RCEditions

Kurt Masur gave me the opportunity to play on several world stages and is a man of his word, at all-times. The New York Philharmonic was so lucky to have him. I wonder if they know how lucky. He is certainly appreciated EVERYWHERE and continues a very active career in his eighties, which includes a continuing commitment to young people and to society. I first played for him around 1984 with the Boston Symphony, in Berg's 'Lulu' Suite, Kodaly's 'Hary Janos,' a 'Bolero,' and Mussorgsky-Gortchakov 'Pictures at an Exhibition.' In 1985 I asked if I could play some concertos for him while he was in Boston, and he said 'sure, play for me tomorrow.' I did, and he arranged my first European tour (to then Communist East Germany ruled by a repressive regime led by Erik Honneker) in 1987, playing a recital in East Berlin, Ibert with the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra, and to top it off, two performances with him with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, in Leipzig, in Ibert and Debussy; not so incidentally just months before the Berlin wall came down, and Masur led a candlelight march for freedom through the streets, which I remember seeing, as he was ABC's 'Person of the Week.' For me Masur represents a 'Person for Generations and Civilization.' Masur is a hero, whose career and life are a model of whom the best of us can be. When I played with the Gewandhaus, he made me feel comfortable with the orchestra. He had me to his home, I imagine in the midst of many more complicated things happening around us. He played my interpretations, even conducting a section of Debussy 'Rapsodie' in '4' for me, which he had envisioned in '2.' Who did I think I was? But I learned. And, when I played with the NY Philharmonic in the same work (also recorded for Teldek/Apex), I embraced his interpretation, as I had grown from the example he gave. (And the night of the first rehearsal, I called my dear friend Bruce Hangen, who reminded me that this needn't be a Glenn Gould/Leonard Bernstein disagreement of interpretation, but one that involved musicians working together, with each respecting the other. I am very proud of the interpretation on the cd, and give all the credit to Bruce and Mr. Masur. I sometimes make mistakes, but usually only once. I also remember a trip to Boston in which the then President of New England Conservatory, Larry Lesser asked him to conduct the orchestra. Masur responded 'yes,' for the then asked for the largest fee the Conservatory had ever paid, and then asked Lesser to give him the funds before the last rehearsal in front of the orchestra, which Lesser dutifully did. Thereupon, Mr. Masur gave the funds back to the concertmaster, and asked the orchestra to spend the funds for themselves in a way in which they wished as a group. These kinds of stories are illustrative of the type of person he and others exhibit, not rarely, but throughout a career and with everyone they meet.

James Conlon conducted the Boston Symphony in Britten ‘Sinfonia da Requiem,’ and is terrific, with great technique and plenty of well thought out ideas to express. He is a great leader, no nonsense, sensitive, demanding, polite and immensely musical. What I remember though, is at intermission before I was to play, the pad on my left hand 1st finger 'B' key fell out. I ran across the street to Rayburn's Music, where Emilio 'The Sax Doctor' couldn't fix it in time, so I grabbed a store horn without trying it, and played the concert on my new horn, which I liked so much I traded in the old one. I didn't even have time to tune, and asked Bill Hudgins, the new principal clarinet, for a note moments before playing, for a tuning note. He was playing Eb clarinet, that day, and was reluctant to give me a note, responding, 'On this thing?' but all went well. Years later, I played Viktor Ullmann's 'Emperor of Atlantis,' in Houston, and was able to see and hear Mr. Conlon's ability to understand and communicate on an even higher and more powerful level than that which I experienced at the BSO, in Ullmann's last masterwork, which Conlon has almost singlehandedly brought to life.

Jonathan McPhee conducts the Boston Ballet, with a complete understanding of the need to be both true to the music and provide a consistently similar musical example to the dancers (from performance to performance). What strikes me though, is how Jonathan understands musical nuance, and is unwilling to compromise the music by giving simply metronomic stereotypical (and uninteresting) Ballet orchestra performances. Jonathan conducts many orchestras outside the Ballet world, and is as hardworking and devoted to the music as any I know.

A Salute to (My) Teachers

4. Conductors, Pianists, Composers and other related inspirations (cont.)