Hong Kong Philharmonic director Samuel Wong is pushing for a controversial music test to screen out 'incompetent' players (report headlined, 'Orchestra chief defends player tests', South China Morning Post, January 18).
What is the need of a scholastic test when he is already testing his players every week, during their public performances?
Great orchestra directors can pick up small mistakes and correct them on the spot.
Wilhelm Furtwangler, for instance, was one of the most feared.
If somebody missed the tempo, they could end up at the receiving end of his curses or even a blow on the face.
Arturo Toscanini vividly recalled a day early in his career, when, during the rehearsal of some arias of Verdi at La Scala, Milan, he was forced to accelerate slightly the execution of a few notes, not to be left behind by a fellow cellist who was playing in that way.