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Interview with conductor Jakub Hrůša: "For me concerts are like gifts"

2021-10-27T14:15:27.974Z


There can be no question of a coming star: Jakub Hrůša is already in the top region of the classic market. The 40-year-old has been head of the Bamberg Symphony since 2015 and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Thanks to his steep career, which led him as a guest to top ensembles, the Czech is regarded as a ministerial for many top positions. This week he is standing at the podium of the BR Symphony Orchestra in the Isarphilharmonie.


There can be no question of a coming star: Jakub Hrůša is already in the top region of the classic market.

The 40-year-old has been head of the Bamberg Symphony since 2015 and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Thanks to his steep career, which led him as a guest to top ensembles, the Czech is regarded as a ministerial for many top positions.

This week he is standing at the podium of the BR Symphony Orchestra in the Isarphilharmonie.

What do you think of the new Isarphilharmonie?

It is too early to judge.

To really be able to say something, I would have to be in the audience once.

I walked around a bit in our rehearsal while the orchestra was playing.

It sounded good.

Visually you can tell that it is an interim construction - especially when it comes to the backstage.

I would therefore understand that the BR Symphony Orchestra would not be satisfied with this hall as a possible home, which is currently being discussed.

Shostakovich's “Nose” has just come out at the Bavarian State Opera, you are conducting his first symphony.

Do you sometimes regret that the composer did not keep the wildness of his early pieces?

It is almost always the case that the composers are more radical in their expression in the early stages and later find a deeper understanding.

In Shostakovich's early works everything that later defines him is clear - but without limit.

The first symphony is the work of a 19-year-old, I find that unbelievable.

It was written as a final work for the conservatory, and he had to show what he had learned.

Nevertheless, he solved it absolutely unacademic, very personally - and still fulfilled the task set for him.

In this sense, Shostakovich is a classic like Beethoven: He was revolutionary, but never fought against tradition, but developed it further.

Is Shostakovich dangerous music for conductors because it is so emotionally charged and threatens to exaggerate?

This is the case with the later symphonies, but not with the first.

I always imagine that the composer is sitting in the hall during my concerts.

I respect him and want to serve him.

If I want to be radical, I always have to stay close to the score text.

Emotionality must not cover up the text, it has to come out of the structure.

I take music very seriously, but in a concert I can and must let go.

Can you do it?

Yes, concerts are like gifts for me.

During the rehearsal period you have to be aware of your responsibility towards the work, we have to find the best in ourselves for it.

In the concert the door to the analytical is then closed.

You have to accept what is coming.

It's almost a spiritual task.

This week you will also conduct “Mysterium der Zeit” by Miloslav Kabeláč.

Do you feel like a missionary for the music of your home country?

Yes, in a good sense.

There are pieces like this, including the “Asrael” symphony by Josef Suk, of whose high quality I am absolutely convinced.

And if an orchestra isn't quite passionate about it, then that challenges me all the more.

Although I don't waste a lot of words in rehearsals, orchestras don't like lectures.

I am just open and share my beliefs.

On the other hand, you have been and will be identified with Czech music, which you conducted on many of your debuts.

So as a missionary do you end up in a drawer after all?

I am aware of this danger.

It's the same with debuts, but it happens to a lot of conductors.

First you choose pieces that you have a special connection to.

The re-invitations are then decisive.

This is my third time with BR, now Shostakovich, before that Brahms ... I conducted Bruckner with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

So it goes quickly in other directions.

Günter Wand did not conduct Schubert's great C major symphony until he was 62.

Are there composers or works with which you do not yet feel a connection or that you have abandoned?

Yes.

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

Mahler's eighth or seventh symphonies are still waiting for me, and I'm in no hurry.

I also have to become more mature so that I can appreciate the second Viennese school around Schönberg and Berg.

At the moment I would rather study these works than conduct them.

It's a wonderful meal for the intellect ... Before I became boss in Bamberg, I occasionally tested a Bruckner symphony.

And I was never happy with it.

Maybe because I did it with orchestras that weren't at home in this field.

With the Bamberg Bruckner tradition, I suddenly felt absolutely at home in this music.

You can also be surprised.

You are the boss in Bamberg and you also have a position as first guest conductor.

Is your career sometimes going too fast?

No.

I already choose consciously.

And I'm lucky enough to be able to work with first-class orchestras.

For example, before Munich I had two weeks off.

Now my wife and two children are here with me enjoying the city.

That's nice for me too.

I don't feel overwhelmed like a workaholic.

I keep coming back to the same orchestras as a guest conductor.

And it's nice that you can develop your work there.

In the past, when I made my debut all the time, it was different, because sometimes I actually felt too little focused.

When reading articles about you, they are often surprised by the words “the modest star”, the “conductor without airs and down-to-earth”.

Could it be that public opinion is lagging behind how conductors of the younger generation define themselves today?

I do not know.

I began my career with the desire not to achieve star status, but rather to gain the trust and respect of the musicians and the audience in the best possible, most beautiful way.

For me the dream is coming true that I will be invited again by the best orchestras.

For me, that's the best compliment: When orchestra members tell me that making music made sense and that it was fun from a human point of view, that the rehearsals also had a direction.

As a conductor, I don't need much more.

For me it is always important that it is a great moment for the respective piece.

How critical are you towards yourself?

Can you really say after a concert: "That was great?"

I don't like to watch my gestures.

And in rehearsals, I'm also critical of myself and the orchestra.

But recently my wife and I watched a video of a concert by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Prague.

Immediately afterwards you are always critical.

After two or three weeks you see something like that and have tears in your eyes because you say to yourself: Is it possible that something so beautiful really happened back then?

But this feeling can only arise from good and deep work with the ensembles.

How strict are you?

Although I come up with clear ideas, I am always fundamentally interested in what the orchestra has to offer me.

Some ensembles are stranger to me, some closer, but I never want to turn an orchestra inside out.

You can't achieve anything by force, only through credibility.

I also had to learn that first, I used to control a lot more.

There are two types of colleagues.

The older you get, the more harmonious and balanced you become and still remain good rehearsal trainers - like Herbert Blomstedt.

Others are getting more and more dissatisfied.

At some point you have to understand: Basically, musicians only want one thing, namely to work well and meaningfully in order to be able to feel the music deeply.

The interview was conducted by Markus Thiel.

Source: merkur

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