After making a record, I never listen to that music again
mainFrom an interview with Philippe Herrweghe, music director in Antwerp:
“Vous connaissez Das Lied von der Erde (Le Chant de la terre) de Gustav Mahler ? C’est une magnifique symphonie. Quand j’étais jeune, je suis allé en Italie avec ma petite amie et nous l’avons écoutée ensemble tout en regardant les étoiles. C’était merveilleux, mais je serais incapable de revivre ce moment aujourd’hui. J’ai déjà enregistré ce morceau et je suis sur le point de remettre le couvert. En réalité, je n’écoute plus jamais de musique pour le plaisir. Aujourd’hui, quand j’écoute des disques, c’est généralement pour vérifier la qualité des maquettes des enregistrements ou pour étudier l’exécution des morceaux. De plus, je préfère ne pas entendre de musique entre les répétitions et les concerts, et certainement pas de la musique classique…”
Read on here.
Sorry, but the title is completely misleading. Herreweghe does not say that at all in this interview. I don’t where you find that, but he does not say that.
That’s not quite what he’s saying.
The nostalgia about ‘ma petite amie’ is quite touching though. We all know the feeling
Agree. I remember of mon petit ami with Sibelius…
I have to agree…take a French class or fire whoever translated this for you.
“j’écoute des disques … pour étudier l’exécution des morceaux.”
I honestly think that the sudden proliferation of wunderkind conductors today who seem to have mastered the entire repertoire by the age of 20 is made possible by the sheer proliferation of recordings and youtube videos that a conductor has access to in order to “study” along with his score.
Herreweghe is a Fleming and thus Dutch-speaking. The interview was in Dutch and translated into French. We’ve got a translation from a translation.
He speaks a very good French, though.
It is interesting that the Flemish Belgians are usually good French speakers (and also good English and often German speakers. Not reciprocated by Walloons.
…and FlemishBelgian speak better Dutch than the Dutch 🙂
If the Walloons would just learn Dutch the way the Flemings learn French, I think that Belgium wouldn’t be perpetually on the edge of breaking up.