Swensen is reported as saying that the best part of becoming a conductor is that he will never need to work with another conductor again. The twinkle and laugh return, indicating he was playing devil's advocate.

That was meant as a joke! I have tremendous respect for many of my conductor colleagues. But I also know, all too well, that no stage is big enough for two conductors. I know how terribly irritating it was for some of the conductors I worked with as a soloist that I had such strong feelings about how the orchestra ought to sound. Certainly now, I would be more subtle and sympathetic.

But I don't think I'll ever go back to playing the standard Concerto repertoire with conductors. I'm just too spoilt doing those works without conductor in Scotland. Even when I'm doing the Brahms concerto up there, I'm not even really directing them. It's like a gigantic string quartet - everybody's playing their part, listening, studying each other's parts with scores in hand and contributing with tremendous individual initiative and courage.

But that freedom of working as a soloist / director throws up some interesting, perhaps contradictory, light on the role of the conductor himself.

Oh yes! The first time I played and directed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, back in June 2000, I thought 'My God, how can we get this kind of individual initiative, creativity and interaction when I'm conducting?' No matter what, as soon as there's a conductor there, no matter who he is, everyone instinctively relies on him - even at times when he is unnecessary to rely on.

I could not accept that simply by conducting an orchestra I became a hindrance to the players' sense of personal responsibility and individual creativity. I had to find a way to lead without discouraging initiative.

He found his answer by redirecting his focus onto the one genre of music that has always played a central role in his life: chamber music.

For many years now, at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Saint Louis Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Malmö Symphony, among many others, rehearsing and performing works from the chamber music repertoire with members of those orchestras has played a cathartic role in the evolution of our orchestral music-making, developing trust and encouraging personal initiative, interaction and individual creativity to a level impossible to achieve from the conductor's podium alone.

Swensen seems to realise that these ideas and methods are unconventional in the world of symphony orchestras but he presses on:

For me, conducting is not about 'command and control'. It's about insight, inspiration and the empowerment of the individual.