t have time to do that.’ But at the same time, everyone realizes that there isn’t one correct answer or interpretation.”

Yet Fifer does admit that as a democracy with multiple channels of communication, it takes more time to get things done--sometimes two to four times as much time.

“Especially late Romantic works that require a lot of freedom and rubato. The players each want to take their own liberties, which pulls apart the architecture of the piece.”

But with 16 years of notable success, this experiment seems to be working. The ensemble even attracts many top soloists and composers who rarely have trouble assimilating into the philosophy of democratic music-making.

“There are advantages and, of course, potential pitfalls,” Fifer admitted. “For one, the ensemble is much more precise than in conducted situations because it’s actually easier to follow cues from someone with an instrument in their hand.

“The pitfalls come when we play large dramatic passages which normally would take significant physical movement from the conductor. We have to work on that a lot in rehearsal.”

Today, their home is Carnegie Hall where they perform about three concerts a year. In addition to their home series, they are on the road giving about 70 concerts a year with international tours that have taken them to South America, Europe and Asia.

“When we tour in the United States, the press describes us as a good example of democracy. When we tour in Europe, they call us a good example of socialism. I can’t wait till we perform in Russia or China where, who knows, we might be called a good example of communism. It shows that different ideologies from different regions aren’t really that far off from one another.”