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Contents of Czech Music Quarterly 2009 Issue No. 2

Conductor Peter Vrábel: I DON´T HAVE TO HAVE NEW FACES AROUND ME ALL THE TIME - by Vítězslav Mikeš
Music Competitions in the Czech Republic - by Mojmír Sobotka
Miloš Štědroň answers Michael Beckermann - by Miloš Štědroň
Violinist Roman Patočka: Music is as natural for me as breathing - by Luboš Stehlík
Czech Vienna. The music culture of the Czech minority in Vienna 1840-1914 - by Viktor Velek
Reviews

Conductor Peter Vrábel: I DON´T HAVE TO HAVE NEW FACES AROUND ME ALL THE TIME

by Vítězslav Mikeš

Most of the work of Peter Vrábel, a Slovak conductor living in Prague, is connected with the Berg Orchestra. This is why in our interview we concentrated on themes to do with this orchestra – its focus on programmes including both top international and Czech contemporary music, and its unconventionally conceived concerts.

What led you to found the Berg Orchestra?

Initially it was enthusiasm for the idea of presenting works by contemporary Czech composers not often performed here. In the early stage we had help from Václav Riedlbauch, a composer and later managing director of the Czech Philharmonic, who motivated us, suggested pieces we might play and introduced us to the circle of his colleagues – composers of the older generation such as Petr Eben, Svatopluk Havelka and others. Depending on the needs of each piece we would look for musicians for each concert – students from the Academy of Performing Arts and the Prague Conservatory.

What in your view have been the milestones in the fifteen-year history of Berg?

You speak of fifteen years, but I would rather talk about the ten years or so of real continuous work with the orchestra. And that it is why I would consider – as a milestone – the moment when we managed to create a first coherent season with a series of subscription concerts, when it all acquired a real shape. Until then we had just played from concert to concert, with our attention just fixed on the next concert, and so essentially it hadn't been a matter of any systematic work.

For me the Berg is distinctive for its imaginative repertoire concept. If the first stimulus was the desire to present contemporary Czech compositions that had not been played here, how did you arrive at a consistent idea of programming? What are your criteria for putting programmes together?

In the first seasons we combined classical with contemporary music; we played Haydn or Mozart symphonies and added contemporary composers. Gradually, however, the basic core of our repertoire shifted to 20th-century world music and pieces by young Czech composers. Today we occasionally include classical music in our programmes, and it always gives us pleasure when we play it. We have more than one criterion for concert programming. For example I find an interesting piece that I want us to perform, and then I usually look for something to provide contrast. The important thing for me is that neither I, nor the orchestra, nor the audience should get bored – hence the contrast. I avoid monotonous conceptions of concerts. One good approach is to have a theme that connects completely different things.

Which kind of contemporary music – composers, themes etc. – appeals to you most?

I don't have very fixed views in this context… I like well-written music that you can do something with. I look for it myself, but I also get inspiration and tips from my friends who follow contemporary music.

When you do decide to perform some older music, do you base your approach on current knowledge of authentic period interpretation?

I don't want to make a fetish of it, and so I try to take account of this knowledge, even if I manage it only to a certain extent, since I'm not one of those who live just by early music and its period performance. I think it's bad if musicians play old music in a way that doesn't respect the conventions of its times. There are quite a lot of musicians who still ignore these conventions, but I think this is changing, and young musicians are beginning to accept period interpretation as something to be taken for granted. When I'm preparing to play a Baroque piece, for example, I call my friends who specialise in the Baroque and ask their advice. Reading the score is obviously different from contemporary music, and I confess that the study of a Baroque score takes me a long time, and at the beginning always gives me a bit of a headache.

When you are studying the score of a contemporary piece do you take account of the performance of your predecessors, i.e. do you use existing recordings when you are working on a piece?

I never play recordings when I'm studying a score. But it's interesting that when I later listen to recordings of my concerts and compare them with the recordings, I find that my interpretation hasn't in fact been so distant from the usual interpretative practice in the performance of one or another piece. I don't aspire to be original on principle. But I want to reach my interpretation by myself.

The Berg concerts are often unique projects situated in unconventional venues and accompanied by non–musical elements (video–art, theatre, dance and so on). What criteria do you use to ensure that it all works together? Is the element of chance predominant – a waiting for what might emerge in the context of a rough idea of collaboration with people from different fields, or do you prefer to start, before the concert, from an entirely concrete picture of what will take place on the podium?

When we have come up with some idea of the possible form of a concert evening, we approach artists from the ranks of young choreographers, theatre people, artists and so on who we think will be right for the realisation of our idea, and with whom we then develop the concrete possibilities. I then leave them a free hand, but I often consult with them in the course of the process. My preference is for a situation in which everything is a hundred-percent prepared beforehand, and things don't happen randomly. At the same time I take care to ensure that one form of art doesn't overpower another, even though I know that people do not have that much room for manoeuvre in their areas. Naturally music has the dominant position, but the other elements must not be relegated to the background, and everything should fit together in mutual understanding. Contrast has its place in this case too – a beautiful harpsichord in a former foundry (La Fabrika) – that's superb!

What advantages or disadvantages does Berg have compared to an orchestra in a conventional theatre or concert hall?

The advantage of a permanent venue is that the acoustic and spatial aspects are entirely familiar and so you know what you can afford to try. By contrast, me and the Berg Orchestra often play in a concert venue for the first time at the dress rehearsal, and so we have very little time to get to grips with the space. When this causes problems the important thing is not to panic, but to use the short time you have to engage sense and sensibility and try to minimise the problems. Cursing won't help; at best I can only curse myself for getting involved in the first place.

What are your criteria for choosing your circles of artists/performers from other disciplines?

That depends. Sometimes I register someone's work – work that I like and that suits my own concept, while at other times I get others to recommend people. I like longer-term collaboration. My idea is that if something has worked once, I'll embark on other projects with the same people. Recently, for example, I was very impressed by Mirka Eliášová's dance choreography for our performance of the Voices Symphony by Peteris Vasks, and so we agreed to continue the collaboration in coming seasons. I'm getting similar positive feelings with the theatre direction duo SKUTR, which is working with us on a forthcoming production of Heiner Goebbels's music drama Schwarz auf Weiss, which we will be presenting this autumn. In the next season we would like to collaborate with this duo on the original version of Honegger's King David for ensemble.

What is the situation with the soloists that appear with Berg? One finds some of the same names appearing repeatedly. Is this also an instance of your stated preference for longer term co-operation?

You soon get to know the circle of musicians who play contemporary music. And even among musicians whose repertoire is predominantly classical there are some who like playing modern things as well. Naturally I initially look for a soloist who has experience of contemporary music (or even with performing the particular piece I am planning to present). Sometimes, however, it can be rather different – for example I never noticed the harp player Kateřina Englichová playing contemporary music or even registered whether she played it at all. But then our first oboist Vilém Veverka, who specialises in contemporary music, came and said that he was playing one modern piece with Englichová. That didn't ultimately work out, but we agreed on a plan to present Schnittke's Concerto for Oboe, Harp and String Orchestra. That collaboration was wonderful, and so in this case too I intend to carry on working with her. We have agreed on another piece, the Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Chamber Orchestra by Isango Yuno. I'm not the type of person who has to have new faces around me all the time.

You do a great service to young Czech composers by including the premiere of a piece by a young composer in almost every one of your subscription concerts…

I've already mentioned that we focused on Czech music from the very beginning of the orchestra's existence. But in initially that was the work of composers of the older generation whose music and personalities fascinated me, and back then I was also thrilled by their collegial approach to me, without the superior attitude of the successful composer. Later, however, I started to give more space to my contemporaries and younger composers, and because that co-operation turned out to work well for both sides, we stayed with it and are still developing it today. In the case of composers as well as soloists a circle has formed that appears in our seasons, and we don't fundamentally vary the people in the circle even though from time to time a new name is added. For them it is a chance to develop and repeatedly test out their pieces in concert, and – what's more – in juxtaposition with the work of established world famous composers. But I've said that the support is mutual, and the orchestra gets something out of the collaboration too.

The NUBERG competition, which is becoming a yearly event, is one interesting fruit of this collaboration. What have you personally discovered from the years of the competition? Have the results surprised you at all, for example?

We thought up the competition two years ago because we thought it could offer more help in the promotion of young Czech composers. At the end of the season we publish the concert recordings of the premieres on a CD, which comes out as a supplement to the magazine HIS Voice, and we put them on our web pages too. We believe that this way the works will reach a larger number of people, who then have the chance to vote on which piece they like best. The one that gets the most votes is awarded the Public's Prize. We also organise another prize, the NUBERG Prize, which is possibly rather more important since this is decided by a specialist jury including important composers from abroad. It's interesting that the results of the two prizes, the public voting system and jury system haven't differed much in the two years of the competition; just the first two places are changed round, for example. I admit I didn't expect that. I myself am part of the specialist jury but I find it hard to assess which piece is better. I have a positive attitude to all of them and what pleases me the most is when as a conductor I manage to discover what is in these pieces and get it to the surface.

In the autumn of this year you are planning as part of the Strings of Autumn festival and then in your subscription concert series to present Schwarz auf Weiss by Heiner Goebbels – a piece that has previously been performed only by Ensemble Modern. What is behind the fact that Orchestr Berg is going to be the second ensemble with this piece in repertoire? Who is going to be involved in the performance apart from the orchestra? Given that you have already begun to make preparations a year before the performance, I assume you consider this project to be the event of the season… am I wrong?

I encountered Schwarz auf Weiss some time ago on DVD and liked it, but it never occurred to me to include it in our repertoire. I found another Goebbels piece, Industry & Idleness, which we then presented a few years back. When I was setting up this season's programme, it several times crossed my mind to put on Schwarz auf Weiss but I always dismissed the thought. Until it struck me that the poetics of the directorial duo SKUTR, consisting of Martin Kukučka and Lukáš Trpišovský, would suit it very well. I called them and said I'd like to do a crazy thing with them, and they replied that it was interesting how people only ever called them about crazy things… We had a meeting to discus it, they asked for time to think about it and finally enthusiastically agreed. If they hadn't agreed I would never have embarked on the project. On the basis of their activities, which I know, I am sure that the piece is just tailor made for them, since they are used to working with movement and music. We contacted Goebbels himself, went to see him in Germany, and found him keen to offer support and ready to co-operate. It is something completely different from what we have done before. Schwarz auf Weiss is music theatre that you can't prepare in the traditional way, i.e. by studying the score, coming to the orchestra, putting it on the stand and rehearsing it. This is why we've started on preparations so far in advance. In my view Schwarz auf Weiss is quite a personal piece in which Goebbels is responding to the death of his friend, the dramatist Heiner Müller. But for me it's not just Goebbels and Müller, but also has the dimension of a test of the inner life of the orchestra and the individual players. It is a kind of test of the orchestra, but in a different form – I don't see it as a challenge technically; many other scores are far more difficult in that sense. The high demands here are quite different in character, for example in the way the performers have to stay natural, not to be theatrical, but at the same time to act, to produce theatre.

How do you motivate your orchestral musicians to do something other than just play their instruments? Goebbels in Schwarz auf Weiss is maybe extreme in requiring them to act, but recently you presented Northern Gates by Bronius Kutavičius, in which the musicians had to sing…

It's true that when the musicians realise they will be expected not just to play on their instruments but for example to act or sing, a certain tension develops. I don't put too much pressure on them, but just try to get them to take the idea on board and make it their own, and at the same time to understand that there is no other option, because that is how it is written and if we are going to play it then it is up to us how we get to grips with it. In Kutavičius's Northern Gates my approach was to let the musicians rehearse the combined playing and singing in groups. It turned out to be not at all simple, especially for example when the composer wants the musician to play forte and sing piano, i.e. to put in two entirely different energies at the same time. In the end, though, the orchestra did a great job.

Do you think that an orchestra needs to develop a specific profile involving a specific field of music in order to get an image?

It needs to profile itself in some way so as to be different from the others. But it has to be convinced about what it is playing; I don't like snobbery in music, but quite the opposite – I want naturalness, and fresh, non-routine approaches. Some people can be natural like that in performance of a broader spectrum of music, others in a narrowly defined field. Other features that help to create an image then get wrapped up in the orchestra profile – for example in our case that young musicians play in the orchestra or that we don't have a home venue but play in different places – this is a matter of PR and so on. In this context I would like to mention the immense contribution made by the current manager of the Berg, Eva Kesslová, who is constantly trying to improve masses of things. For example now she is going every year on a scholarship to the Kennedy Centre in Washington where she "takes" the Berg and works on it there, getting not just inspiration but feedback from top experts in arts management – what has been done right, what can be improved and so on.

Do you still have some further goals you would like to achieve – you personally and with the Berg Orchestra?

I'm tempted by longer-term work with a large symphony orchestra. I'd like to implant my experience of conducting a chamber orchestra into leading a bigger ensemble. In a chamber orchestra you have to put much greater emphasis on nuance and make completely sure to avoid any kind of mistake, since it is immediately audible here. I would like to have more opportunity to try out this approach in the rolling stream of a symphony orchestra. I have a goal with the Berg too – to export the music of young Czech composers.

The Slovak conductorPeter Vrábel(b. 1969) lives and works in Prague. He started his concert career while still a student at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts when he worked with a series of chamber and symphony orchestras and with the Kühn Children's Choir. He is a holder of the Gideon Klein Prize. In 1995 he founded the Berg Chamber Orchestra (the current official title of this ensemble is the Orchestr Berg / Berg Orchestra), developed the concept of the musical direction of the orchestra and has remained its artistic director to this day. As an untiring and original promoter of new music, he actively collaborates with contemporary Czech and international composers and provides inspirational creative space for artists of the young generation through all kinds of projects. He specialises in the music of the 20th century but does not avoid music of earlier styles. He has made a great many recordings for Czech Radio, shared in the recording of an album by the jazz pianist Frank Mantooth (USA), and records for television and film. He has worked for example with National Theatre ballet company on the fairytale ballet Goldilocks, where the Berg Orchestra plays live on stage throughout the production, and has recorded music for the ballet Ibbur, or a Prague Mystery (2005). In 2008 at the Music Forum Festival in Hradec Králové he conducted Alfred Schnittke's cantata Seid nüchtern und wachet... and Cello Concerto no. 1 (the performance involved David Geringas, Iva Bittová, the Prague Philharmonic Choir, and the Hradec Králové Philharmonic).