Dr. Tsai's blog: Why I like violin (or piano) concerto ?

I like violin/piano concerto more than symphony, it has everything that symphony offers, but adding the role of a soloist (violinist or pianist) to the two roles (conductor and orchestra) in symphony makes it more exciting or even produces intrigue. It is a bit shorter than symphony: 3 movements vs. 4 movements, it may not be a bad news to those who endurance is the issue.

Seiji Ozawa

I always felt the soloist and orchestra can be complementary (相輔相承 or accompaniment) or competitive (兢爭 or even antagonist). This is only half truth. The master conductor, Seiji Ozawa, in “Absolutely on Music: Conversation with Seiji Ozawa”, said this relationship exists, but not between soloist and orchestra, but between soloist and conductor. Leonard Bernstein once said to the audience in a concerto performance with Glenn Gould as the soloist, “In a concerto, who is the boss—the soloist [audience laughter building] or the conductor?”

Herbert von Karajan

Seiji Ozawa was with Karajan in Berlin before he became an assistant conductor for Leonard Bernstein in New York, during which period he was called back by Karajan, as his assistant conductor and got his first paying job. He said the approach to the soloist in a concerto of these two maestros (Karajan and Bernstein) is quite different, or almost opposite.

In the book of “Absolutely on Music: Conversation with Seiji Ozawa”, the interviewer, Haruki Murakami, a Japanese novelist, and Ozawa listen to the recordings of Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 3 by Karajan with Gould and by Bernstein with Gould. Thus Ozawa is able to point out the difference precisely at what point.

Karajan is absolutely in total control, autocratic or almost tyrannical, he can conduct a concerto as if a symphony, paying no attention to the soloist. He clearly let you know who is the boss. The result is out of sync in certain places, although we laymen may not spot them.

Bernstein treats the orchestra members and his assistant conductors as colleagues, they all called him Lenny. (Ozawa wished Bernstein treated him as a student.). Bernstein’s Beethoven piano concerto with Gould was clearly quite different from that of Karajan (all German music). Ozawa said Bernstein’s was clearly not a symphony, it is a typical free-spirit Glenn-style. Bernstein later admitted he submitted to Glenn Gould’s will.

Three years later when Bernstein conducted Brahms piano concerto no. 1 with Gould as the soloist, this time he found there was absolutely no room to compromise (as a layman I would suspect Bernstein felt ‘enough is enough’) It became a memorable performance. Bernstein came out on the stage before orchestra began playing and made a speech.

I would put the entire lengthy speech here since the theme of this article is “In a concerto, who is the boss—or the conductor?”

(Ozawa readily admitted his English capability, but that was his early days in the West, I think he improved over the years.)

OZAWA: Yes, I was there. As Lenny’s assistant conductor. All of a sudden, before they started playing, Lenny came out on the stage and started talking to the audience. I couldn’t catch his English, so I asked the people around me what he was saying, and I got the general idea.

Bernstein’s speech:

Glenn Gould

Don’t be frightened, Mr. Gould is here. [Audience titters.] He’ll appear in a moment.

I’m not, as you know, in the habit of speaking on any concert except the Thursday-night previews, but a curious situation has arisen, which merits, I think, a word or two. You are about to hear a rather, shall we say, unorthodox performance of the Brahms D-minor Concerto, a performance distinctly different from any I’ve ever heard, or even dreamt of for that matter, in its remarkably broad tempi and its frequent departures from Brahms’ dynamic indications. I cannot say I am in total agreement with Mr. Gould’s conception, and this raises the interesting question: “What am I doing conducting it?” [Audience murmurs.] I’m conducting it because Mr. Gould is so valid and serious an artist that I must take seriously anything he conceives in good faith, and his conception is interesting enough so that I feel you should hear it, too.

Leonard Bernstein

But the age-old question still remains: “In a concerto, who is the boss—the soloist [audience laughter building] or the conductor?” [More laughter.] The answer is, of course, sometimes one, sometimes the other, depending on the people involved. But almost always, the two manage to get together by persuasion or charm or even threats [laughter] to achieve a unified performance. I have only once before in my life had to submit to a soloist’s wholly new and incompatible concept, and that was the last time I accompanied Mr. Gould. [Audience roars with laughter.] But this time the discrepancies between our views are so great that I feel I must make this small disclaimer.

Then why, to repeat the question, am I conducting it? Why do I not make a minor scandal—get a substitute soloist or let an assistant conduct it? Because I am fascinated, glad to have the chance for a new look at this much-played work. Because, what’s more, there are moments in Mr. Gould’s performance that emerge with astonishing freshness and conviction. Thirdly, because we can all learn something from this extraordinary artist, who is a thinking performer. And finally, because there is in music what Dimitri Mitropoulos used to call “the sportive element,” that factor of curiosity, adventure, experiment, and I can assure you that it has been an adventure this week collaborating with Mr. Gould on this Brahms concerto, and it’s in this spirit of adventure that we now present it to you. [Sustained applause.]

If both the conductor and the soloist are prominent masters and their interpretations of the music to be performed happen to differ and no compromise can be made, 一山不容二虎, out of sync can happen. Legend had it that a 1944 live recording of Rubinstein and Toscanini, it sounds as if the two are fighting.

According to a 3/7/1966 NY Times report that in a Brahms violin concerto performance, Zino Francescatti’s projection of the first movement was so exciting that the audience erupted a resounding applause upon its completion. The conductor, Erich Leinsdorf, uttered his congratulations to the soloist before continuing the performance.

And that is the beauty of a concerto.