– 03/20/15, 22:00
© ANP. Mariss Jansons triumphed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which he led for eleven years as chief conductor. Here during a rehearsal late last year.
One more time the Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons fell Friday off the famous staircase in the Concertgebouw. On the way to the buck for his last concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, where he in 2004 as the sixth chief conductor began. Jansons remains guest conductor.
Mariss Jansons (72) looks tired. If not jaded. He sleeps badly lately he says. And it was also a busy week of rehearsals and concerts. In between, he also flew to Munich as back and forth. For there to attend a major conference on whether or not to proceed with the construction of a new concert hall.
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – Jansons’ other band – which has new hall urgently needed and the conductor has deployed huge for it themselves. A personal mission. It was even, in addition to his fragile health, the reason he chose the orchestra of Munich, Amsterdam and wanted to quit as chief conductor.
It seems that the hall in Munich by politics is final fired. Jansons and then later says in the interview that he also despite fatigue lately actually feels fit as a fiddle. All in all he is going to doubt the correctness of his decision to leave Amsterdam.
Eleven years ago you said in an interview with this newspaper that the decision to say yes to Amsterdam for various reasons, was very difficult. Was it just as difficult to announce your departure?
“Sure. Maybe that was still a difficult decision. I’ve been working here for almost eleven years. The collaboration with the musicians got better and better ; we came ever closer together in recent times there are many new and young musicians come in and the quality of the orchestra has grown And then also such a great audience in a beautiful city like Amsterdam There was… no reason to leave here. Except for my health then. It was last year in this regard is not very good. I give up one of these busy jobs, will certainly make my life easier, but that does not make this decision a was easy.
“Two responsible jobs like this in Amsterdam and Munich provide considerable stress. And ultimately that is not good for your constitution. I was all the time but studying. Ever new scores to take. There is hardly any time for other things. There comes a time in your life that you think, what else is there? Is this all? There must be space for distance, for rest.
“The last time I feel quite incidentally me again as usual. And if you feel well again, immediately also, doubt. Have I made no mistake ? Should I be away from Amsterdam? At the moment I think there quite variable over. But on the other hand, you should not linger too long in a certain place. And I will keep coming back as a guest conductor, I very much attached to . ”
How do you look back on this decade in Amsterdam? It has become as you expect
“I look back on this period with great, great satisfaction Oh yes, absolutely it brought me everything -?.! And even more, as I said, is the. quality tremendously gone up, the musicians are technically on a terribly high level There really are so many great players in this orchestra -. they are not only serious, but extremely intelligent And the atmosphere is also exceptionally comfortable You can post excellent.. musicians, but the atmosphere is not good, you can not fully enjoy it. Moreover still here flows that wonderful room full of fans. It is during these times certainly not everywhere so.
“You notice that there is in this city a lot of love for classical music. Knowledge also. And there is a potential for new, young audience. We notice this especially in the free lunchtime concerts on Wednesday afternoon. Then there are many enthusiastic young people in the audience. We desperately needed, because the interest in classical music is waning. Music should be one of the main subjects at school, because it can be so rewarding. “
Do you have over the years developed special friendships with musicians here?
“I have a good relationship with all orchestral musicians. I respect all of them and I try to be as nice to everyone, and understand them. If they want to talk to me, I’m open for any of them, they will invite me. But at the same time I am the group leader and would feel it wrong to engage in a deeper friendship with them. I try to monitor the balance, while you do the best but as normal as possible. Be who you are, no artificiality use to buy to make popular in the group or their friendship.
“I have incidentally have made many friends in Amsterdam. People with a huge love for music, with whom I have been often eat in the city. A city that is beautiful, sometimes nasty, but with a friendly international atmosphere. And always feel here that great love for the music. I will definitely be missed. ”
Have there been any special musical moments in that decade that have fixed themselves put in your memory?
“Oh yes, certainly. Even if I do not immediately able to cite examples. It is something more . generality It’s my style to prepare myself as thoroughly as possible, with the aim to achieve the highest quality I consider it as my main job:.. create the possibility of the level as high as possible, if that fails, feel I’m unhappy. But I think there are also not too much about it. You remember especially concerts as the applause, the spiritual support to call it once, has been exceptional enthusiasm. Every time I feel that if a payment for the work that we put into it. Every artist has needed fixing. Me too. Back Listening to recordings I do very rarely. If the band releases a CD, then I will listen to the master tapes, to make sure it meets my high standards. But not thereafter. It makes me very nervous to listen to myself. I then hear all kinds of things that do not go perfectly, but nothing that I can change. “
Your predecessors, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly completed a complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies on LP or CD. Your Mahler cycle on CD is not complete. Are there any plans to make it still good?
“No, there are no plans yet for Mahler. But it would be nice to do so. I have directed the Seventh Symphony here, but there is never a CD made of. The Ninth Symphony is the only one I’ve never done this. Additionally there is another composition I’d like to be here: the ‘Gurrelieder’ Arnold Schoenberg. A big favorite piece of mine. I have the ‘Gurrelieder’ all bands I’ve ever chief conductor was put on the program. Even with the Vienna Philharmonic, where I was just a guest conductor, I got it done. That would be a dream to do it once in Amsterdam. “
The good news is that you will return in Amsterdam as a guest conductor.
” Yes, absolutely . I find it important to continue the long relationship that I have with orchestras as a guest conductor. I consider it an honor to do that. Next season I will do with the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s opera “Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky at the National Opera. The director Stefan Herheim, with whom we have previously worked awesome for Tchaikovsky’s’ Jevgenji Onjegin. I found it exciting to do in Amsterdam opera, it just was part of my job responsibilities. I have always had far too little time for, but there is nothing better for me than opera. If the whole team that you need for opera is good, then there is nothing like that experience. It earns the highest pleasure. I am considered as a symphonic conductor, but if you really in my soul would look, you would see the opera conductor. “
in your period the Concertgebouw Orchestra was here proclaimed ‘best orchestra of the world. “Was that a blessing or a burden?
” We were of course very happy, but at the same time we knew very well that you are ‘the best’ in music naturally can not really measure . Music is not a sport. That element of competition in the music feels not good, though it was obviously a great honor to get that title. As the applause which I just now mentioned, it is a payoff for the hard work, for your principles and the ways that you have outlined together. That election told us that we were on the right track. An election by critics still. And as you know, critics can be very unpleasant from the corner. We have not taken too lightly, but we are not going to run next to our shoes. “
There is much talk about the future of classical music. What do you think? Are we going about twenty years for the type of concerts that directs you?
“Music will always be there. All The Time. All the stories about the art form is dying, his total nonsense. It is true that not everyone understands the importance of music automatically. And that’s especially the people who decide for us who are responsible for the development of a country. The politicians. You are allowed to hate music, or football, but as leaders of a country do you decide on what is required. And then you also best to opt for smaller things like classical music. As a politician, you have that responsibility, the duty even. Not only will the common denominator, that which is the most popular. But also protect the small and vulnerable.
“The analysis of the value of life, which is so important. Investigate what our job is here on earth, how can we develop ourselves spiritually. It is still insane that we are in the 21st century still fighting wars? Is it not the intention that our level of thinking comes at a higher level? Each of us has the task his inner world, his morals for my part, to develop. Not everyone can that inner world may not understand right away, you have to do is to love. That is all. Music can play a very big role in it. And that’s definitely not elitist. If you have heard a great concert, you’ll be lifted out . Everyone needs such a feeling, such a space in your head “
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