INTERVIEW
Your plans for the season, which has already started, have been completed, but the 2010 European Capital of Culture programme and the bicentennial year are approaching. How is the orchestra involved?
In reality, the symphony programme and venues were already planned, although the conductor wasn't. That problem had to be remedied first. The programme remained as planned. I removed just one piece: György Kurtág's ...quasi una fantasia... but only for technical reasons. The piece can't be performed on a plain stage: György Kurtág dreamt of the space in the Berlin Philharmonic, similar to a Greek arena, for the piece. A space that would allow a low-lying area for a big ensemble and higher points for four smaller chamber groups, four separate places. The experience of the acoustics in the space, which would be impossible to produce in the foyer of the Pécs University, is an important part of the work. There is always teaching going on [at the Pécs University] and there is no opportunity to build four towers within such a short time. In spite of this, I would like, without a doubt, to do this concert as I am one who is keen on interpreting the work of György Kurtág. We will be able to show the work later, especially when the Pécs concert hall is built. There we will certainly be able to build these towers without having to disturb everyday life at the venue. The work will be replaced by Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major, a piece we played at the Palace of Arts as interpreted by Gábor Csalog as well as before audiences in Pécs.
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| Zoltán Peskó |
Music from the 20th and 21st centuries is a decisive element of your repertoire. Why is it so essential to play works by Kurtág, Ligeti, Luigi Dallapiccola or Luciano Berio?
People who like culture follow contemporary artists, literature and fine arts. I don't understand why music has to stop at 1910. I never had any kind of mission with regard to this, but there is great interest in these works and I feel it is my duty to bring them to the public. Twenty years ago, I looked through the programme of the Berlin Philharmonic for the previous hundred years. From the time the orchestra was established, 85 percent of the programme was by living musicians. That meant Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner at the time. I figured out the proportion for the last season too: 4 percent was contemporary music and 96 percent old music. And composers directing their own works accounted for 1 percentage point of the 4pc and the rest were pieces connected to performances by guest conductors or were commissioned for gala concerts. The international flow of information in this regard has stopped to such a degree that it has to be corrected without delay. In Western Europe, this trend started already twenty years ago: if you page through the programmes of the Vienna Philharmonic or the Salzburg Festival, you'll discover the names of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez too. I don't understand why Hungary has to be a province from this point of view. The public is interested in contemporary music, it is open to it and demands it. We will play many modern symphonic works where the composer's name and person can bring the work and the listener closer together.
When you accepted the offer from the Pannon Philharmonic, the construction of the new concert hall played a serious role in your decision. What did you expect from the venue?
This step was an important part of positioning the city of Pécs to strengthen its musical scene. The lack of a concert hall was long a problem in Pécs: the foyer of the University is not a real concert venue and the theatre is still, well, a theatre. The orchestra strived with great energy to overcome this problem and did everything to prevent it from affecting the production of their music. I conducted the orchestra earlier and must say that they were in top form. One of the most important tasks for the cultural life of Pécs is to bring these musicians into better surroundings. As concerns my decision, the concert hall was just one point to consider. Before everything else, I was convinced by the orchestra's ability to attain the highest standards of performance.
You have worked as an opera orchestra conductor and chief musical director in many opera houses around the world. Can you introduce opera into the repertoire of the Pannon Philharmonic?
That is a complicated question. We can perform opera concerts or carefully staged performances, but a concert hall, not an opera house, is being built. The other question has to do with the material cost: opera performances cost a lot of money, which the budget can't take. But if the material support was there, I would do it in a second.
The Pannon Philharmonic is often criticised because the proportion of woman is too large, which makes the orchestra sound different from an ensemble which is made up mainly of men.
That was the first thing I heard about them, but that's a very relative assessment. In my opinion, based on my experience, they can play with just as much strength and volume as an orchestra of men. There's a kind of soft tone to the orchestra, but that's just the ensemble's dolce character. I have no regrets about that, and I'm very happy that I can work more at home and that I can help such a remarkable ensemble fulfill their calling.
You work regularly in Hungary, but becoming the director of a Hungarian orchestra is another thing. How are you taking your return home?
I have had a flat in Budapest for twenty years, but I was there very little. For this reason, I'm very happy that I can be home. But I can't move home for good, because I once decided that I will live where I do not work. Since I left Hungary, I have moved 22 times, I was here for two or three years and there for two or three years, I always went where work took me. Later, I had a family, the kids were born, and this determined a part of my life. For me, this duality is very good. I wouldn't give it up.
You have taught many times at the Bartók Seminar in Szombathely, where a physical therapist watches the participants and suggests exercises at the end of the course. Why do you place such an emphasis on lifestyle?
I have been fortunate to know a couple of extraordinary conductors, and I have been able to work with the best masters of the past generation, thus I have been able to see them from close up. Every one of them had some problem with their muscles or the way they stood. It was this kind of ailment that led to the death of Herbert von Karajan. The big diseases may be avoided, but it is these little things that can be deadly. There was a period twenty or thirty years ago when I started to deal seriously with the question. I got over my problem and I though that everybody could do the same if they took care of their muscles. I won't mention the illnesses of other musicians, but the posture of many musicians, for example violinists, are completely anti-biological. During my time at the Music Academy, I also placed a great deal of stress on this issue. The question is pertinent, because the better we are able to keep our physical and spiritual condition, the better we are able to live and work.
Source: Fidelio.hu
