Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Conductor and music director of the Baltimore Symphony and Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra; believes music is a powerful vehicle for social change.
On the island
Eight records
String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18
Amadeus Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz and William Pleeth
Amadeus Quartet, with Cecil Aronowitz and William Pleith [corrected to Pleeth]
Joseph Szigeti (violin), Benny Goodman (clarinet), Béla Bartók (piano)
Joseph Zegetti [corrected to Szigeti]
Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47 (third movement)
Beaux Arts Trio with Samuel Rhodes
Beauzar trio [corrected to Beaux Arts Trio]
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:56Connecting with the composer is a vital part of the work you do. You've said you almost feel like you could ring Beethoven up and ask him about his music. Tell me more about how you achieve that proximity to the composer.
Well, the role of the conductor, my job, is to really be the messenger for the composer. So consequently I need to feel that I can justify every note that he or she has written. And in order to do that, first of all I have to understand why … Why did the person write this piece? … I think of it as almost like a magic key to open the door to a piece of music.
Presenter asks
3:00What does a conductor do to prepare?
I do practice, but it's a different type of practice. Gesturally, it requires a very, very sophisticated grasp of the physicality of how you're going to relate to the orchestra. … it's a lot of daydreaming.
Presenter asks
6:17It's very interesting to me that you care about people coming in who might not automatically be predisposed towards [classical music]. Why do you care about those people who might not even like classical music but are giving it a go?
The keepsakes
The book
The Collected Writings of Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung
I think I would take the collected writings of Carl Jung so that I could really explore the stories of the Bible and explore Shakespeare on every level.
The luxury
After a lot of thought I think I would ask for a complete pottery studio. My mom so loved pottery and that tactile experience, and with that I could create not only practical things, but also art.
I don't actually buy into the idea that anyone could not like classical music. … the fact that we as classical musicians have made that inaccessible and this sense of elitism has overtaken our industry, I think we've done a terrible disservice to the world.
Presenter asks
8:46You've said that although you didn't really grow up with the trappings of privilege, you believed you had the greatest advantage of them all: you grew up in a house filled with music and possibility. Tell me more about that.
My parents were incredible people. … Money was never an important factor. … they were motivated always by the idea of something. … [my father] built this enormous living room, 40-foot living room, with cathedral ceiling … and eventually … a concert hall in their backyard.
Presenter asks
11:23You were nine years old and you decided you were going to be a conductor. How did that happen?
When I was nine, my dad … took me to a lot of concerts, but the first concert I really remember was the one where Leonard Bernstein conducted. … he turned around and talked to us. I thought … he was speaking only to me. … I immediately turned to my father … and I said, 'Dad, I'm going to be a conductor.'
Presenter asks
18:21You used the phrase 'maximise opportunities'. How did you maximise opportunities when you were starting out?
I think when you have only a couple of opportunities … you tend to try to wring the most you can out of those. … it was thanks to my friends that I was able to start my own orchestra.
“I sat down outside this door and I remember for the first time just being moved to tears by music.”
“She said, 'Oh, well, you're too young to be a conductor … and girls don't do that.'”
“the next morning when I came down for breakfast, my father had gone out and bought me this wooden box, which I opened up and it was filled with batons.”
“being surrounded by people who cared about me and who weren't afraid to tell me what was good and what was bad in a very constructive way was the best education as a conductor I could have ever had.”
“I lost them both this year. And my mother died on January twenty third, and then my father died ten days later. So, it was really a hard loss.”