At the rehearsal after our interview, he talks with, rather than at, the orchestra, but never loses his focus. He has, I guess, authority rather than power. Karajan had enormous power in business, but that has nothing to do with conducting. Some of today's conductors also have that sort of power, but it is a parallel gift. Bruno Walter said you can be gifted, but have little to say.
Authority is one of the many things that are useful for a conductor.
No conductor can have everything. He says he never stops learning. You get better and better. Karajan told me in Berlin that at 50 he began to understand what music was about. Like fine wines, conductors get better with age.