INTERVIEW | Kazuki Yamada | "My quest is to find the perfect balance between silence and sound"
Interview on 26 April 2024
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| Kazuki Yamada, © Zuzanna Specjal |
[Note. All interviews on the website are approved by the interviewee/manager prior to publication.]
I.
Young-Jin Hur (YH): Welcome, and thank you for making time today. It’s a pleasure to have you as a guest.
Kazuki Yamada (KY): Thank you for having me, too.
YH: So, I’d like to start with a general question. How are you today?
KY: I am very fine (KY laughs). I just had a concert last night at the Philharmonie in Berlin. I’m just a little bit more tired than usual. Apart from this, I’m fine.
YH: I understand that this was a debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (KY nods). How did the concert go?
KY: We played Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, which is a familiar repertoire for me. It worked so well. The orchestra was great but so was the audience. Overall, it was an amazing experience; there was a sense of unity with everyone involved. Already from the rehearsal, there was a very good level of communication between the orchestra and myself. It’s such a great orchestra and I was very happy.
Last night was especially special because it was also my debut at the Philharmonie. I could imagine that Maestro Karajan, who used to conduct so often in the same hall, was together with me on the podium. For this reason, I was a little bit nervous in the first half of the concert and felt a bit more at ease in the second half; of course, the first half was also amazing.
We played the female composer Morfydd Llwyn Owen’s Nocturne, which is an interesting piece. We also played Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann – as you know, he is just, “wow!”, and he is someone who is at the very top among violinists. So that was an amazing concert.
YH: I am very happy to hear that. Given that it was such a big occasion for you, did you have a small celebration afterwards?
KY: Yes. Backstage, we had the post-concert celebration as usual but we also had some champagne. I then had a small dinner with my managers. It was a great time for me.
YH: I know that you have all these huge debuts coming up, including your debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Whenever you have these big concerts, do you take a few days off afterwards or do you jump straight into your next project?
KY: It depends. Of course, a conductor can choose which works they would like to perform. However, we cannot always plan the schedule of our concerts. Sometimes, we can be very busy after a big concert. For me, I currently have a slightly busy schedule. I already had a concert in Madrid last Sunday. After the concert, I took an aeroplane immediately to Berlin. On Monday, I was already at a rehearsal. Whenever I have such a busy schedule, I have to make sure that I keep myself switched on – and then when I finally have two or three days off, I can switch off a bit. On other occasions, I can relax a bit by taking a holiday for a week or two.
YH: It sounds like the schedule can sometimes be intense. Do you have a certain method or technique of keeping yourself switched on?
KY: Actually, no. If I concentrate on the music, for example, when I read a score, I will automatically be switched on.
Usually, if I have no rehearsal, I escape from music entirely. I don’t listen to much music, whether it is classical or not.
YH: So this is when you’re switched off?
KY: Exactly. I take a distance from music. This is the 21st century – if I may say so, it is difficult to escape from noisiness. In cities, many people make noise. It is getting difficult to be exactly in silence. Of course, I can work 52 weeks nonstop. But if I cannot take time to experience silence, it is difficult to exactly feel sound. Sound and silence are connected. All music starts from silence and finishes with silence. My quest is to find the perfect balance between silence and sound.
YH: Do you have a practice to keep in touch with silence? For example, do you travel to nature or somewhere quiet, or is it about staying at home and experiencing the calm of the everyday?
KY: Without music, I can enjoy silence even with my family. Sometimes I can also go into nature, but I realise that I do not have enough time to do it - especially if it is outside of the summer holidays.
[Note. In 2016, I wrote a short essay on the representation of silence in classical music, which can be accessed here.]
II.
YH: I’d now like to return to the topic of debuting with orchestras. You have recently debuted with some of the world’s greatest orchestras and are also debuting with some of them in the upcoming months and years. When I looked up the concert programme for these debuts, I couldn’t help but notice that you often start each concert with unusual, underplayed repertoire before you conclude the evening with a more traditional symphony. I was wondering what your reasoning was behind this innovative programming.
KY: I thought it would be an interesting thing to do. Of course, as I am also a Japanese conductor, so I wanted to introduce some Japanese pieces. For example, I will be playing a piece by Takemitsu for my Berliner Philharmoniker debut.
The programming of a concert is very important, as it represents the direction of a concert. One can say that programming is already half of the concert. I always try to come up with an interesting programme and think about how to connect pieces within a programme by a certain sound, a story, or even history. For example, in the programme of yesterday’s concert, the Owen and Rachmaninov pieces were both composed at the beginning of the 20th century. While Brahms’ piece was composed a bit before these two pieces, I felt that the sound worlds of the three pieces had something in common. For example, all three composers wrote in traditional harmonies and keys, as opposed to being experimental.
YH: I see your point. To a certain degree, Rachmaninov’s music sounds very much like Brahms’ music, because it looks into the Romanticism of the past century.
KY: Yes, yes.
YH: Do you have slightly different philosophies of programming depending on where you are performing?
KY: The way I programme is quite similar across countries, even though Japan can be a little bit special - I was born in Japan and I conducted
a lot in Japan already. Still, there are certain ways I like to programme my concerts regardless of where I am. When I conducted a Mahler symphony cycle
during my time with the Japan Philharmonic, I introduced each symphony
with a short Takemitsu piece, for example.
YH: I can see that your innovative pairing of repertoire existed back then as well during your tenure in Japan. By the way, the pairing of Takemitsu and Mahler is very appropriate! I understand that Takemitsu admired Mahler. I recall being drawn towards Takemitsu’s music for the Kurosawa film Ran - it had much in common with Mahler.
(both laugh)
YH: Talking of Japan, according to your biography available online, you wish to bring this “Japanese feeling” to classical music. I would like to know what you meant by this.
KY: How can I put it? When I conduct, I often think of the differences that exist between Japanese people and Western, European people. People in these two cultures can be opposites to each other. Maybe it is the same in Korea, but in Japan, when one notes down home addresses, we start from the larger area before going through the smaller areas in descending order. For example, we start from the country and then go to the city, and then the street. However, in Europe, it’s the opposite. People talk about their street first before they talk about their city; the country comes last.
YH: Ah yes, indeed.
KY: You can also see something similar in the way people write down their names. In Japan, the family name precedes the given name – the family is the larger entity. That comes first and then comes me. In Europe, it’s the other way around.
I feel this difference represents a difference in the philosophy of seeing things in the world. In Europe, the individual is important. What is most important is that “I’m here, I’m here.” The smallest details are most important and life happens as an individual existence or “I live in myself.” On the contrary, in Japanese philosophy, each individual always lives within larger things. In Japan, an individual can never be an “I” sometimes – much depends on what surrounds an individual, things bigger than the self. This could be nature, family, or society... this largely depends on the situation.
YH: Everything seems contextual.
KY: Yes.
YH: And do you believe this Japanese way of looking at things corresponds to a specific musical practice or output? As in... in Japanese art or films, for example, there is a specific Japanese quality to them, and you can immediately notice this quality. So I'm wondering whether, in the context of conducting, there is such a thing as a Japanese sound.
KY: Yes. We all have our own imagination and how to take this imagination to music is my question. I can visualise music somehow and, for me, the image I have in my mind is very Japanese.
YH: I see. I've also read that you had close contact with Maestro Seiji Ozawa. Did you ever discuss with him some of the things you've just said, regarding this unique Japanese feeling in music? As he was also a Japanese conductor who spent many years outside of Japan conducting world-leading orchestras, I wonder if you shared some thoughts.
KY: Actually I was not a student of Seiji. I only met him three or four times, actually. But we had a strong connection. He gave me a lot of advice.
YH: Was there any notable advice that he gave, one that you still think often about?
KY: Yes. He once gave me this interesting piece of advice: "Don't conduct big."
YH: What do you mean?
KY: His advice was to not conduct with too much action. Seiji thought that if a conductor conducts with big gestures, the orchestra will not follow the conductor somehow. But if a conductor conducts with small gestures, the orchestra will concentrate and follow the conductor somehow. It's about how to get the orchestra's attention.
YH: I see.
KY: But it's funny because when he was young, he conducted with very big gestures.
(both laugh)
YH: I was actually just thinking that!
KY: But when I met Seiji, he was already more than 70 years old. But interestingly, I couldn't sense that he was any different than someone 30 years old. A maestro can say, "When I was young, I was like this" - but he never said things like that.
YH: Do you think he had a youthful soul?
KY: Yes. He even took advice from young conductors. Importantly, I think he always thought he was at the same level as the young conductors. He always felt he had to become a better conductor.
YH: Maybe he could conduct in small gestures because he had the experience. Maybe age plays a role.
KY: I think he had the experience over the years to know how to conduct with a small gesture. It was by his experience. Of course, every conductor needs to experience things and realise many things by themselves. But what Seiji wanted to give to many young conductors was not a shortcut. Rather, he wanted to simply say something and did this with great energy.
YH: And once you received the advice from Seiji, did you change the way you conducted? (YH laughs)
KY: I did so very often. Some of his words can be like strong alcohol... not beer, but something like whisky or vodka. It's very much like heavy medicine. I worked very hard to take his advice. Maybe it was a little bit difficult at the beginning, but now I can understand things a bit better.
III.
YH: You have been the chief conductor and artistic advisor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since the spring of last year. How do you feel after working with the orchestra for a year?
KY: The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is an amazing orchestra. I love them so much. They are always so positive and they are always smiling. So even though the financial situation in Birmingham is not so easy, we can be very positive. It's a special, energetic orchestra. I just cannot believe how good and positive the orchestra is. I am super happy there. And I have said this multiple times... I know there are many great conductors in the world but I can say I am the happiest conductor. This is a feeling I always have with them.
[Note. Soon after the interview, Kazuki was announced as the Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.]
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| Kazuki Yamada, © Sasha Gusov |