THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The last time The American interviewed Marin Alsop, it was for our ‘Harry & Megan Royal Wedding Special’, May-June 2018, which just goes to show how much can happen in a few years. “I wish those were our biggest issues now,” says Marin. When we caught up with her via Zoom in October - she was in Vienna - the superstar conductor apologized for being a few seconds late to log in. No apologies necessary, Marin, but she explained “I'm sorry, I have too many things going on at once”. That sums up her existence, but luckily for music fans around the world she makes it all work. And just to keep things interesting, she’s taking on a new role with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
Marin, you were incredibly busy in 2018 too, at the Baltimore Symphony, the Orchestra of Sao Paulo, and in Vienna among other things. What are you doing now?
I have two more seasons here in Vienna. And I took on the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, so I'm there. And then I've taken on the Ravinia Festival [the renowned not-for-profit event in Chicago, Illinois].
Now you're going to be the principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. You've done several things with them already in the past year, now you have a longer term relationship. How is that going to work out?
I'm very excited about it. I love working with UK musicians, ever since I was with the Bournemouth Symphony years ago. I've done lots of work with the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra and it’s really a treat to have this new association. I only started guest conducting the Philharmonia a few years ago, so it's a fresh relationship. We just seem to connect, they’re very musical and they have a lot of ideas. Thorben Dittes, their new Chief Executive, and their leadership team are very forward thinking. That's what we need now, moving ahead after COVID especially.
You’ve said that this is a good opportunity to deepen your relationship with the musicians and the audiences here as well – that your work in London has been some of the most rewarding. It's an international business, so a lot of the musicians won't be British, but what is it about your work here that is so rewarding?
There's a real work ethic that is unlike anywhere else. The UK, especially London, is one of those places that you can definitely say that the musicians are not doing it for the money. The salaries are very modest and yet they really show up and are prepared. They have a good sense of humor. They're flexible. They have a sort of inner quality control so the performances are first rate. They're fast and efficient. They work hard and play hard, I'd say. And what appeals to me particularly is the passion they have for their art.
Have you ever felt like settling down in the UK?
I've thought about it many times, actually. I was even on the prowl looking for a place but then with Brexit and everything, the world is so crazy that it's really hard to know exactly where to settle down, right? My life is kind of nuts anyway, so I think I'm in a good place.
Where is home?
Baltimore, mainly, and we have a flat here in Vienna.
The centerpiece of the Philharmonia’s 2023-24 season is Let Freedom Ring which celebrates “the diversity of American music and the creative crosscurrents between classical music and jazz”. What was the genesis of that idea?
I just jumped on their train as it was going. They’d already had this thematic idea, and asked me to do one of the concerts. I was already thinking about the fact that Rhapsody in Blue will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, in 2024. From that, the whole programme just unfolded pretty naturally. I want to showcase some of the music of James P Johnson, who wrote ‘The Charleston’ but he’s not very well known at all. He died in the 1950s. He was a black American composer and an amazing piano player. He was really relegated toward, and directed toward, popular music but he aspired to write music for symphony orchestra, which he did and his work was performed in Carnegie Hall in the mid 1940s. And then nobody heard of it again. I made it one of my missions to find the music; it took a long time, many years, but I did indeed find it and restored it. So we're going to open with an overture he wrote for orchestra called Drums, and if people are applauding a lot at the end we have an encore by him as well.
This period in American music, where popular and serious classical music come together, is one of my favorite crossroads in any kind of music. I love swing music, I had a swing band for 20 years, so that's a whole other passion of mine in life.
Gershwin and Johnson are the book ends. Of course you can't do a programme - or I can't do a programme - of American music, especially with a jazz focus without a piece by Leonard Bernstein so we're doing the Three Dance Episodes from On The Town. I also wanted to feature an American classic which is not performed very often, Samuel Barber's First Symphony, it's a fantastic piece, beautifully constructed, and it's got an American flavor but it's really in the great European tradition. I think people will get a real sense of the complexity of American music, particularly music that was written around that time period, where elements from jazz and popular music come together.
People have called jazz the true American art form, but Duke Ellington and people like that could write what you might define as classical too. Where does the borderline come?
That's the great takeaway about American music - it's not siloed, genre wise. There's a real blending of styles and now there isn't the same kind of prejudice, or hesitation perhaps, about including popular music in serious music.
I don’t know if you saw this, but Classic FM published a list of the 25 greatest conductors of all time. You were at number two.
What, was it alphabetical? [laughs]
I don't think it was - they had Simon Rattle at number one, then you, then Leonard Bernstein. I only bring this up because you mentioned Bernstein and of course he was your mentor and friend. Do you have any thoughts on that?
He would have had a laugh - and a fit - to be listed after me. He's unique in his position - as an American musician, he really changed the trajectory of classical music in so many ways, and was a great inspiration to me. We're fortunate that he wrote so much wonderful music, so that we can stay connected to him through his compositions.
He could could write and perform in any genre, really, from jazz through show tunes, I guess, with West Side Story, to classical music.
Back then he was roundly criticized for that, there was a segregation between serious music and popular music and he really suffered in that way. But there's no more perfect piece than West Side Story, in my estimation, so to be criticized for a piece like that is crazy.
That criticism went both ways - Duke Ellington, or James P. Johnson who you mentioned, who were known for jazz, were criticized for writing and performing serious music, yet Bernstein got it in the other direction.
You know, sometimes you can't win! [laughs]
But history proved them right?
Yeah, it's true.
One final question – and we asked this last time too. What's the best thing about being Marin Alsop?
It’s probably different this time. Let's see. I guess being a parent of Auden Alsop, who's our son. He’s the best, he’s absolutely wonderful. A close second, of course, is getting to work with the greatest musicians in the world.
In the last interview you you said it was the conducting - that you love getting up every morning and studying these phenomenal works of art.
I like that too, that’s pretty good!
For details of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s series Let Freedom Ring: Celebrating the Sounds of America go to www.philharmonia.co.uk/series/let-freedom-ring-celebrating-the-sounds-of-america/
Marin Alsop conducts Rhapsody in Blue at the Royal Festival Hall October 19.
