Esa-Pekka Salonen: So good at saying nothing
OrchestrasHe sat down for his first ‘exclusive’ interview since quitting the San Francisco Symphony and made no reference to its board and CEO with whom he has terminally fallen out.
He said nothing about his frustrations, his future plans, his regrets.
There’s an art in that and he has perfected it.
Sample quote of E-P Salonen saying nothing:
There are giant trees that are pillars of what we do, that have been able to survive all the storms and earthquakes and all that. There are the younger trees, budding trees. And there are things that are not trees but all this other kind of vegetation. It’s constantly changing and growing. But it’s still a forest. When you go to a beautiful forest, it makes you a better human being. We all know this. The smells and the sounds, besides just giving you pleasure, somehow make you connect with something that we sometimes forget we have. The best-case scenario when people come to concerts is they connect with something they feel is bigger than any one individual.
The best music connects us with things and people who have existed before us and also people and ideas that don’t exist yet. Because the history of this kind of art music is one of continuity. It’s an unbroken chain of works being created on the shoulders of other previous works. So what we’re witnessing and experiencing when we go through a season is that some very old ideas that keep coming back in different ways and forms, and new material built upon those old ideas takes them further, and finally comes to our time and music that is still being written. This is what I meant by the forest analogy. I see myself more as a gardener than a bookkeeper.
Chauncy Gardner?
Not badmouthing one’s former colleagues is classy.
Will he finish? He’s hardly started.
I thought he was already finnish.
I think the veiled contempt is in the last sentence. He’s a gardener, not a book keeper. Says it all, really.
In silence he is a poet.
When people say what they want to say instead of what you want them to say, it does not mean that they are saying “nothing”.
You lot sounded better when he wasn’t on the podium or on the program. He is saying less than nothing, just as he always has.
The lament of the old geezer armchair conductors…
The “lot” strongly disagrees.
Who cares? I won’t be losing any sleep over this.
I guess you had to Be There! 🙂
…rim shot…
In the spring there will be growth.
It’s not so much about people saying things but us listening.
He has perfected the art of saying nothing with his conducting and compositions too. Clearly a man devoid of thoughts and communication skills, so little wonder the board lost patience with this faceless ‘genius’.
I’ll have to see the whole interview to get the context. I have worked with Salonen and have a great deal of esteem for him, as a human being and as a musician. So I may be biased, but this strikes me as a remarkably mean spirited hit piece, even for this site.
I’ve only had to hear him speak, listen to his crap compositions, and subpar conducting performances. The piece did not go far enough. Congrats to the SFSO board for kicking him to the curb.
Let him form his own vanity orchestra a la Currentzis, Rieu, Gardiner, et.al. Let’s see how far he gets with fundraising.
What a load of crap. He left. He is a fine conductor. He is a very fine composer. Sounds like the rants of an old latter day crank.
Esa Pekka choosing not to remain with the San Francisco Symphony (and the reasons he’s given) is an incalculable loss for the symphony. This will have a substantial effect for years to come. I hope the board/administration can find a way out of this mess, but it’s going to take some time, and new leadership, to build a healthy and thriving cultural institution again. My goodness – how quickly this top tier orchestra has fallen. Very sad for the Bay Area.
Part of the problem is that the SFSO propped up MTT for far too long. Once he left, there was an entirely new generation of Symphony board directors unused to evaluating new conductors. They erred in the direction of choosing name over substance.
As an S.F. local, I agree with this entirely.
True. It is much more instructive to read the pearls of wisdom of Riccardo Muti (such an erudite man, the flag bearer of true “culture”):
Translation mine:
“… Once I asked my friend Cardinal Ravasi if that name, Libitina [my note: according to Muti, the Goddess of Death in ancient Rome] comes from Libido, or the other way around. At the end of the day, there is a link between those two things, death and orgasm. Not by chance the latter is defined as ‘little death’ …”
” ..Now priests and monks wear pants instead of a tunic, and wear what in America people call “naiki”, maybe without knowing that the word Nike is Greek, the name of Victory …”
” … I am terrorized by the idea of reincarnation. I wouldn’t want my energy to get transferred into a rat, or worse … [my note: yes, Rats can be scary]”
” … if you say you are from Naples, people respect you … [my note: no, they don;t]” “[in Naples] .. under the garbage we have great beauty …”
Wouldn’t you have felt diminished as a human being if you had not had the chance to know and assimilate these deep Muti thoughts, and increase your erudition and culture through them?
I am not making the stuff up: https://www.corriere.it/sette/attualita/24_luglio_21/riccardo-muti-intervista-5ea41666-cd1d-4264-8611-6d8577301xlk.shtml?refresh_ce
Strangely there was non Latin quote in this article. A missed opportunity to enrich the ignorant masses.
The real garbage is what comes out of Muti’s mouth at nearly every interview. The man never misses a chance.
Let’s not forget that the man continues to partner with Putin’s bass Abradazakov, even now in Japan (Attila). It is shameful that the media are not reporting on it, except Operawire (“Riccardo Muti & Putin Supporter Ildar Abdrazakov Team up For ‘Attila’ in Japan)
https://operawire.com/riccardo-muti-putin-supporter-ildar-abdrazakov-team-up-for-japan-attila/
Chicago should be really proud to have made this amoral (and mediocre) conductor their conductor emeritus FOR LIFE.
On the same count, isn’t it refreshing that some high-profile people don’t sing from the same smug, left-leaning hymnsheet? Freedom of opinion should – repeat, should – still be possible and not be considered a capital offence.
No, it isn’t when it rehabilitates the minions and supporters of a Russian gangster mass murderer scumbag. It’s not refreshing in any shape or form, it’s nauseating.
Why expect even topnotch musicians to be verbally profound? It’s not a requirement for excelling in music.
Two problems. One is that is not us who think they are profound. They (and their pet journalists) fancy themselves profound when they are just boring hacks. Two is that they don’t excel in music, either.
What does this have to do with the topic at hand? Other than they are both conductors I can’t see a link.
He is one of the five best around doing his job. Don’t mock him.
He’s a fine conductor but a terrible philosopher.
Salonen’s stature aside, why should anyone be mocked? People who routinely mock others have a deeper problem.
It’s either Nordic profundity or a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
There are legal/contractual considerations here. Which should not need pointing out.
I like your reference to Chauncy Gardner at the end. From the Peter Sellars film Being There
•Sellers•, not •Sellars•. I shudder to think what the film might have been had the latter directed it.
Good point. And it is not “Sellers film” either – he only acted in it. The film was directed by Hal Ashby and based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski who wrote the script with Robert Jones.
And you’ll note that every production of a John Adams opera which isn’t directed by Sellars is better than one which is.
Esa-Pekka Salonen has made quite clear why he is leaving San Francisco: The Board, owing largely to financial challenges, isn’t inclined to proceed with the projects and overall level of ambition he envisioned when he signed on. He doesn’t need to belabor the point. And he has indicated he’s still interested in working with the orchestra, so why burn bridges with the Board and management?
An interview has to be evaluated in a context of the questions one is asked. The purpose was clearly to discuss the upcoming SFS season. To that end, I found EPS to be surprisingly introspective and forthcoming. His obvious affection and appreciation for the orchestra was lovely given the unfortunate circumstances that have led to his premature departure. There will be an appropriate time and place to announce future plans, but the timing and purpose of this particular discussion was clearly not that occasion.
That was deep.
As a white middle aged male wise Esa understands it is safest to say….. nothing.
Far from “saying nothing”. He said it all very effectively.
An excellent statement that by anyone’s judgement explains a great deal. Naysayers step off.
One of the reasons “he said nothing about his frustrations…future plans…regrets” is because the SF Chronicle didn’t ask (or at least didn’t publish) any really hardnosed questions.
They could have asked, “What could the Phil’s board have done to make you stay?” “Who would you like to see succeed you?” “Why do you think your compositions are different from – and more memorable than – those written by other composers?”
Less is more …Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses. He says a lot, but nothing for the tabloid press.
….
Cryptic indeed……metaphorically speaking is ESP a mighty standing pillar oak or the fallen giant? Or some other herbiage stuff underneath? I can’t finish my Times crossword till I know.
Oh, how you will miss the misbehaving conductors. Good that there is the recorded legacy.