A Passion for Music

A Passion for Music
Condutor Larry Rachleff’s Dedication, Artistry Inspire Shepherd School Orchestra
Students
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BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
E-mail: dkaplan@rice.edu
Phone: (713) 831-4791

Larry Rachleff conducts nearly every Shepherd School orchestra concert from
memory. Unencumbered by sheet music, Rachleff says, he is "freer to communicate
and use the space in an unrestricted way."

February 19, 1998 — Larry Rachleff’s rehearsals are not for the emotionally
timid.

"More gripping!" he tells the musicians. "More maniacal!"

"I want freedom!"

After they play a section from Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op.
110, he asks if they could be "a little more ecstatic. And while you’re
being ecstatic try to be more together on the third beat."

Anyone who has heard a Shepherd School orchestra concert knows that Rachleff
means business when making such lofty requests. Shepherd School Symphony and
Chamber Orchestra concerts are often known for their spellbinding fervor.

But getting there is hard work. Rachleff demands a lot from his musicians and
himself.

Shepherd School cellist and Sid Richardson senior Gregory Beaver describes
the long rehearsals as "intense" and "draining." Beaver
maintains that "the combined energy of the orchestra is not equal to [Rachleff’s]
energy, and we’re not talking about lazy people in the Shepherd School. He’ll
have us do it as many as 10 times until we can get a particular section to where
it needs to be."

Their great effort pays off. The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and Shepherd
School Chamber Orchestra are among the very finest college orchestras in the
nation.

Says Professor of Cello and Chamber Music Paul Katz, a recent Grammy Award
winner and a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Cleveland Quartet,
"My jaw just dropped open the first time I heard the Shepherd School Symphony
rehearse." Katz believes the Shepherd School’s Symphony and Chamber orchestras
"equal major professional American orchestras."

Now enjoying his seventh year at the Shepherd School as an associate professor
of conducting, Rachleff previously taught at the University of Southern California
at Los Angeles. Trained as a conductor and a percussionist, he holds two master’s
degrees from the University of Michigan. The New London, Conn., native is also
conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and the musical director
of Symphony II, which is the symphonic version of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Despite his duties with those professional musical groups, Rachleff rarely misses
Shepherd School rehearsals, which occur three times a week.

Observes Hammond: "Larry’s appointment has certainly been one of the most
important that I’ve been able to make. We were floundering before he came. He’s
really galvanized that program and brought focus and a heightened sense of quality
to the work of the orchestral instrumentalists." And, Hammond says, "he
is involved in the complete education of the students in the orchestra."

Noting that some mention the Shepherd School as being the most outstanding
orchestral program in the country, Hammond says, "Larry deserves a huge
part of the credit for that. He sets such a high standard of performance because
the students come into concerts so thoroughly prepared."

Rachleff says his main professional goal is "to work with gifted students
who are compelled to grow."

Asked to describe his Shepherd School students, Rachleff says, "This is
paradise. They’re not just wonderful musicians but great people and I am so
blessed to be with them. They are my greatest teacher."

Rachleff believes that music teaching requires a variety of conditions working
in balance, which would include "an environment that is nonthreatening,
inspiring and challenging."

He credits Hammond for being a great guiding influence at the Shepherd School.
"He has created the most wonderful place to work and it has attracted incredible
faculty and students and given them the freedom to create." Rachleff says
Hammond has cultivated a music program which draws on "remarkable resident
faculty and fabulous teachers from the Houston Symphony. You can’t miss."

As a teacher, Rachleff is focused not only on the next Shepherd School concert–he
keeps his eye on his students’ careers, Katz says. "In addition to producing
electrifying concerts at an astoundingly high technical level, he is also great
at teaching orchestral techniques, which prepares graduating students to go
out and get good jobs in big orchestras," Katz says. "Among American
music schools, the Shepherd School probably has one of the highest percentages
of students who win orchestral auditions in the professional world."

And even before they graduate and enter the professional ranks Shepherd School
students are thrilling concertgoers with lush and breathtaking music.

All it takes is talent, practice and good direction. Rachleff says that when
he leads the orchestra he must mentally be in several places at once. He notes
that during a rehearsal, "your mind and heart expect to hear a certain
sound that you gesture for before it happens. While the sound happens you judge
to see if that was the sound you heard in your head while you were gesturing
for the next sounds. You’re both in the moment and ahead of time at once."

He peppers every rehearsal with intriguing commentary. Says Hammond, "His
rehearsals are just a revelation. Detail. Detail. Detail."

"It sounds really good, but it just doesn’t have that Dvorak muscle,"
Rachleff says during rehearsal.

At one point he offers this unique piece of musical advice:

"Ya ba da ba dah. Like Ed Koch, ya know?" And later: "It’s getting
there. Use your ears."

They are definitely there on a concert night. It’s a night an orchestra lives
for. For Rachleff, the act of conducting a concert "has a kind of timelessness.
You’re both completely aware and completely unaware at the same time. When it’s
working and you’re in the middle of the sounds it’s a very complete experience."

When Rachleff is conducting a concert&emdash;or a rehearsal, for that matter&emdash;his
entire body seems to be in a state of high alert. He works up a sweat. His gestures
are precise and graceful, even when he’s moving at a seemingly superhuman pace.
His face is an ever-changing mask of anticipation, sadness, delight and wonder.

Noting that musicians are rarely satisfied with their music, Rachleff observes:
"The most important thing is the process of the journey. If it has had
great love and care and dedication the rest will have freedom and fire."

Shepherd School musicians seem intent on making the most of that journey.

Says Beaver, "You have to hear the orchestra to see what we learn."