KlassikNet: Interviews
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KlassikNet: Interviews
| JR:
How would you assess the difference between your eight-year appointment
in Berlin and subsequent ten years in Amsterdam? Chailly: Berlin is a more open-minded city both in terms of audiences and institutions. Contemporary music was already part of the daily vocabulary in Berlin and the public was not afraid of it. Moreover, the tradition of the Berlin Radio Symphony, while not as great as here, was nonetheless more open-minded and without prejudice. I had an easier life in Berlin. I was extremely young in Berlin, the Berlin Radio Symphony was my first orchestra and I did beautiful things with them that I shall never forget. I still have love and affection for the Berlin Radio because without them preparing the terrain for the late romantic Austro-German repertoire, I would have been completely unable to accept the position at the Concertgebouw. It was the ideal situation for me to take over with serenity the late Romantic tradition which is the main task of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. That said, what Amsterdam means to me is different. JR: For some, Berlin is now the cultural capital of Europe with the most potential for the future. Chailly: Without entering into the geo-political ramifications of what is going on there, I would like to comment on music. I know Berlin very well and worked there during the Wall years. Potentially, Berlin is the capital of culture in Europe because of its strategic geographical location, because of what Berlin was before the tragedy of the war; that is, the number of concert halls, theatres, opera houses, museums offered an extraordinary possibility of artistic expression. Berlin has that as well as the realistic vision to make it the major capital for culture. JR: In your opinion, there is still something vital in Berlin and in German culture in general? Chailly: Yes. Before the wall disappeared, Berlin was the warmest and most humanly present public in Europe, in the West as well as the East. I visited the East twice with the Concertgebouw Orchestra before the wall came down and I'll never forget the emotion of the East Germans on our first visit. It was uninmaginable for them to hear the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The potential in Berlin is there and the quality of music making in that city is further proof of this.
JR: What's next? Chailly: There are commissions of major works by Kurtag and Wolfgang Rihm scheduled for the year 2000 or shortly thereafter, and then the continuation of the Mahler cycle in concert and on record on a one-per-year basis. We have a number of other ideas and projects concerning new music but there is also Bach. I will conduct the Matthaus Passion next year. It will be the 100th anniversary of the first performance conducted by Willem Mengleberg and I will continue the tradition of an annual performance of this piece. Following Mengleberg the Matthaus Passion was conducted by Van Beinum, Eugen Jochum, for ten years by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and subsequently by guest conductors. JR: You commented earlier that in your opinion the Matthaus Passion and Don Giovanni were the two most universal compositions ever written and suggested that there was very little for composers to say after that. Chailly: Well, in both there is already Wagner, dodecaphony in Don Giovanni, polytonality in the Matthaus Passion, the seeds of Verdi's Falstaff in Don Giovanni as well as all the gems of pre-Romanticism in the Matthaus Passion. The classical Italian recitative already exists in the Matthaus Passion. I think that both are universal, incorporating three centuries to follow. Beyond that, there is the geniality of the compositions themselves. Both are still modern and equally moving today. If one wants to discuss non-dated music, this is the summum. JR: Historically informed perfomance practice can be quite a sect. Have you affinities to any particular obedience or do you prefer to keep your distance since you mentioned earlier that you enjoyed some of the old pre-baroque performance specialist interpreters such as Mengelberg. Chailly: I like to hear and go to historically informed performances and to stay abreast of research in the Bach renaissance of the last thirty years. My performance approach to the Matthaus Passion includes an awareness of this baroque performance tradition but with a modern orchestra. The sound is different obviously, but there is an awareness of what the past was in conductors from Mengelberg, to Jochum or Karajan as well as the language of the baroque conductors. My way is somewhere in between with a combination of ideas that I have already begun to explore in performances in Switzerland and Italy. My approach to the Matthaus Passion is that of a narrative of the greatest human tragedy that ever happened for the emotion and drama that is condensed in the story, rather than as a purely abstract religious work. JR: Do you consider the Matthaus Passion as the basis for an ontological argument? Chailly: Yes. It is the Grünewald representation of the Crucifixion: the saddest, the most painful...unbearable. I wouldn't be surprised if during rehearsals I didn't see scenes from Pasolini's film...the cruelty, the essence of the tragedy presented in a crude, straightforward manner. That interests me more than the "grande religioso" or aesthetic considerations. I am not looking for sanctity. There is a body violated by brutality and flagellation. To the point: it is the drama and sadness of the events, the decisions taken and their consequences before the death of Christ that interest me. JR: Do you see culture as the responsibility of educational institutions or families? Chailly: In my speech to the Dutch public, when we celebrated our 110th anniversary as an orchestra, I said that after ten years here I feel responsible for one generation that attends our concerts at the Concertgebouw. And with or without me people should continue to be encouraged to attend concerts. It is also important to avoid a lecture or scholastic attitude about hearing concerts. The element of music should be a daily part of life like bread, the bread that we search for every day of our lives. Photos : Top - Paul Huf / Decca : Centre - Terry O'Neill / Decca Suggested Reading: New Sounds, New Century: Mahler's Fifth Symphony and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Donald Mitchell, Editor-in-chief. This limited edition includes a dialogue between Riccardo Chailly and Donald Mitchell on Mahler's Fifth Symphony; essays by Paul Banks, Johan Giskes, Henry-Louis de la Grange, Truus de Leur, Peter van der Lint, Donald Mitchell, Edward R. Reilly, Nico Steffen, Henriette Straub, Emile Wennekes; a CD recording of a section from the FIfth Symphony's opening Trauermarsch - its second trio - in the earliest orchestration as first published in 1904, performances by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mengelberg, Chailly and Bernstein, music by Mahler pertinent to this symphony and Mahler's 1905 piano-roll recording of the Trauermarsch from the Fifth Symphony. Thoth Publishers Bussum, The Netherlands 1997 Keep These Letters, Please! A written portrait of the Concertgebouw Orchestra 1904 - 1921 Edited by Truus de Leur and Henriette Straub Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam Thoth Publishers, Bussum, The Netherlands A collection of letters to the orchestra during Mengelberg's tenure from Busoni, Debussy, Diepenbrock, Elgar, Grieg, Mahler, Reger, Schönberg, Scriabin, Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner, Eugène Ysaÿe among others. Varèse: A Looking-Glass Diary by Louise Varèse (New York, Norton, 1972) Edgard Varèse: Die Befreiung des Klangs ed. Helga de la Motte-Haber (Hofheim, 1992) Edgard Varèse: Il Suono organizzato - Scritti sulla musica (Ricordi, 1983) Settling New Scores: Music Manuscripts from the Paul Sacher Foundation ed. Felix Meyer (Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel 1998 Schott, Mainz, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Toronto). Catalogue of the exhibition at the Pierpont Morgan Library, 13 May - 30 August 1998 Recommended Recordings Varèse: The Complete Works Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Asko Ensemble Riccardo Chailly, conductor Decca: 460 208-2 Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, conductor Decca: 458 860-2 Read the review Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy (eine florentinische Tragödie) Albert Dohmen, Heinz Kruse, Iris Vermillion Alma Mahler: Lieder Iris Vermillion, mezzo-soprano Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, conductor Decca: 455 112-2 Rossini: Il Turco in Italia Bartoli, Corbelli, Pertusi, Vargas Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano Riccardo Chailly, conductor Decca: 458 924 - 2 Read the review Rossini: The Cantatas, Vol. 1 Devia, Pertusi, Kelly, Piccoli Filarmonica Della Scala Decca: 458 832-2 Read the review Shostakovich: The Film Album Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, condutor Decca: 460 792-2 Relevant Internet Sites of Interest: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra website: http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl The Gustav Mahler Library in Paris, created by French musicologists Maurice Fleuret and Henry-Louis de La Grange, is accesssible in English and French. http://musicdoc.com/bme1.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Music Division http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/mus/mus.majcoll.html Edgard Varèse: The Idol of My Youth By Frank Zappa http://picasso.cslab.wesleyan.edu/~jfei/varese/zappa-sr.html Arnold Schönberg Center http://www.schoenberg.at/ <<<··· Back | Riccardo Chailly | Back to start ···>>> |
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