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Rachid Conducts Berlioz, Gandolfi, and Saint-Saëns at Symphony Hall

Samy Rachid wears a navy suit and stands against a black background, smiling at the camera. Olivier Latry wears a white button down and holds a gray suit jacket over one shoulder. He stands outside with trees behind him, and he smiles softly at the camera.
Marco Borggreve: Rachid; Deyan Parouchev: Latry
Conductor Samy Rachid and organist Olivier Latry

Saturday, October 12, 2024
8:00 PM

Assistant Conductor Samy Rachid makes his BSO subscription debut in a program featuring the glorious Symphony Hall organ: Olivier Latry, organist at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, performs Michael Gandolfi’s Ascending Light, a BSO-commissioned work composed as tribute to Armenian culture on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Camille Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony features the organ prominently in both its serene slow movement and in its majestic Finale. Hector Berlioz’s Waverley Overture evokes the romance and intrigue of Sir Walter Scott’s historical novels.

Samy Rachid, conductor
Olivier Latry, organ

Hector BERLIOZ Waverley Overture
Michael GANDOLFI Ascending Light, for organ and orchestra
Camille SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, Organ Symphony

This concert is no longer available on demand.

In a conversation with WCRB's Brian McCreath, conductor Samy Rachid describes the foundational role the BSO played in his life as a musician, what led him to be a conductor, and how this concert was programmed. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Samy Rachid, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony. Samy, you've been around for a little while now, but I'm really happy that now finally we've got a chance to talk. So thanks for your time today.

Samy Rachid Thank you for the invitation.

Brian McCreath Well, you're going to be conducting a program that is largely French music, but also one American piece. We'll get to that. But first, I just want to hear from you a little bit about yourself, where you're coming from. And maybe, just to kind of get the ball rolling, I'm curious about what the music was that grabbed you when you were a young person. Do you even remember the first time you heard an orchestra, and it grabbed you?

Samy Rachid Yes, because actually I started to learn music quite late. I started at the age of ten, and my parents weren't professional musicians, but music lovers. And they always went to the opera in Paris to concerts. And around eight, nine, I started to really pay attention to what they were listening to at home, because my father always bought CD's from what they were going to listen to at the opera. This was my first encounter with classical music. And it's quite special for me to work in this institution because the very first record I listened to was [Berlioz's] Symphonie fantastique, with [BSO conductor] Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony, and I never thought that one day I will work in the orchestra who started everything for me in music. So, I was very moved when I knew I got the job. And this is like, maybe some things happen for a reason in life, you know?

Brian McCreath That's a nice way to look at it. And what an amazing thing. The Charles Munch Symphonie fantastique, of course, many, many millions of people have heard that. So, in a way, it's not too surprising. But for that full circle to now come here and be a part of the BSO's own history is kind of amazing. But was it something about that piece of music that really grabbed you? Or was it simply that it was so spectacular?

Samy Rachid I think it has to have something to do with that because I had absolutely no idea about what was even in the instrument, what were the instruments, plural, in the orchestra. So, I always have been attracted by the stage. I did some circus, I did some theater, and I think I was just looking for a way to get to the music, maybe. I'm a strong believer in destiny. So, I think some things happen for a reason. So, no, I would not say that it was the Symphonie fantastique in particular, but just what emotions were getting through this amazing recording.

Brian McCreath Fantastic. So, your route into music actually came through the cello. Why was it the cello that you picked up?

Samy Rachid It was very simple. Don't ask me why, but I asked my parents if I can do either the trombone or the cello. And because we were living in an apartment, they took the cello. It was as simple as that. But why these two? I have absolutely no idea. I can't even remember where I learned the word cello. So, it happened like that, and it was a wonderful journey and got me through conducting because I started, as you know, quite late also to conduct. And I would never change anything in this journey.

Brian McCreath Well, what is that story about going into conducting? Because it sounds like, from what I understand, you were in a quartet that was really doing quite well. I mean, not that the lifestyle of a quartet is easy. It can be very difficult even for really successful quartets. But artistically, it seems like you were having a lot of success anyway. And so, you could have just stuck with that, I suppose.

Samy Rachid I had a very comfortable life with the quartet. We had many engagements. We were recording for Warner and everything. But when I started music, it was to become a conductor and I spent all eight years in the string quartet convincing myself that I was in the right place, that it was meant to be like that, always coming back to these thoughts, like, in another life, I will conduct an orchestra. And when Covid arrived and everything stopped, it was really, for me, the awakening that no, cello and quartet weren't the things I wanted to do. So, I told my colleagues that that's it for me. And I stopped the cello. I stopped everything to learn a new job.

Brian McCreath Wow. I mean, we all had the experience of a lot of reevaluation going on, but that is a really serious coming to terms with what the truth is inside you, I suppose.

Samy Rachid Yeah. And I really thought inside me that if I didn't take the turn during the pandemic, it will never happen because then things start to continue, new concerts, new engagements, new everything. And once the train is rolling, you can't jump from it, you know? So, this was now or never. And I took my bet.

Brian McCreath Many people would get their start doing this when they're still in school, and so they're like, "Well, I'll take the conducting class," and then, "well, I do like the conducting class, and I like the conducting teacher. And there's an ensemble of students that I can conduct." But this doesn't seem to have been the case for you. You were in a totally different place of your life. So how does one even go about saying, "I will now be a conductor," when none of that structure is around you?

Samy Rachid I don't know, I really knew that this was what I wanted to do. And then I did everything I could do to make that happen. But it was just like, you know, when you you really feel that you are not in the right place, and I've never been happier than since I changed everything in my life.

Brian McCreath So it was very brave, and yet it paid off. You were recognized almost right away, as I understand it.

Samy Rachid No, not right away.

Brian McCreath Okay.

Samy Rachid But, you know, to be completely honest with you, when I started to learn conducting, I was really in peace with myself, thinking that maybe I will never do more than a chamber orchestra or something like that, and I knew I would be very happy with that because this is what I wanted to do. And through the process of learning new things and doing competitions and meeting new people area, I realized that maybe I can do bigger-sized ensembles than a chamber orchestra. But I never thought when I started that I would be Charles Munch, for example, to quote him again, from the beginning of our discussion. And things happened like that without wanting to over push or to prove myself or something. It was just being happy, doing what I wanted to do and, it happened like that.

Brian McCreath And it may not have been right away, but you did win a prize for conducting that brought your name to the attention of many people.

Samy Rachid I just wanted to know where was I standing, in which level was I? So, I went to the Tokyo competition, and it was still pandemic. We had a quarantine in Tokyo before the competition, which was quite an experience. But it was six months after starting to learn conducting, and I won the second prize there. And this is really what comforted me in the fact that I made the right choice.

Brian McCreath Yeah, you were fed what you wanted, and you were reinforced and affirmed with your decision to make such a such a break with your previous life.

Samy Rachid Yes, because, until this competition, I knew I made the right choice, but I didn't had the proof. I don't know if it makes sense to say it like that, but I needed something to tell me that, yes, that was the right decision.

Brian McCreath So it's been four and a half years, something like that. And now that you have some perspective, describe for me how different it is to think like a cellist in a quartet and a conductor in front of an orchestra. What is the difference. Maybe it's obvious that you must prepare, knowing however many parts there are in an orchestra, 50, 60 different lines of music. But more on the level of how you think of the music. How different is it?

Samy Rachid Well, it has a lot of similarities because when you in a string quartet, you are making your own musical decisions. So, my time in the quartet really made me learn how to build an interpretation with my colleagues. And this was a big plus for me because I didn't have to learn everything. I had some perspective of how to build things. But the big difference, and it's not a small one, is that the amount of time as a string player or an instrumental player you have to spend just every day on the technical aspects and all these types of things that are not about thinking about the music during your day are away and you have the full day to think just about music. And this is the huge difference. So, most of the time people ask me, "Don't you miss playing the cello?" Absolutely not, because I don't have the feeling that I'm not playing an instrument anymore. I'm not. But I don't have the feeling that I'm not producing sound because I have the sound in my head during all of the day. And I'm thinking even more about music than before when I was playing the music. So yes, I have even more music in my life than before.

Brian McCreath But I find it so interesting that one of the similarities, you say, is this sense of common interpretation, that you're working with other people on an interpretation, so different from those conductors from Munch's era, where we think of them as walking on stage with their own authoritative interpretation that musicians will then follow along with. But you're describing something that I think is more common with conductors now, that there is a sense of hearing with the orchestra and guiding them. But also, there's an interpretation that emerges from the ensemble as well.

Samy Rachid I think it's more that we took away the veil in front of this job, because I'm sure - we are speaking since the beginning of our discussion about Charles Munch ...

Brian McCreath [laughs] We'll stick with him.

Samy Rachid Exactly, we'll stick with him. I'm sure he knew, and he was well aware because he was such an amazing conductor that, yes, we are here to deliver a way to go, but we also take what's in front of us. And it always has been like that, and it always will, because, especially when we are working with such a phenomenal orchestra as here, they have things to say and you can't just arrive and say, "It will be my way." Even Karajan, he always knew that it's just not only his way, it's also the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, who also have things to say with their history. So, I think that, nowadays also with the social media and everything, people have more access to what it is to be a conductor, but it always has been the same, honestly.

Brian McCreath Very wise perspective.

Samy Rachid I think so. I prefer thinking that than these old guys were only bad people, because I don't think so.

Brian McCreath [laughs] Understood. That's totally fair. Well, speaking of conductors, tell me about working with Andris and whether you had met him before you came or whether you developed that relationship upon arriving here.

Samy Rachid No, I really met him for the first time at the audition, when I auditioned for the job. It's absolutely amazing. He's so inspiring, so kind to everyone. I mean, speaking of open conductors and exchanging with the orchestra in the musical sense, he's the best example of that. And as a young conductor, this is like the best mentor you can dream of, because you have this huge knowledge about the repertoire he's conducting, but he's always open to new ideas and how to make things better for the music. And this is absolutely the best, I think, the best way to work it, to give your knowledge to the next generation.

Brian McCreath It was fantastic to be there for your BSO debut at Tanglewood. But let's talk about this particular program you're conducting and tell me about the discussions between you and Tony Fogg, the artistic planning vice president, about how you would put together a program. Were the particular parameters that you were given, were you simply handed a program? How did this work out?

Samy Rachid Tony has always been very open to ideas for the program, and I think this is the key of for the success of this position, that the BSO has such an amazing tradition with their assistant conductors. I think letting an open door for this important moment in our life is one of these aspects. After having a Russian program last summer at Tanglewood, it was very important for me to be in front of the orchestra with a French program, being a Frenchman and with the history of this orchestra, which was for a long time considered the best French orchestra in the world. It was something very important for me, during my time here, to have one opportunity to do that. And with this amazing instrument we have in front of us every day at Symphony Hall, I immediately thought about the Saint-Saëns "Organ" Symphony, and, once again, Charles Munch and his amazing recording of this piece, which is so famous.

It's just a true honor to do this repertoire with them, and being a huge fan of Berlioz, I really wanted to present something to the orchestra that changed their habits because it's not the Roman Carnival [Overture] or Benvenuto Cellini [Overture] or even Le Corsaire [Overture], but to do one of his first orchestral pieces. It is the Opus 1, the Waverley Overture. It's not the first piece he wrote, but in the catalog, it is the first one. And the orchestra hasn't play it for more than 20 years, so it will be something also fresh. And to present the idea of a very young and ambitious French composer who wanted to change things in the way the orchestra sounded is something that I think will be very refreshing, being combined with Saint-Saëns's most mature work. So, we have two great figures of the French repertoire, but in two different moments of their life, and I think it's very interesting. And to have that combined with the Gandolfi's Organ Concerto, which was premiered almost ten years ago, it was in 15.

Brian McCreath ... About nine years. Yes, 2015.

Samy Rachid Exactly. So, it's a good ambiance around the organ of Symphony Hall. I'm very happy about this program.

Brian McCreath Have you met Olivier Latry?

Samy Rachid Not yet.

Brian McCreath Okay. Good. Well, he's a delightful person, and, it's been fun to have him come through on several concerts.

When you're studying the score for Michael Gandolfi's piece, what strikes you about his writing that you find interesting?

Samy Rachid To start with the colors of the orchestra he's getting from his score, the way he uses the percussion, the brasses, and it's really, really well thought about how to make the organ - of course, it's a concerto - but being part of the orchestra or the orchestra part of the organ. And it's very clever on the combinations he's doing with the winds, with the organ, it's a very beautiful piece. I did not know the piece before Tony proposed it to me, and I was really stunned by it. Really, since the first listening I had of the archive recording, I was very, very impressed by the score.

Brian McCreath And a moving piece as well, given its theme and history, what it's commemorating.

Samy Rachid Yeah, yeah.

Brian McCreath So just to wrap up, we think about how the very first time you listened to an orchestra was the BSO, and now here you are. Do you hear this sound from this orchestra that you remember from that recording so long ago?

Samy Rachid I mean, I'm a bit biased because I've listened to the recording since, you know? It wasn't just one time when I was a child. But no, I can't really remember the sound that I heard for the first time, even knowing the recording, because I don't have the same way to listen now than I had so many years ago.

Brian McCreath That makes sense, yeah.

Samy Rachid But, the BSO have such a way to transmit their tradition to the new generation of players. There is something that you can still hear in the sound, whether from 50 years ago or nowadays, and I think that's a very beautiful thing about this orchestra, the way the musicians want to make this tradition still alive, knowing that we don't play the same way, we don't have the same culture as they had in they in the past century. But there is still a sense of sound, a sense of phrasing that is still part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra nowadays. And I think it's really moving.

Brian McCreath It still sounds like a very distinctive orchestra to your ear.

Samy Rachid Yes, yes. Especially when I listen to others, for example, the Big Five in America. They all have their own sound tradition. And I think America is one of the last places in the classical music world where you still have these different aspects of sound. Because in Europe nowadays it's more and more common. You don't have exactly the same difference with a German orchestra and an English orchestra. I mean, you have differences, but if you listen to the same orchestras 70 years ago, the difference is bigger than it is nowadays. Here, you can still hear a big difference between the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra. And it's very beautiful to have these different cultures in the same country.

Brian McCreath Wonderful. Samy, it's great to talk with you, great to get to know you a little bit further. And I can't wait to hear you conduct once again, as you did at Tanglewood, conduct once again the Boston Symphony this coming week. Thank you so much.

Samy Rachid Thank you.