Esa-Pekka Salonen in conversation with Roman Czura. The Finnish composer and conductor was our special guest on a live event held at NOSPR the day before the premiere of his newest orchestral piece, the Sinfonia Concertante for Organ and Orchestra, sharing with us some great stories and anecdotes...
If You wanna find out, when Pierre Boulez used the word "pretty" probably for the first time in his life , why "Also sprach Zarathustra" would sound fine even if conducted by an Orang-Utan, and which piece he started to sketch at a police station in Helsinki - You certainly are in the right place.
(Question || answer)
00:37 || 01:50 On Korvat Auki and New Music
"If You play New Music with conviction on the highest possible level, and You play music, that You really believe in, it does speak."
10:41 || 12:10 On Modernist taboos "The modernist principles were just a bunch of taboos..."
19:58 || 20:45 On searching his own musical voice "I stopped seeing music as a kind of trial... and started asking myself, what I really like."
30:09 || 30:55 Concerto or Sinfonia? About the form of his newest orchestral piece, the Sinfonia Concertante for Organ and Orchestra and his strange journey away from and yet towards Sibelius.
39:34 || 40:35 On his double identity as both a composer and conductor. "You write them, and then ... they are on their own."
44:10 || 44:32 A sneak peak into the kitchen: on how his composition process works
50:30 "Write for orchestra, please"
53:38 || Questions from the public (our students and staff):
- Which direction should new music take? (53:38)
- "It's like a crocodile..." On Arnold Schönbergs Violin Concerto (56:31)
- On dealing with the music of other composers (59:11) "After Bruckner to hear like Metallica, Foo fighters or Grateful Dead"
- On his relation with Henri Dutilleux (1:02:56)
***
Podcast created by the Department of Composition and Music Theory The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, featuring conversations about music and more. Enjoy!
website:
szymanowskirad...