"Not so loud... Shhhh... much better... You were doing that much better in Israel," he yells across to a trumpet player.

In between he hums aloud and you realize he has a lovely voice. "It should be dee-da-da-daa," he sings.

"Let's try 685 now... Now 546." He refers to each piece of music they rehearse by number. And each piece is more bewitching then the next but not being as music-savvy as my neighbors with more orthodox tastes, one can only puzzle over whether it was Schubert or Mahler.

It is amazing how tuned in the orchestra is to Mehta's requirements. Often a piece has reached its highest crescendo and everyone is going away at it, all instruments are playing and Mehta suddenly abandons conducting it (perhaps because they have already reached the required level of perfection) and as fast the musicians put down their instruments and begin chatting.

Also read: Zubin Mehta bows to Ravi Shankar

Back

|

Next