Great conversations: the conductors: Zubin Mehta / Eugene Istomin [video recording]

EUGENE ISTOMIN (MODERATOR):

I'm especially happy that you are coming to be on this project, which has a particular thrust on the influence of Europe on America throughout our history, and the reflection of our music and culture on Europe in return. It's a great pleasure and a great honor to have you with me.

ZUBIN MEHTA:

It's really a two-way thing, isn't it? America and Europe influencing each other.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

Because, of course, it all started with Europe monopolizing on influence in America. And then came Dvorák. And Dvorák used American themes - I suppose in our world, probably the first person to use American-Indian themes and incorporate it in his Bohemian folklore. But at the moment, then, things have really turned around. Let's say after you go to Stravinsky and Schoenberg's influence, Hindemith, in America, in the whole world of pop, it's of course America influencing the rest of the world.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

A little bit comes from England.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah.

MEHTA:

Beatles, et cetera. But otherwise, it's America. I mean, you go into a taxi in Vienna and you hear country and western! And you hear the man-and you say, "Don't you like chamber music?" He says, "What's that?"

ISTOMIN:

Is that a good thing?

MEHTA:

So that's what we are come to!

ISTOMIN:

Is that a good thing?

MEHTA:

I don't think so!

ISTOMIN:

I don't think so either!

MEHTA:

No, but...

ISTOMIN:

That's the way it is.

MEHTA:

This is the wave of the world.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah.

MEHTA:

You go to India, same thing.

ISTOMIN:

The same...?

MEHTA:

You don't hear Indian classical music as what the mass loves. It's American music. American popular music. It has taken over.

ISTOMIN:

But why...so it's taken over, but the mass must want it, must...

MEHTA:

The mass don't even know it. The mass don't know the other side. It's like asking the mass who drinks Coca-Cola whether they know Château Lafite. They don't know it.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah.

MEHTA:

They get it from television, from the movies, from the media, basically. My grandchildren love both. My children grew up hearing and loving both. In my youth in India, I had my father and his quartet at home and the symphony orchestra rehearsals. There was the pop music around. I know my friends used to, of course, be very involved. Somehow - and I'm not boasting - this is what just happened. I was, I had no interest. I first started having interest in jazz - again, talking about the American influence - in Vienna. Not with the taxi drivers! But the great jazz musicians of America in the '50s came regularly to Europe on tours.

ISTOMIN:

The modern jazz people.

MEHTA:

Modern Jazz Quartet, ¹ Dizzy Gillespie, ² Gerry Mulligan ³ maybe also. And they were great musicians. You know, when I hear a jazz musician doing his "lick," I'm enthralled. And then when I went to Los Angeles, I do 80, 100 concerts a year, but two or three I would dabble with the fusion. There was a trumpeter called Don Ellis. ⁴ He had great interest in Indian music, but only in the rhythmic part of it. In Indian music you have rhythmic cycles of sevens, nines, elevens, thirteens. So he would teach his colleagues to improvise in 15-beat rhythmic cycles, playing his own jazz, his own tunes. And he once wrote a piece for his big - it was a big band, too - and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and we tried it out.

ISTOMIN:

Fifteen-beat...?

MEHTA:

Well, it changed. Sometimes 13-beat intervals. In other words, the downbeat came after 13 beats again. So that was - I mean, I respected that, that some people had such interest in the world where I came from, where I'm surely not the expert in Indian music in any case. But we did try those experiments. Then I tried once an experiment with Frank Zappa ⁵ which I think was a disaster. Then Lalo Schifrin, ⁶ who's a great jazz pianist. Also played with an ensemble called Jazz of the Philharmonic. They were wonderful people who used to tour Europe. And he wrote a piece for me, too, in which he played himself. And I remember people like Heifetz, ⁷ Piatigorsky ⁸ used to come to those concerts to hear something different with orchestra. It was mostly unsuccessful, because the world of improvisation and the world of complete organization such as ours doesn't really mix inherently. And the last fusion experiment I tried out was here in New York with Ravi Shankar, ⁹ who wrote his Second Sitar Concerto with orchestra and was a great success here. And we took it to London and Paris where we had standing ovations. Why do I say this? Because then we took it to India, and it was a disaster.

ISTOMIN:

How come?

MEHTA:

A complete flop. The Indians didn't like it at all. The Indians wanted to hear Raviji, the great pundit, the sage of India, the Heifetz of the sitar - they wanted to hear him. Instead, all they heard was the orchestra trying to improvise, because all the improvisations were written out, which are not from the soul; because the height of improvisation comes after three or four hours of, of just "playing 'til you get hot," and they didn't appreciate that. And occasionally he played...

ISTOMIN:

I must say I went to one rehearsal in London, not when you conducted, when Previn conducted something. He was also into that.

MEHTA:

With Ravi?

ISTOMIN:

With...yes.

MEHTA:

Yes, that was the first concerto.

ISTOMIN:

The first concerto.

MEHTA:

Yeah. The second one, he got much more into it. There were four movements, lasted an hour, and he worked with the soloists of the New York Philharmonic: the concertmaster, the first trumpet, the first clarinet, and they listened to what he wanted, and they would advise him, and then we would write it down. So they did come out as sort of quasi-Indian improvisations. But four concerts were always the same. Whereas when Raviji himself would improvise with us, where we played our usual ostinato, ¹⁰ it was a revelation to everyone.

ISTOMIN:

But not in India?

MEHTA:

No. It wasn't enough.

ISTOMIN:

How does...

MEHTA:

Because in India, they want the traditional - the Indian sonata form is that the sitar starts in a plaintive mood. First they form the raga, which is the scale. He introduces a scale, then he starts improvising in a very solemn manner, and gets more and more lively, and in the middle of the piece, the rhythm section, the tabla, ¹¹ joins in, and then they improvise together, and then it gets faster and faster. It's a continuous agitato ¹² leading to a stretta, ¹³ to a supercoda, ¹⁴ and that's what they want. And it never happened with the orchestral piece.

ISTOMIN:

How does it differ from regions in India? For example, would that music have the same response, say, in Kerala?

MEHTA:

No. South India is completely different. I'm sure they would appreciate it, but they would listen to it almost as a foreign music. Their cultures are foreign. Except the fact they are all Hindus, there is really very little in common between a South Indian and a North Indian, culturally speaking.

ISTOMIN:

I see.

MEHTA:

Language is, of course, completely different. Diet is different. I went to South India almost for the first time two years ago. And it was really like going to another country. I would feel much more culturally close in Pakistan than I did in South India. And I'm not denigrating the south at all. The south is a cultural empire on its own. The temples of the south, the carvings, the music, it is so developed, and it is...but it's a different world that we, I mean, even Bombay, that's part of the north in that sense, we're not accustomed to it. And some places, you know, English is the only way you...

ISTOMIN:

How interesting.

MEHTA:

...you interact with them. They won't speak Hindustani. They're, they, I mean, they just refuse. In some cities in the south, you don't see a single sign in the Hindi, in Hindi or Hindustani. They're all in their own local languages. There are about four or five local languages which are interconnected, but not as the northern languages.

ISTOMIN:

We, my wife and I, Marta and I have a very dear beloved friend who is from Trivandrum in the south. And I, you've met her, I'm sure, at the Kennedy Center, because she was at the Kennedy Center for a while. And she used to call me "nambudri"...

MEHTA:

Yeah, that's in her language.

ISTOMIN:

...which is the name for a wise, wise old man.

MEHTA:

Yeah. I wouldn't understand that!

ISTOMIN:

Let's get on, let's get on...

MEHTA:

That's, in the north, they would call him pundit.

ISTOMIN:

Pundit. I see. Let's get on to another subject, if I may.

MEHTA:

Yeah, sure. If I stray, you have to interrupt me.

ISTOMIN:

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. This is very important. For more than 40 years, you have conducted the greatest orchestras in the world. That, I guess, means really Europe and America, because where would you find - except for Israel, and that's another subject. I want to get to that later. These orchestras, many of them, still bore the marks - maybe faint, they might be faint, but nevertheless they are the marks of Mahler, of Strauss, of Toscanini, ¹⁵ of Furtwängler, ¹⁶ of even Weingartner. ¹⁷ Those... Nikisch ¹⁸ ...those people from that era that in a way symbolize what the great orchestra was like and is like. How would you, how would you not so much compare them, but how would you say the great orchestras - because we have great orchestras today - how do they differ, if at all, with...?

MEHTA:

In fact, they're coming closer together. And it's because my generation of conductors, we all sort of stem from central Europe. And we all have a similar repertoire. And that similar repertoire has a similar sound. For instance, think Daniel Barenboim. ¹⁹ He was the music director of the Orchestre de Paris. He did a lot of French music there, but still 80 percent, the core, is central Europe. So therefore, he developed in this French orchestra, when they played Bruckner, Mahler, Brahms even, that sound, which wasn't there before. So suddenly now, you have a French orchestra playing Mahler, attempting to come closer to Vienna, Munich, Prague, Berlin. That's the sort of a...

ISTOMIN:

Yeah.

MEHTA:

...arch there. And the same thing in America. The great American orchestras were formed, first of all - as usual, I'll say also - by European conductors. Until Lenny, ²⁰ there was not a great American conductor forming an orchestra. I might - there might be exceptions, and I apologize.

ISTOMIN:

No. No.

MEHTA:

But Lenny was the first great American conductor.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

After that, there have been many, of course. Before Lenny were Europeans. I suppose Toscanini, Stokowski ²¹ were the sort of starters of two traditions: Philadelphia Orchestra, NBC, New York. Koussevitsky ²² in Boston. Szell, ²³ Cleveland. These were the giants, I think.

ISTOMIN:

Fritz Reiner. ²⁴

MEHTA:

Fritz Reiner. Yeah. There will always be people I forget!

ISTOMIN:

Don't you think?

MEHTA:

Oh, absolutely. Fritz Reiner. You know, who really, the standard of today's Chicago Symphony comes from that.

ISTOMIN:

I agree. I agree.

MEHTA:

Absolutely. But they also brought Europe to these American orchestras. Don't forget, the American orchestras of the '20s were filled with Europeans, too.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

When was the first American orchestra really 90 percent American? I can't tell you. When I first came to Los Angeles in '62, the orchestra was filled with Europeans, even then. Then, of course, by the '70s, I think they were mostly Americans. And now, we're going toward eastern Asia...

ISTOMIN:

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

MEHTA:

...in orchestras. It's taking a---

ISTOMIN:

What about the winds, the woodwinds? Because there was such a dramatic difference between the oboe in Europe and the oboe, the French oboe...?

MEHTA:

Yeah, different schools, yes. Absolutely. You're right.

ISTOMIN:

Does it still...?

MEHTA:

The American oboe comes from the French school...

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

...which was started, the founder of that way of thinking, was Marcel Tabuteau, ²⁵ who was at the Curtis Institute ²⁶ and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and for a generation all the first oboes in America were his pupils, from L.A. to New York, Cleveland, Boston, everybody. And they, of course, have all been great teachers. And the third, fourth generation is still playing with that schooling.

ISTOMIN:

And does that, does that, is that, are there any reverberations of that in European orchestras?

MEHTA:

No.

ISTOMIN:

It insists on that...

MEHTA:

No, no. You brought out a very potent discussing point. The discussing point is the oboe. The oboe is different from Vienna to France to Berlin. Because they all believe in their own school.

ISTOMIN:

Yes, yes.

MEHTA:

Yeah. I know. In the end, the man who phrases, and makes something out of the music, and who convinces you is the best oboist.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. Of course.

MEHTA:

You know? At one point, you have to say, "All right. The sound is beautiful, but if you don't make music with it, it becomes a dull beautiful sound."

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. Yeah.

MEHTA:

And we have lots of examples of those...

ISTOMIN:

Yes. Yes.

MEHTA:

...kind of musicians, who play with a slightly not idealistic sound, but who tear your heart out with their musicianship.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

And you accept them.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

But we were talking about this, these migrations into the orchestras. This is happening, of course, more in America. Now Europe is becoming one country. So in the future, European orchestras will be completely mixed between English, German, Danish, Italian. They are still not used to going from country to country to audition, but it's starting. Even the Vienna Philharmonic has an Australian first viola, an English first trombone, and it's starting that way. Recently, I conducted the Berlin Philharmonic where the first horn was American, the second horn Scottish, third horn English. I was speaking English to the horn section! It's...

ISTOMIN:

That's...almost utterly...

MEHTA:

This is what's going to happen. This is the natural consequence. Migrating tribes in ancient times in Europe, they settled in different parts of Europe, and you had really completely diversified cultures, physiognomies. Today, in the big cities, they are all coming together. There is a tremendous mixture going on in New York, in London, in Berlin. Berlin is a city that sooner or later will start mixing with its Turkish population. There's a whole area of Berlin which is Turkish. They speak perfect German, they go to the German schools. They will be educated in the next generation. You know, the first generation came as migrant workers. Like here. But the mixture is taking place for sure, and that's very healthy, I think.

ISTOMIN:

Yes, it is.

MEHTA:

Very healthy. Where was the greatness of Vienna of the time of the Hapsburg empire? It was mixture. And I'm not talking about race now. But Hungarians, Polish, Austrians, Germans, northern Italians, Slovenians, Croatians, they were all mixing in Vienna. That was the melting pot. Before New York became the so-called melting pot, it was Vienna.

ISTOMIN:

What about places that are not necessarily that first rank that you were speaking about: New York, Berlin, and Vienna? What about the - and Chicago?

MEHTA:

You know, you mentioned at the beginning that I've conducted all the great orchestras in the world. It's not really true.

ISTOMIN:

Well, almost all.

MEHTA:

Yeah. No. I've never conducted Cleveland or Boston or San Francisco or Concertgebouw. Not because I wasn't invited. I just really didn't have interest to just go from one town to another guest conducting, so I've sort of always remained loyal to those orchestras I was close to. So I can't really comment on them. I just conducted Los Angeles last week. Really, it is a great orchestra. Not because I had something to do with it, because I left there in 1978...

ISTOMIN:

Yes. I know.

MEHTA:

...so three-quarters of the orchestra is new today. It's a great orchestra. I was, I'm just bowled over. And they played the Bruckner Symphony with the most pure, noble approach to it, and the sound matched. Just wonderful. Wonderful. I would have to work at that Bruckner Seventh ²⁷ much more in Europe with some orchestras.

ISTOMIN:

That's interesting.

MEHTA:

So that has changed. And you know, it depends. It depends on the conductor's repertoire, too. There are conductors who are straying away from central Europe. It's their taste. When you read their programs, it's usually programs of what I call peripheral music, which has its validity, but it becomes the central point of those conductors' repertoire. And if they are music directors, then their orchestras play that as a central repertoire, and they lose the sound.

ISTOMIN:

Yes. And that's very frequent. That's probably connected to critical, the press, because how many people want to hear the Brahms First ²⁸ and the Beethoven Seventh, ²⁹ and that argument...

MEHTA:

Yeah, well, I can't live without it, you see.

ISTOMIN:

I can't live without it, either.

MEHTA:

Yeah.

ISTOMIN:

That was my next question, was: When people interview from the press or TV and they ask me, "What is your favorite music? Who are your greatest composers?" Then my answer is, "That's not the right question. The question is: What composers can you not live, can you not live without?"

MEHTA:

Without, yeah.

ISTOMIN:

And the first one that comes to mind is Johann Sebastian Bach, whose music I played very little. Joseph Haydn is another one whom I adore and revere, who's- played only a few sonatas and a few little things. And, but there are, nevertheless, there are about 14 or 15 composers who I cannot live without and who I've played a great deal in my life.

MEHTA:

Yeah, of course.

ISTOMIN:

So that was my answer to that question. And I was going to say: What would your response be to that?

MEHTA:

Well, my response is, of course, central Europe. This is my world. Central Europe of the first and second Viennese school. I can't differentiate, differentiate, I mean, in my love. I love Schoenberg ³⁰ as much as I love Brahms. For sure. I can't do without Beethoven, and I can't do without Anton Webern. ³¹ Of course, I play less Webern and Schoenberg than I do the others. That's obvious. Because there's not that much output of the second Viennese school as there is of the 19th century, of the late 18th century.

ISTOMIN:

Well, then, you must also mean Berg, ³² then, too.

MEHTA:

Oh, of course, yes. Yeah. The thing is, how much Berg can one play? Wozzeck is on my most...

ISTOMIN:

[sings a passage]... Violin Concerto ³³ ...

MEHTA:

...Yeah. And the Lyric Suite, ³⁴ and things like that. Webern - I do almost everything Webern wrote for orchestra. Schoenberg also, I've done everything. Maybe not the Music for a Film Scene, ³⁵ I've never done that. But otherwise I...

ISTOMIN:

The Erwartung? ³⁶

MEHTA:

Yes.

ISTOMIN:

Oh, it drives me crazy. I can't stand it. I can't stand it.

MEHTA:

Erwartung is a great work. I know.

ISTOMIN:

...I feel closed in a...

MEHTA:

I know. It has to - Erwartung is not something that you just go to a concert and listen to and come away. You have to know the text. You have to know how every sentence of the text is interpreted by the composer. And of course, which member of the public can do it? It's impossible. Today, with the surtitles, maybe it helps a little bit. Yesterday we did the last scene of Salomé, ³⁷ where the New York Philharmonic has surtitles in English. And the singer was very sort of disturbed or surprised, because some of the words are so gory that the people reading them were shocked. Today they are shocked with...when she says, "I want to bite you."

ISTOMIN:

"Ich habe deinen Mund gekusst." ³⁸

MEHTA:

"Mund gekusst." Yeah.

ISTOMIN:

It's so sweet. The music is so sweet!

MEHTA:

But the words are gory. The words are very, very, sort of almost X-rated, and the people are shocked. They are also reading them before you sing them, so the surtitle sometimes is a disadvantage, I feel. On the other hand, if they don't understand anything, it's also a disadvantage.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. That's true.

MEHTA:

In The Marriage of Figaro, ³⁹ you have the public sometimes laughing before the punch line on stage. The punch line is spoken, is sung with music, unfortunately, so it really disturbs. Before, you know, in a recitative, before Figaro really lays it in for the Count, they are laughing, because the words came out too soon on the screen. So there are some disadvantages to that.

ISTOMIN:

Well, in - is this true in Italy, where the people would understand?

MEHTA:

No. In Italian, in Italy, we do Mozart in a small - in Florence, where I perform, there's a beautiful theatre, Pergola, I'm sure you've played there.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah, yeah.

MEHTA:

It's one of the most beautiful halls in the world. There are, I think, 800 seats. And then the Italian audience understands every word of the recitative. Because I usually do it, really, with Italians. Because for me, the recitative is the heart and soul of the opera, it's where the opera takes place. Because when the aria is sung, time stops. The aria is very beautiful. Aria is a masterpiece of...whether it's Così Fan Tutte ⁴⁰ or The Marriage of Figaro, it's the arias that the public loves. But the opera lives through the recitatives, through the movement, through the telling of the tale. And the Italian audience reacts and - like when you go to a musical comedy here. In musical comedy, there is no recitative. You speak. So of course the public gets it. Then time stops and they sing their song. Then they speak again, and time stops again, etc. But the time stopping in the G minor aria of Pamina, ⁴¹ or the Cherubino aria ⁴² where he expresses his great love for women in general... the recitatives are where also the stage director finds himself. If he is a good stage director, this is where he brings actors or singers who are not great as actors to perform. In fact, John Gielgud did one production of Don Giovanni, and he was so into the recitative, getting the people to act and to react, and the, Elvira's tragedy and Leporello's social utterances, etc., and he says, "Every time I really get down to getting them to act, the confounded music starts!"

ISTOMIN:

Music gets in the way!

MEHTA:

Then the aria starts, and time stops.

ISTOMIN:

Well, on that subject- invariably in this kind of thing, it's a little bit self-oriented. I have to tell you something about my upbringing. My parents were both singers. They were not great singers, but they were singers. And so, in my house, there were these 78, old 78 recordings of the great singers of that era. And then, as a child, I listened to the Met; already, the Metropolitan Opera began broadcasting in the 1930s. And to me, the tenors, the Carusos ⁴³ and Giglis ⁴⁴ and Schippas ⁴⁵ had some qualities, as well as some baritones like Pinza, ⁴⁶ Rufo, ⁴⁷ a daring, a quality of daring, chance taking, that I don't find among the greatest, and there are some very great singers today. And yet, I feel, everything is, the tempi, the way things, the pace of the operas, to me, is always slow, slow, slow. Now, your comment about that?

MEHTA:

There are very fine singers today.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

The ones you mentioned, of course, are the cream of the crop of those days...

ISTOMIN:

Oh, boy!

MEHTA:

...where, of course, there were also mediocre singers...

ISTOMIN:

Of course.

MEHTA:

...probably, that did not put their voices on these occasional tapes. I also grew up with some of those recordings, although in my house, it was more instrumental and orchestral. I'm talking of Bombay. I grew up with, I always say, the recordings of Toscanini, Furtwängler, a lot of Stokowski, and Koussevitsky. Those were the HMV records, the Columbias, a little Beecham. ⁴⁸ And although those recordings, and even the ones you mentioned, they didn't have the greatest sound, even if they are remastered today, they can't compare with today's sound on the DVD, etc. But they had the right tempos.

ISTOMIN:

So...

MEHTA:

Musically speaking, it was an advantage. When I came to Vienna when I was 17 years old, I came not listening to the Brahms symphonies-- let's just take that as a nucleus. I never heard a Brahms symphony live until I came to Vienna. But I heard the Brahms symphonies interpreted by, only by masters: Toscanini...

ISTOMIN:

Furtwängler...very different.

MEHTA:

Yeah. Also Weingartner, etc. So although there were slight tempo differences between also those masters, they were the right tempos. And in classical music, in the Viennese school, you have to agree, tempo is what gives the entire breath to the piece. I don't think, in my 30 years as music director in North America, I have ever read a single review of any artist where the man mentions tempo, or the importance of it. Or the importance of a bridge between the development and the recapitulation. These are aspects that we find important, that just escape the great professionals who write.

ISTOMIN:

Well, they don't - they have a different priority. An ear is not one of their priorities.

MEHTA:

No. We hear - "The orchestra was not in form because the horn cracked two notes." You know, every dog can hear! So the things that we grew up with, or I- I keep on stressing that, that the right tempo, and the right tempo relationships - nobody ever talks about - you know, the second act finale of Mozart's Figaro, there's not one tempo that changes ad libitum ⁴⁹ to another tempo. They are all interrelated. Now, whether a conductor does it or not seems not to disturb anyone. And I've been to performances where the conductor just makes, you know, piu mosso ⁵⁰ and meno mosso. ⁵¹ They have nothing to do - he has no idea. But also the person judging him doesn't know about it.

ISTOMIN:

And the poor listener and the public, how many of those know about it?

MEHTA:

Now, when you go to the Vienna Opera, where these things are taken for granted, even if the conductor doesn't know it, the Vienna Philharmonic will play double tempo or half the tempo when the tempo changes. They just don't know it any other way. Because that music came from a time when there were no conductors. There had to be interrelated tempo changes like in - in Handel, also, between an adagio and an allegro of Handel, there is a tempo relation, etc. And it's not being taught, also, today, as much as I would like it. I was at a rehearsal recently in Munich, in my own opera house. A young conductor, is talented, doing the Entfuhrung. ⁵² I said, "Don't you think these two tempos are related?" He didn't even know what I was talking about. You see? So this is a - it's a tragedy.

ISTOMIN:

Well, sometimes this recognition, realization comes later. It shouldn't come later.

MEHTA:

No! It's a basic study. And this is - I feel very fortunate that, as I said, although I went to Vienna knowing, let's say, the right tempi, with my professor, who was a disciple of Strauss and Schoenberg, where these things were absolutely religion.

ISTOMIN:

Who was your professor?

MEHTA:

Swarovski.

ISTOMIN:

Swarovski.

MEHTA:

Hans Swarovski. ⁵³

ISTOMIN:

I played a concert with him in Glas...in Edinburgh.

MEHTA:

Glasgow.

ISTOMIN:

In Glasgow.

MEHTA:

He was the conductor there.

ISTOMIN:

Glasgow. Glasgow.

MEHTA:

Yes. Scottish National.

ISTOMIN:

Scottish National.

MEHTA:

You must have been very young.

ISTOMIN:

I was. And so were you.

MEHTA:

Fifty-six, '57, he was there.

ISTOMIN:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Now, let me, let me ask you on the subject of role models for things. Once we were traveling together, not playing together, but traveling on the same route with Heifetz, and we got to be good friends, as much as you could be good friends with Jascha. I said to him once over breakfast, "Who was the violinist that you, that made the greatest impression on you, and that you, really influenced you?" Without batting an eyelash, he said, "Kreisler." ⁵⁴

MEHTA:

Yeah.

ISTOMIN:

You knew of that?

MEHTA:

I had read it many years ago.

ISTOMIN:

Oh, you did? And so I wanted to ask you...

MEHTA:

I would say Furtwängler.

ISTOMIN:

Furtwängler?

MEHTA:

Yes. More than Toscanini. Now, I'll explain. There is no getting away from the fact that Toscanini cleaned the scores of all the muck that had collected with 50,000 traditions, and he presented the scores in their purity. And that was absolutely necessary by the time he came on the scene, because every conductor would take a Beethoven symphony before, add things, subtract things, make cuts - God knows interpretively, because we don't have recordings of those people, but what he inherited was the old masterpieces caked with rubbish on them. And he cleaned those paintings, no doubt. Then comes Furtwängler, not a generation later, I'd say half a generation later, said, "Yes, I respect that. And I do adopt that also, but I want to know what is written by the composer between the notes, something that he does not write down." Like most of the classical composers give practically no instruction. You have to know their style. You have to know their lives. You have to know their letters. You have to know their chamber music in order to interpret their symphonies, let's say. And therefore, when I hear a performance recording of Toscanini conducting Eroïca, ⁵⁵ which is monumental, from the playing standpoint, from the discipline, absolutely exemplary, and then you hear a Furtwängler, not a commercial recording but a performance recording, you have something that just, the height of the Adagio, the Funeral March, ⁵⁶ it just shatters you in a way, emotionally, that the other one doesn't.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. I understand.

MEHTA:

Ah. So growing up in Vienna, and my teacher was an absolute disciple of Toscanini...

ISTOMIN:

Of Toscanini?

MEHTA:

Absolutely, yeah. That was his. Because he, as a young man, heard Toscanini rehearsing Falstaff. ⁵⁷

ISTOMIN:

Oh, that must have been terrific.

MEHTA:

And then, of course, Richard Strauss was also that kind of a conductor. Absolutely do what's there. I don't want your imagination. Just do what's there. So I had that training continuously, that very strict training, plus, from my other teachers who used to play in the Vienna Philharmonic, my bass teacher, my chamber music teacher, my theory teacher, etc., from them I would hear about Furtwängler and his rehearsals, and what he would tell them, what the perform...what the composer really - of course, Furtwängler never got away from the Toscaninian tradition of not swaying from the truth. He never did. But there was something added. There was another dimension. And I think my generation, growing up with these two incredible Grecian columns to lean on, we were very fortunate that we had that legacy to expound with. That was, that would be my favorite.

ISTOMIN:

Yes? Well, that's...

MEHTA:

My role model.

ISTOMIN:

That's important.

MEHTA:

Yeah. It was very important, growing up in Vienna, with Karajan ⁵⁸ as the conductor of the opera house, because he was a great opera conductor. And to go to his rehearsals and, you know, I didn't ruin my eyes, because I was still very young, but reading through Wagner ⁵⁹ Ring ⁶⁰ scores in a very dim light in the standing room, the top balcony of the Vienna Opera, with Karajan in the pit, I learned a lot. So that was another role model, I would say. Then was Joseph Krips, ⁶¹ who was the greatest purifier of everything. When Krips rehearsed an orchestra in a classical piece, he gave it to you on a silver platter. It was ready. You could then take the orchestra and do whatever you wanted with it.

ISTOMIN:

But the angels were riding on the...

MEHTA:

Yeah. I love Krips. Yeah. I was not a great fan of Karl Böhm, ⁶² although pieces like Elektra, ⁶³ or Frau ohne Schatten ⁶⁴ were magnificent.

ISTOMIN:

Yes. He wanted to invite me to Vienna, but I didn't go because he was a, such a bad Nazi, and I was still under the impression...

MEHTA:

Not untrue. Not untrue.

ISTOMIN:

I said, "Thank you very much" to him, and felt sorry about it, because I heard, I went, I heard several performances at the Met of things. But I couldn't.

MEHTA:

I remember going to his Elektra at the Met, if you mention it, with Nilsson ⁶⁵ singing Elektra.

ISTOMIN:

Ohhh!

MEHTA:

And Rysanek ⁶⁶ singing Chrysothemis. And I went to congratulate him afterwards, and he says to me, "What a pity Strauss couldn't hear these two singers." Because they were on a higher level than Strauss...

ISTOMIN:

...ever heard in his...yes.

MEHTA:

Yeah.

ISTOMIN:

Of the major conductors of the last 25 or 30 years, there have emerged some very important conductors from Japan, Korea, and now China, beginning to produce conductors. But from the Indian subcontinent, there's only the Mehta family that's world class. And you are the world class conductor. Explain to me-

MEHTA:

Well, India is strange in that sense. First of all, let's talk about music. India is a country that's more full of music, of its own music, than almost any country in the world. In India, there is no real hunger for an Indian to lean toward European music. He has his own music. And he should be taught his own classical music. That's where the mistake is. But there are music schools starting up all over India now. There are public performances - not as much. You don't have a subscription system like in America or Europe. But there is, it is growing. But not Western music. There is a foundation called the Mehli Mehta Foundation in Bombay, named after my father, because my father started the orchestra in Bombay, he grounded his first string quartet, etc., taught extensively, played recitals. So it's befitting that the foundation is called after him. And they have a chamber music festival now, every year for two weeks in Bombay in December. Where Indians who play Western classical music from all over the world, I invite them to come to Bombay and make music together. And that's very healthy.

ISTOMIN:

Yes, yes.

MEHTA:

But in a city of 14 million, about 800 go to this concert.

ISTOMIN:

Well, that's already a lot.

MEHTA:

Yes. But it's happening in Bombay starting in a small way. But when you take the whole of India, one billion people, they have their own music. And China is coming now. The school of violin playing in China, because of their connection with Russia, is very sound.

ISTOMIN:

What about Korea? Now that Korea has...

MEHTA:

Also instrumentally, that's a country of violinists and pianists, again.

ISTOMIN:

That's true, that's true.

MEHTA:

Yeah. Sarah Chang is a very fine young Korean violinist, albeit grew up in America, but she's very close culturally to her country. She was sent six months ago to North Korea with a South Korean orchestra.

ISTOMIN:

Mmmmm!

MEHTA:

And she went for the first, it was the first delegation, cultural, to North Korea. And she played. She says she was not allowed to speak to anyone. The minute, I mean, they speak really the same language, not even dialect. It's very close, there. It's like East and West Berlin.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

They spoke the same language, the same accent.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah, terrible.

MEHTA:

Anyway, she played there, big success, and then they were treated to a concert with the North Korean orchestra who played the Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony ⁶⁷ completely by heart.

ISTOMIN:

[laughs]

MEHTA:

The whole orchestra!

ISTOMIN:

I love it! It sounds familiar.

MEHTA:

And I said, "This orchestra must go on tour!" You know? Leave the atom bomb, come to Washington, get Mr. Bush to the concert, and play the Tchaikovsky Fourth by heart. Maybe he won't be impressed.

ISTOMIN:

And get a pianist to play, to play Tchaikovsky or...

MEHTA:

Yeah, yeah.

ISTOMIN:

And it's all done. It's all done.

MEHTA:

But this is the world of the totalitarian society, where a man says, "Play it by heart," and they have it.

ISTOMIN:

And they play it by heart. Yeah.

MEHTA:

But, so that world is coming up for sure. They are embracing Western culture very much. India, it will take time, or it may never happen. And I don't think it's a tragedy, because they have such a rich culture themselves. Whether it is painting, poetry, literature, music, India has all of its own. Movies.

ISTOMIN:

Oh, I know, I know about...

MEHTA:

Yeah. Basically they don't need American movies in India.

ISTOMIN:

No. What's that movie, Monsoon...?

MEHTA:

Monsoon Wedding.

ISTOMIN:

Monsoon Wedding.

MEHTA:

That's fusion!

ISTOMIN:

Now let's talk a little bit about Israel. We met, I believe it was in 1962.

MEHTA:

Was it '62?

ISTOMIN:

Two, because it was your re-engagement. You had been...

MEHTA:

Sixty-three, maybe.

ISTOMIN:

Was it '63?

MEHTA:

Yeah. Schumann Concerto. ⁶⁸

ISTOMIN:

Schumann Concerto, which we had 12 performances of, and then you said, "Aren't you tired of playing this? Let's play something else." And we finished with the Beethoven Fourth, ⁶⁹ last two concerts. But anyway, we, since then, you have become what you are, and, but you have formed a very unique tie with the, with the Israel Philharmonic.

MEHTA:

With Israel and the Israel Philharmonic, both. I've sort of grown up there. They've grown up with me. We've gone on a musical journey together. And now, I think, apart from three or four musicians, the entire Israel Philharmonic has been engaged...

ISTOMIN:

By you.

MEHTA:

Under my supervision, let's say. And so I'm very happy being there. So it's not a happy country to go to just now.

ISTOMIN:

Understandable.

MEHTA:

Rabin, Arafat and Peres signed the treaty, I mean, I was ecstatic, because for the first time, we saw the sun of peace rising. And I used to make so many statements that this sun will never set. It might have some clouds in front of it, but it has risen, and that's it. I have to somehow take back my words now. I don't think the hate will subside overnight. No way. The hate has been now perpetrated on both sides to a degree which is - it might take a generation.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. Now, let's go to the subject of contemporary...

MEHTA:

Contemporary music.

ISTOMIN:

Your thoughts about, let's say, music of the last 40 years, since the death of Shostakovich, ⁷⁰ Britten, ⁷¹ the last of the...

MEHTA:

The last of the neo-classical composers.

ISTOMIN:

Of the neo-classical composers.

MEHTA:

Shostakovich you couldn't call neo-classical, but still comes from Mahler.

ISTOMIN:

Yes.

MEHTA:

Mixed with Russian folklore, and mixed with his own personal traumatic love-hate relationship with his regime.

ISTOMIN:

With his regime, right.

MEHTA:

So, well, Shostakovich is a completely, a giant who stands on his own. There's no question about it. I'm not a great interpreter of his music. Because- music is music, it either speaks to you or it doesn't. So even if you know the background, it may not speak to you.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah.

MEHTA:

So therefore, I let my guest conductors...

ISTOMIN:

...conduct it. I understand that very well.

MEHTA:

Which is fine. But I think it's important that that music be played within a season. There's no question about it. But since then, or since the 12-tone system petered out - hardly anybody uses it anymore - there have been 50 different directions of contemporary music. There are those who will not leave tonality, who keep on experimenting with - like Lenny. Lenny was always tonal. But always something new. Something ingenious. Something-- there was always a 7/8 somewhere. You know? Always some kind of-- Caribbean rhythm going on... There have been the same line, let's say, or the same way of thinking as Bartók ⁷² starting from Israel. There are Israeli composers who dabble with old Yemenite music and incorporate it in their sort of contemporary scheme of things. That Yemenite is not necessarily Jewish, because the Yemenites, Jews brought it from Yemen, which is an Arab culture. Then there are South Americans there who bring in their ilk. So from Israel you have already three or four movements. There's always the Russian folk song that was incorporated into the kibbutz. When you hear kibbutz songs, they're all Russian songs. They're Hebrew words, but it's completely Russian music. From a folklore standpoint. Now in Europe, you have the strangest directions. You have a great composer in Hungary, Kurtág, ⁷³ who has a language all of his own.

ISTOMIN:

Who is that?

MEHTA:

Kurtag. K-U-R-T-A-G.

ISTOMIN:

I don't even know...

MEHTA:

Yeah. He's a very fine composer. Ligeti ⁷⁴ also.

ISTOMIN:

Ligeti I know.

MEHTA:

They also come from this Bartók-Kodály. ⁷⁵ In Germany, I would say there are some very fine composers who are, who really come from music. They are fine pianists, they are fine performing musicians, and they compose differently. I recently did a world première of an opera called Bernarda Alba's House, which is the last play of Garcáa Lorca, music by Reimann. ⁷⁶ He's a great lieder accompanist, a very fine pianist, but - this is a very strong play of these eight women on stage. The autocratic mother, who will not let the six daughters out of the house, because the village that she lives in is below her dignity, and she will not let her daughters mix with any villager, etc. And one daughter rebels, gets pregnant, and kills herself, etc. It's his last play. Very strong. And the music, or the sounds that emanate from the orchestra, there are four pianos, two of them prepared, two of them normal, plucking strings...you know, doing every kind of - I mean, the sounds that come out of four pianos. Twelve cellos. And brass and woodwind. Enormous success. People - because - it was sung in German, but we put the German words, too, because in that kind of a music...

ISTOMIN:

You conducted that in Munich?

MEHTA:

Yeah.

ISTOMIN:

Munich.

MEHTA:

A huge success. Then there are, there's Werner Henze, ⁷⁷ who's a good, great, you know, really good opera composer. And so we have in Germany at least a good school of composers. I can name, you know, a few, etc. There's Oliver Knussen, ⁷⁸ in England. Very imaginative. And a man who's evolving his own way. In France, there's Pierre Boulez, ⁷⁹ who influences a whole generation.

ISTOMIN:

But what about...

MEHTA:

Well, I'll tell you one thing. Whenever I've had the fortune of rehearsing a piece by Pierre Boulez, and he is in the audience listening - who helps me tremendously. I love having composers who can help. There are composers who cannot help you. Because they don't hear their own thing. Pierre hears everything. Like Messiaen, ⁸⁰ who is Pierre's mentor. Messiaen heard every note of his piece. I remember here, we did Turangalila, and he really taught it to me, and I was very fortunate, because it's a very complicated score. And the orchestra gave him a touche ⁸¹ at the end of the rehearsals, because he sat out there and was saying, "This is wrong, that's wrong." They were thrilled. And today, when I rehearse the piece, I'm so in tune with him. So I've, there have been several really great influences in my life.

ISTOMIN:

What about Dutilleux? ⁸²

MEHTA:

Dutilleux, I didn't know himself. I've done only a piece of his for soloists from the orchestra. I think it's Second Symphony. ⁸³ Very fine. You know, once I became an independent conductor, after leaving New York, having done so much contemporary music with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York, because I did a lot here...

ISTOMIN:

Yes, I know.

MEHTA:

People seem to forget.

ISTOMIN:

Yeah. Because you...

MEHTA:

But there was one season where we gave five world premières in one season. And in my 13 years, I, I'm - that's the only thing I'm saying to pat myself on the back - I got this ASCAP award five times in my 13 years, for the most imaginative, and putting in more new music. When I left, I would read - there was no new music...during my time! They should just read the list.

ISTOMIN:

Yes. You know?

MEHTA:

Now, I didn't love all of it. I'm not pretending. But I thought it was my duty as music director, and the New York Philharmonic has always been a standard bearer for contemporary music, that it - we have to put a certain amount of music through a musical sieve, to see what's left over. And many times, we said, "Well, we tried it, it's not working. Let's go." There were pieces of George Crumb ⁸⁴ which people found here wonderful. We did the, a world première of a piece called Natural Landscape. ⁸⁵ Very fine. We took it on tour, also. Then Druckman. ⁸⁶ Druckman wrote some new pieces for us. Elliott Carter. ⁸⁷

ISTOMIN:

Oh, yes. Well, he's the dean of American...

MEHTA:

I see that I have to convince you, too, but...

ISTOMIN:

Yes!

MEHTA:

...I don't mind! I don't mind. Because I don't do it too much anymore, because I feel I've done it. Now the next generation should take it over. Young composers have to be given the opportunity.

ISTOMIN:

They do have to be given the opportunity.

MEHTA:

Yes. Because if they don't hear their music, they won't know what mistakes they've made about technical things. You know, I'll tell you a story. Elliott Carter has written one of the most complicated pieces for, called Concerto for Three Orchestras. ⁸⁸ Now, I did it here. It was not the world première. There are three separate orchestras sitting there, and on the sc...you can imagine how big the score is. And Elliott Carter excels in rhythmic modulations, that means 3/16 of a 5/16 figure equals 7/16 in the next tempo. And you try to figure it out whilst conducting. You'll go crazy, you know. So you have to do your homework, and then usually there's somebody playing that figure so prominently that you can hear it, and think - but sometimes with Elliott's music there's just one bass clarinet playing that particular rhythm, which has the relation with the next tempo, and you can't really hear that bass clarinet with three orchestras playing, so you have to sing the rhythm in your mind. And he was at the rehearsals, and tried to help me - he's a, you know, wonderful man. And during that week, I went to a wedding of Lenny's daughter here at one of the hotels. And Lenny had done the world première.

ISTOMIN:

Of...?

MEHTA:

Of this piece. Of the Concerto for Three Orchestras. So I took him aside at the wedding, not to engage him in a technical musical conversation. I said, "Lenny, how did you figure these relationships?" He says, "Are you crazy? I put piu mosso and meno mosso and piu mosso...fast and slow!" I never told that to Carter! [Laughter.]

ISTOMIN:

Well, and then...

MEHTA:

But you know what? I got a terrible review.

ISTOMIN:

You got a-!

MEHTA:

Because he says - the, I don't know who wrote it, so I remember...

ISTOMIN:

On general principle. On general principle, you should get a terrible review.

MEHTA:

But that piece, which I had put in a lot of work, and I had the composer, and I thought I had the composer's approval at the end of it, I got a bad review, saying that Lenny's recording of this was so many minutes and so many seconds, and my performance exceeded it by 20 seconds. Therefore, it must have been wrong.

ISTOMIN:

Oohpp! There it is.

MEHTA:

And here's Lenny going meno mosso and piu mosso!

ISTOMIN:

My question about all those complexities is: Why? From the point of view of me, who is sitting there once, twice, three times, listening to a recording, at the end of all of that, then I say to myself: Why? Why this complexity, if it's not the solution of a problem that, a problem that exists in the composer, in the creator's mind, a problem to be solved?

MEHTA:

Look, it's an evolutionary process. It's the same thing with paintings. And with sculptures. You can look at Lipshitz and say why.

ISTOMIN:

Ohh, I love Lipshitz.

MEHTA:

Okay. You love it. Somebody else says why.

ISTOMIN:

Will say that's crazy stuff, yes.

MEHTA:

Maybe I used a bad example with you. There's other stuff. I mean, look at what Moore went through in his life. People hated it.

ISTOMIN:

Henry Moore?

MEHTA:

Henry Moore, yeah. You can't explain that. Luigi Nono, ⁸⁹ I think, is a great composer, imbibes the spirit of Venice, which is all around him. Now when you hear his music, just straight off - you may not. But when you know that this is a man who lives on an island amongst the gondoliers of Venice, and he has imbibed their spirit, an early morning on these lagoons, and the mist, and he writes it all into his music, maybe it helps to know a little bit in some... Bruckner, if you know about Bruckner, you appreciate it more, I think. Mozart, you don't have to.

ISTOMIN:

No.

MEHTA:

You really - as a public. A performer, absolutely, you must know about the man. As a public, you hear one of the most jovial pieces of Mozart, and he's writing, writing it at the end of his life and he's sick in bed, etc., the finale of the B-flat Concerto. Who knows what he was suffering then, you know? But the few - Bach, you mentioned - you don't know what Bach is going through at that point.

ISTOMIN:

No. Unless the subject is...

MEHTA:

Emotionally, no. But there are some composers who, their ambience is important to them for what they write. Writers, same thing.

ISTOMIN:

Anyway, this has been a wonderful conversation. I was going to ask you what you foresee in the future for music.

MEHTA:

Diversity. Of course. People will go their own way. A lot of them are coming back to tonality. A lot of them are straying towards the electronic. John Adams recently wrote a piece for the New York Philharmonic where a computer is really almost taking over and doing it by itself. It has to be controlled by someone. They said it was very interesting. I think the world is open. Come and give in to it. Sometimes you'll like it, sometimes you'll not, sometimes you're enthralled, sometimes you're inspired.

ISTOMIN:

The last time we, I heard you conduct the Israel Philharmonic, you conducted the Mahler First Symphony, ⁹⁰ which was the best performance I had heard of that piece. I was enormously impressed, but not only impressed, but there was a dimension either in you or in me that had, had enlarged, and so that I appreciated both the mastery with which you had the control, the way you, one does with a good Mozart performance. Anyway, it was wonderful...

MEHTA:

It was a pleasure for me, Eugene.

ISTOMIN:

Wonderful to see you.

MEHTA:

Don't get up.

ISTOMIN:

Yes, I will get up, and thank you. [They embrace.]

ISTOMIN:

All the blessings in the world.

---

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FOOTNOTES:

1 Modern Jazz Quartet. Jazz ensemble. Original members were Milt Jackson (vibraphone), John Lewis (piano and director), Ray Brown (double bass), and Kenny Clark (drums). Later, Percy Heath replaced Brown and Connie Kay replaced Clarke. Back to transcript

2 Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993). American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. Back to transcript

3 Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996). American jazz baritone saxophonist and arranger. Back to transcript

4 Donald Ellis (1934-1978). American trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. Back to transcript

5 Frank [Francis] Zappa (1940-1993). American composer, rock musician, and guitarist. Back to transcript

6 Lalo Schifrin, b. 1932. American composer and jazz pianist. Back to transcript

7 Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987). Russian-born American violinist. Back to transcript

8 Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976). Ukranian-born American cellist and composer. Back to transcript

9 Ravi Shankar, b. 1920. Indian sitar player and composer. Back to transcript

10 Ostinato. A term used to refer to the repetition of a musical pattern many times in succession while other musical elements are generally changing. Back to transcript

11 Tabla. Asymmetrical pair of small, tuned, hand-played drums of North and Central India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Back to transcript

12 Agitato. [Ital.: Agitated] A tempo, and mood, designation found particularly as a qualification of allegro or presto. Back to transcript

13 Stretta. [Ital.: narrow, tight.] This term is used to indicate a faster tempo at the climatic concluding section of a piece. Back to transcript

14 Coda. [Ital.: tail] The last part of a piece or melody, the implication being of some addition being made to standard form or design. Back to transcript

15 Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957). Italian conductor. Back to transcript

16 Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954). German conductor, composer, and author. Back to transcript

17 Felix Weingartner (1863-1942). Austrian conductor, composer, and author. Back to transcript

18 Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922). Austro-Hungarian conductor. Back to transcript

19 Daniel Barenboim, b. 1942. Israeli pianist and conductor. Back to transcript

20 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). American composer, conductor, and pianist. Back to transcript

21 Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977). British-born American conductor. Back to transcript

22 Sergey Koussevitzky (1874-1951). Russian-born American conductor and double bass player. Back to transcript

23 George Szell (1897-1970). Hungarian-born American conductor. Back to transcript

24 Fritz Reiner (1888-1963). Hungarian-Born American conductor. Back to transcript

25 Marcel Tabuteau (1887-1966). French-born American oboist. Back to transcript

26 Curtis Institute of Music. Conservatory founded in 1924 in Philadelphia. Back to transcript

27 Anton Bruckner, Symphony no. 7 in E Major. Back to transcript

28 Johannes Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in C Minor, op. 68. Back to transcript

29 Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony no. 7 in A Major, op. 92. Back to transcript

30 Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Austrian-born American composer. Back to transcript

31 Anton Webern (1883-1945). Austrian composer and conductor. Back to transcript

32 Alban Berg (1885-1935). Austrian composer. Back to transcript

33 Alban Berg, Violin concerto. Back to transcript

34 Alban Berg, Lyrische suite. Back to transcript

35 Arnold Schoenberg, Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene, op. 34. Back to transcript

36 Arnold Schoenberg, Erwartung (Expectation), op. 17. Opera. Back to transcript

37 Richard Strauss. Salome. Opera. Back to transcript

38 "I have kissed your mouth". Back to transcript

39 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro, K492. Opera. Back to transcript

40 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Così fan tutte, K588. Opera. Back to transcript

41 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, K620. Singspiel. Act 2. G minor aria is "Ach, ich fühl's". Back to transcript

42 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K492. Opera. Act 1. Aria is "Non so più". Back to transcript

43 Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). Italian tenor. Back to transcript

44 Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957). Italian tenor. Back to transcript

45 Tito Schipa (1888-1964). Italian tenor. Back to transcript

46 Ezio Pinza (1892-1957). Italian bass. Back to transcript

47 Titta Ruffo (1877-1953). Italian baritone. Back to transcript

48 Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961). English conductor. Back to transcript

49 Ad libitum (Latin: At the pleasure). Used in titles, particularly in the later 18th century, to indicate that one or more instruments may be left out, and in scores, as a direction to the player to improvise or ornament. Back to transcript

50 Piu mosso (Ital.: piu-more; mosso-agitated). This term indicates a change to a faster tempo. Back to transcript

51 Meno mosso (Ital.: meno-less; mosso-agitated). Normally found in the middle of a movement, this term indicates a change to a slower tempo. Back to transcript

52 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K384 (The Abduction from the Seraglio). Singspiel. Back to transcript

53 Hans Swarowsky (1899-1975). Austrian conductor and pedagogue. Back to transcript

54 Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962). Austrian-born American violinist and composer. Back to transcript

55 Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony no. 3 in E-flat Major, op.55 (Eroica). Back to transcript

56 Second movement (Marcia funebre. Adagio Assai) from "Eroica" Symphony, noted above. Back to transcript

57 Giuseppe Verdi, Falstaff. Opera. Back to transcript

58 Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). Austrian conductor. Back to transcript

59 Richard Wagner (1813-1883). German composer. Back to transcript

60 Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Nibelung's Ring). A cycle of four operas by Wagner, intended for performance on a preliminary evening and three days, respectively: 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold); 2 Die Walküre (The Valkyrie); 3) Siegfried; 4) Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods). Back to transcript

61 Josef Krips (1902-1974). Austrian conductor. Back to transcript

62 Karl Böhm (1894-1981). Austrian Conductor. Back to transcript

63 Richard Strauss, Elektra. Opera. Back to transcript

64 Richard Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a shadow). Opera. Back to transcript

65 Birgit Nilsson (1918- ). Swedish soprano. Back to transcript

66 Leonie Rysanek (1926-1998). Austrian soprano. Back to transcript

67 Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 4 in F Minor, op. 36. Back to transcript

68 Robert Schumann, Concerto for piano and orchestra in A Minor, op. 54. Back to transcript

69 Ludwig van Beethoven, Concerto no. 4 for piano and orchestra in G Major, op. 58. Back to transcript

70 Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975). Russian composer. Back to transcript

71 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). English composer, conductor, and pianist. Back to transcript

72 Béla Bartók (1881-1945). Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and pianist. Back to transcript

73 György Kurtág (1926- ). Hungarian composer and pianist. Back to transcript

74 György Ligeti (1923- ). Hungarian composer. Back to transcript

75 Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967). Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator. Back to transcript

76 Aribert Reimann (1936- ). German composer and pianist. Back to transcript

77 Hans Werner Henze (1926- ). German composer. Back to transcript

78 Oliver Knussen (1952- ). English composer and conductor. Back to transcript

79 Pierre Boulez (1925- ). French composer and conductor. Back to transcript

80 Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). French composer, organist, and teacher. Back to transcript

81 Touche (Fr.). A seventeenth-century term for a fanfare or flourish of trumpets. Back to transcript

82 Henri Dutilleux (1926- ). French composer. Back to transcript

83 Henri Dutilleux, Symphony no. 2, "Le Double." Back to transcript

84 George Crumb (1929- ). American composer. Back to transcript

85 George Crumb, A Haunted landscape. Back to transcript

86 Jacob Raphael Druckman (1928-1996). American composer. Back to transcript

87 Elliott Carter (1908- ). American composer. Back to transcript

88 Elliott Carter, A Symphony of three orchestras. Back to transcript

89 Luigi Nono (1924-1990). Italian composer. Back to transcript

90 Gustav Mahler, Symphony no. 1 in D Major. Back to transcript

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