MPR’s Nancy Fushan interviews German-born conductor Max Rudolf, who claims he can teach almost anybody to lead a fine orchestra in as little as four weeks. His rules are simple: keep to the score and stay out of the way of the musicians. Hardly the expected advice of a world-renown conductor…but Max Rudolf, at age 80, is not a believer in the cliched image of the pompous maestro.
Rudolf spent a week conducting the Minnesota Orchestra at the beginning of its Beethoven Festival. At the end of rehearsals, Rudolf won the applause of the musicians. At the end of the concert, he won the praise of critics.