Principal Conductor Pietari Inkinen 10/18 Tokyo Regular After-Talk
Principal Conductor Pietari Inkinen
10/18 Tokyo Regular After-Talk
Funaki (omitted): I will be your listener today. My name is Atsuya Funaki. Thank you very much for your attention. Your interpreter will be Yukako Inoue. We only have a short time, but I would like to ask you a few questions. First of all, it's Beethoven, isn't it? What kind of composer is Beethoven to you, Mr. Inkinen?
Inkinen (omitted): For me, Beethoven is a composer who can be called a monumental work. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the person who laid the foundations for Western classical music. He was also a wonderful person who further evolved Western music with his genius, bringing about many innovative things. He is an indispensable composer for us musicians.
Next year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, so this cycle will continue in two phases until 2021, centered around that anniversary. Why did you start off today with the Eroica Symphony, the first of these?
In fact, this cycle will be performed over two seasons. I have performed it in a more compact format in the past. If it had been performed every night, I would have started with No. 1, but since it will be performed over two seasons, I wanted to create a very diverse program. I will not be performing only Beethoven. The reason I started with the Eroica is that it is the largest symphony of the period, moving from classical music to romantic music with Beethoven, so I chose it to begin with.
This means that this cycle will not only include Beethoven's period, but also the period that followed when Beethoven had an influence.
Of course. If we were to perform the cycle in a compact format, I think this evolution would be apparent more quickly, but since we are taking two seasons, I hope that core fans will be able to sense the evolution and the passage of time, and also enjoy the music of the era influenced by Beethoven.
What's really eye-catching about this cycle is the inclusion of several pieces by Dvorak. Today, you performed the overture to the opera "Armida," but I think that Dvorak, although perhaps not many people realize it, is heavily influenced by Wagner. I'm sure everyone knows that you specialize in Wagner, and I thought that this may be part of it.
There are several reasons why I didn't start the overture with something like "Leonore." Many of Dvorak's works are not performed often. However, I am currently working with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and have learned a great deal from them. And since Dvorak has also recorded with the Deutsche Radio Symphony Orchestra, I really wanted to perform with the Japan Philharmonic. Dvorak has been influenced by many people, and Brahms was a huge influence. As is the case with today's piece, Wagner's influence is also very apparent. As you know, Wagner was heavily influenced by Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Speaking of Wagner, as you may already know, Mr. Inkinen has been selected to conduct Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival next year in 2020. Since we rarely have the opportunity to share such moments together, I would like to congratulate you in the second half of this article by asking about your enthusiasm for Bayreuth. What was the first thing you did when you first heard the news?
It was actually a Sunday night and I was preparing dinner. I got a phone call at that time, and the person on the other end said, "Could you please sit down for a moment?" The person I was told was, "Just a short answer would be fine." I've been conducting for many years, and of course I've conducted Wagner's music as well. I've already conducted The Ring Cycle several times, and when you're doing that kind of work, at some point a dream begins to grow in your heart. I've thought it would be wonderful to one day conduct Wagner at Bayreuth, and now I've been asked to do that today, and it's The Ring Cycle.
I'm sure you're all familiar with the Bayreuth Festival, but to briefly explain, Richard Wagner wanted to present his works in the way he envisioned, so he built his own theater in the small town of Bayreuth in southern Germany. It opened in 1876 (Meiji 9), and has survived the war damage ever since, hosting the Wagner Festival every year. Considering the successive conductors of the Ring Cycle, even just since World War II, we've seen Knappertsbusch, Keilberth, Böhm, Boulez, Barenboim, and, most recently, Petrenko, and now Pietari Inkinen. If you have something that sets you apart from previous Wagner performances, please let us know.
Of course, just as today's Eroica differed from other Eroicas, my performances depend on my own taste, as I create music that I want to hear. However, as with the message of Meistersinger, I believe we should respect the past while evolving. I don't believe in doing something different simply for the sake of being different. I'm sure many of you here have listened to a variety of Wagner works, so I'd like you to tell me how it went and how it differed after I conducted it. My approach isn't to compare it to the past, but to focus solely on the score, evolving as I go, and creating music based on my own ideas of what Wagner should be like today. My own experience is important, but the abilities and experience of the musicians in the pit and the singers onstage also play a role. Therefore, we all work together to create music. Of course, I can influence the orchestra, but music is created together, and I look forward to seeing what happens.
Funaki: Wagner was a composer of operas and stage works, but surprisingly, Wagner himself said that he wrote these works by developing Beethoven's symphonies. From now on, you will be working on Wagner and Beethoven in parallel, and I think it's a wonderful combination. I hope that in the future you will be able to use your experience at Bayreuth as a kind of feedback, and hear the results of that here at the Japan Philharmonic. Unfortunately, time is up, so I would like to conclude by asking for a big round of applause to express my hopes.
Interviewer: Atsuya Funaki
Interpreter: Yukako Inoue
10/19 Tokyo Regular Pre-Talk here
10/26 Yokohama Regular Orchestra Guide here
