Anna Handler Leads the BSO in Mozart and Tchaikovsky

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Anna Handler, who is conducting her second subscription series of concerts this week. Anna, it's great to see you again, great to hear you leading the orchestra once again on the podium.

Anna Handler Thank you so much for having me. It's always a big honor and great opportunity to learn.

Brian McCreath Tell me about the genesis of the program, the program that includes Gabriela Smith's Bioluminescence Chaconne, the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart with Nathan and Stephen as the soloists, and this amazing suite that you assembled from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. What were the things that you asked to do from this program, that you really hoped to do for what was initially going to be your BSO Symphony Hall debut, but it turns out to be your second concert.

Anna Handler Tony Fogg approached me and told me that they had thought about pairing me with Steven and Nathan. So that piece was already set. And I always enjoy working with the musicians of the orchestra. It's just a great opportunity to get to know the orchestra better, the soloists, but also the rest of the group who's supporting their own people. And of course, in that case, I thought, what goes well with Mozart? And I thought Tchaikovsky loved and adored Mozart. So, I asked for some Tchaikovsky, and when you plan a season, you need to think, okay, which pieces are already taken, being recorded by the music director? In this case, Swan Lake seemed like a great option because it hasn't been played in a long time. Without ballet, it's like a silent opera that is, at the same time, a symphonic gem. And I think the selection that I was able to make from the 29 numbers... We start with the Introduction, and we end with Number 29. But in between, of course, we looked at what makes the most sense to play for the orchestra symphonically. We have some dances like the “Czardas” in there, “Neapolitan Dance.” We have the “Spanish Dance” where you can hear castanets. We have a Mazurka, so “Polish Dance.” And then of course we have the famous theme of the swan and theme of the prince. I think it's a beautiful chance to get to hear this music played at the highest possible level.

Brian McCreath And the Gabriella Smith, Bioluminescence Chaconne, was played last year at Tanglewood. Tell me what you particularly hear in her music that's distinctive.

Anna Handler I am a big fan of John Adams. He has become a mentor. And I met Gabriella Smith through John. I assisted him in New York last year on a program where they premiered her Cello Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, Lost Coast. And I really respect her and got to know her music, and I thought Bioluminescence Chaconne has a lot to do with glowing in the dark, but also with water. And Swan Lake has also to do with moonlight and with water, and water felt like an element that is very suitable to where I am in my life right now. A lot is happening, there's a lot of fluidity, there is a lot of metamorphosis in a way. I was a student two and a half years ago, then I was assistant conductor, and now I'm becoming a chief conductor. So ,there's a lot of evolution, and water seemed like an element that portrays and captures all of these feelings. So, bioluminescence is a phenomenon that maybe you have seen in nature. I am yet to experience this, but I hope in the future I can. It's light from within a living organism. I thought it's just very magical. And chaconne is an old form that repeats a certain harmonic pattern, a certain group of chords that repeat throughout the whole piece, and the material above those chords constantly changes and evolves. And with Gabriella's music, I just feel it's so effective in terms of that I can hear water. I can almost see the light. I can hear birds; it is incredibly well done in terms of what the audience will receive.

Brian McCreath But I love how you're drawing a very personal connection to it. That's really wonderful, Anna, thank you for that. It's great. So, when it comes to Swan Lake, this is all dance music. It's all meant to be danced to, originally, although as you say, it's beautiful in its orchestral terms alone, so that's wonderful. But tell me about the challenge of doing all dance music compared to, say, Tchaikovsky's symphonies: very much related to dance music in a lot of them. What do you have to ask of the orchestra in order to bring across the spirit of a ballet score like this?

Anna Handler Well, of course, if you don't have a ballet dancer, you're much freer in taking the tempi that you want. And I think what is interesting here is that Tchaikovsky originally intended to write an opera called Undine that he then didn't finish. And then he changed it to Swan Lake. So, the idea of an underlying story was always very inherent in this music. But now, thinking about tempi is very interesting in this music because probably your ear has a tempi of when it's danced. And when this is suddenly not there, then you are so free that suddenly you even lose a certain anchor. And that happens to me, too, where I feel, hmm, I did this with ballet, I did it without ballet. What is the right tempo? I think that tempo and rhythm are the most essential things when you collaborate with dancers.

Brian McCreath And largely you're conforming to what they need, what they're physically able to do in their choreography. Many times, I think in ballet, you have to conform your interpretation musically to what's going to match what they are physically able to do.

Anna Handler Exactly. Normally that means you have to go slower.

Brian McCreath Yeah, right.

Anna Handler And in this case, you can go fast, but that's the big question. Was it then intended to be that fast? Or did Tchaikovsky actually then write it with this in mind? And so, yeah, that's a challenge.

Brian McCreath Your options open up.

Anna Handler My options open up for sure. I think I want to be an artist that also always goes back to a score with fresh eyes, depending on what happened in my life before. You know, I don't want to be dogmatic about a certain tempo and think, this is the right tempo for Beethoven Five and this is right tempo for Swan Lake. It depends on my knowledge at this given point and on the people in front of me.

Brian McCreath And there's so many solos in this piece. So many different players in the orchestra have solos that there's a lot of conversation between you and the individual players, I suppose.

Anna Handler Solo harp, Nathan, our Concertmaster, has a solo, the cello has a solo. I mean I chose these excerpts also based on this. I wanted to give them... Solo trumpet and solo oboe. And it's so wonderful to see that our solo oboe hasn't played this piece ever in his life. If I may say so, this is wonderful that this is still, or maybe he has, but I think now officially in a concert. And that's wonderful to see. And of course, then, all the life experience and all the other pieces that the orchestra has played of Tchaikovsky comes now to this kind of music. And it's from the same ink, same feather, same hand, these melodies that are quite remarkable, I always think. Especially this beginning melody that starts on an F-sharp. [sings] So this is the theme of the Swan, we call it. There's a falling fifth down and then filling up the scale. [sings] But the theme of the Prince is [sings]: same pitch, starting pitch, but different direction. So it's almost like a mirror, or two sides of the same person that could have made the complete person if they had been able to really unite in this lifetime. But I think it's really clear that Tchaikovsky didn't really believe in happy endings because B minor is a very dark tonality. I mean, if you look at his last symphony, and he begins the piece in B minor, so it's like, I don't really believe they can be united in this lifetime. This kind of like also portrays what he went through, no? Because he couldn't be happy in his lifetime either.

Brian McCreath And that's just such a romantic ideal anyway, the constant longing that's never, ever, ever satisfied. All through the 19th century, the romantic thinkers, the romantic artists had that in mind.

Anna Handler Exactly, exactly. Yeah. And at the end, of course, our trumpet plays [sings], so B major. Finally, it's like a redemption, but it's, of course, in heaven.

Brian McCreath The last time you and I talked, we did not have a chance, because it had not yet been announced that you're going to the Ulster Orchestra to be Chief Conductor next fall. And I'm so happy for you with that. Tell me what it is about the Ulster Orchestra and your relationship with them that led to this appointment and what you're looking forward to in working with that ensemble specifically.

Anna Handler Yeah. Thank you for asking. I mean, as I said, water, everything is progressing. And I think I'm so thankful that this happened because I also attracted it with my thoughts. I always thought, okay, once I finish my Assistant Conductor position here in Boston, I need to evolve. I need to equip myself. Everywhere I go with the skills of becoming a great leader, hopefully, serving a group, serving a community, serving the music. And so, with every conversation here, whether it's with Tony, with Chad, or with the leaders, or with you, I always try to absorb what a healthy institution is and how it grows and how every little part of an institution is essential to the success of a community or family. And so, in my mind, I had it very clearly that I wanted to find my family and shape something, build something, try something, take risks. And they chose me. So I'm very glad that this worked out, and it worked earlier than I thought because I will still be in Berlin, where I'm also still Kapellmeister at the moment and that's also a very, very valuable school. Being Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin is extremely exhausting, extremely intense, but I am learning so much. You know, I'm learning ten operas every season, and the sheer amount of score study is intense. But I know that all of this is helping me then later to make the right decisions and to be like, OK, this is the repertoire I want to focus on. And this is what I want to do.

But I cannot yet tell you what I will do my first season because it's not yet announced, but I can tell you it's incredible pieces. I'm going to have the chance to do big masterworks of the repertoire because it is the 60th anniversary of that orchestra as well. And we are going to play at the BBC Proms also. And so that's, of course, a responsibility, you know, if you want a tour, if you want great soloists, all of these things. And then all the relationships I made in these past two, three, four years are now so valuable because you're like, would you like to come and support me? Would you like come and be the soloist? And so I can say that, yeah, of course I want to do my first Beethoven Nine or my Rite of Spring, or Poème de l'extase. These are all pieces... Or Bruckner, Mahler. I think it's important to always think, okay, how do I envision my life in the next two, three, four years? But not only selfishly, but also thinking, okay, the orchestra maybe needs this, and I can give this, and how do we get together?

Brian McCreath Anna, it's always good to talk with you. Thank you so much. This is great, thank you so much for your time.

Anna Handler Thank you so much.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I’m Brian McCreath from CRB, and I’m here with Nathan Cole and Steven Ansell, Concertmaster and Principal Violist of the Boston Symphony, respectively. Nathan and Steven, thank you for a little of your time today. I really appreciate it.

Nathan Cole Of course.

Steven Ansell Happy to do it.

Brian McCreath You are the two soloists for Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante. I’m so curious about this piece because it’s one of the pinnacles of Mozart’s music, at least in the public mind. It just feels like something everybody loves. But we don’t want to take it for granted as just something you can toss off when you show up at Symphony Hall for the concerts that week.

Nathan Cole [laughs] That’s very funny.

Brian McCreath So let me ask you first about the process of how you approach this as a duo. Is it a piece that rewards discussion and close rehearsal? Or is there a sense that Mozart wrote it so well that it kind of falls into place by itself?

Steven Ansell Wing it! [laughter] That’s a very good question. As with any Mozart piece, it seems quite simple. There are not so many notes, the harmonies are mostly kind of standard. But funny enough, Mozart is such great music that you really have to work on it. And there are a lot of things in the violin part, in the viola part—we have freedom, but we’re playing the same music. So we probably have to talk a lot about articulations and where we’re going to put slurs and just character in general and how we’d like it to go.

Brian McCreath Nathan, tell me about your perspective on it and especially as the Concertmaster who’s relatively recently arrived, you’ve now been working with Steven for a while. Does your work in the orchestra and your chemistry there help inform how you’re going to approach this piece?

Nathan Cole For sure, and I’m grateful also for our time 
so far playing together in the Boston Symphony Chamber
 Players, because that’s really the most like what we’ll be 
doing as the two soloists. It’s a funny thing to have a double concerto where two solo lines, two concerto soloists, have to fit together as chamber music. I recently re-watched one of my favorite video recordings of this piece, by people that had undoubtedly played together a lot, and in the very first phrase there were a whole bunch of details that were just not done the same way, not together. I had never noticed that before but now what I’m thinking Steve and I are going to have to talk about this, that, and the other.

Steven Ansell We’ll see. A lot of times it’s best not to talk about it. Because after all, it’s a song without words, and I think Nathan and I will communicate very easily and well without saying that much.

Brian McCreath Would you like to play a little of the opening right now for us?

Steven Ansell Sure, we’ve rehearsed it extensively. [laughs] The first thing I was going to say is that one of our goals was to get together about a month before the concert to get an idea of how we’ll work together and what we’re going to do. And so, believe it or not, today was going to be our first rehearsal together.

Brian McCreath So this is the first rehearsal?

Steven Ansell There you go.

[MUSIC]

Brian McCreath What strikes me listening to you play, in these very nascent moments of your collaboration on this piece, is that, even with two very similar instruments, playing in octaves, you’re still searching or a common blend of sound. And you’re looking for a color; you’re developing a color before our very ears. And so, with this instrument you’re playing, Nathan, and that specific instrument you’re playing, Steven, tell me more about how you calibrate your ears and what that does to the way you play, the tension on your fingers or the bow to find that blend that you ultimately want to find.

Nathan Cole Well, now I’m never going to be able to do it again. {laughs] Our first entrance, we are playing in octaves, and in those cases, it works better for me to 
fit into Steve’s sound generally than the other way around. Because I mean, the viola’s going to make more sound.

Steven Ansell The funny thing is that when I’m playing it, I’d love to provide a great base for the violin sound, but the fact is that in his register, he’s still going to be more brilliant than the viola. What I try to do is blend into his sound. So, he’s trying to blend into my sound, I’m trying to blend into his sound. And actually, I thought it sounded pretty good.

Brian McCreath [laughs] Excellent. Nathan, tell me about what this piece does, how it’s built, what you have to do in comparison to the five violin concertos for solo violin that Mozart wrote.

Nathan Cole Well, the biggest difference is that I have another soloist to either—as we were talking about—blend with, or sort of push against, which is really fun. And I want to say, too, the best collaborations, I think, happen when two people come into a piece with really strong ideas. Do we discuss this and that before we play? If you try to approach music like this that way, you can box yourself in before you even get started. I think it’s always better to bring two strong viewpoints together. Hopefully they’re not completely dissimilar, but then that gives a basis for discussion and playing around. You know, in this piece as opposed to the violin concertos, it’s more obvious to me the difference in registers. If I play a line and then Steve plays it, they naturally are going to have different characters. In the violin concertos, that same sort of thing happens, but I have to create it myself and become the different voices.

Brian McCreath Is it technically in the same ballpark in terms of just getting around the instrument? Is it very similar in that way to the violin concertos?

Nathan Cole It is, although the key of E-flat is not as friendly as the keys of the three most popular Mozart violin concertos, G, D, and A. Those are all open strings. Speaking as a violinist, I will admit, it’s easy for us to creep sharp, sharp, sharp in a flat key like E-flat. So it’s good to be grounded.

Brian McCreath Go back to your work together in the Chamber Players and why that’s important for 
a collaboration like this. What is the process of playing with your colleagues in chamber music in that setting in terms of developing the language, developing the communication that’s necessary to play any music together?

Steven Ansell The more that you play different repertoire together – like a Brahms piano quartet and this piece by Carlos Simon and we play all sorts of different repertoire and –

Nathan Cole We played Mozart in the key of E-flat.

Steven Ansell Yes, in the key of E-flat, the string trio. The more you play together the more you sort of rub shoulders musically speaking, and there’s a sense of communication that develops.

Nathan Cole I think there’s the general understanding of what work style someone prefers. Is someone super fussy and they want everything tied up with a ribbon? That’s
 not Steve. I don’t think it’s me either. So, it’s good to know that and to be comfortable with that going in. Then there are just the small details that players would notice. You know, if we’re going to start something, this is what I’m used to looking at, this is what I’m used to hearing. And even extending to, okay, when the pressure’s on, what way does someone tend to lean? And then you’re ready for that. And it’s just, performance is more exciting. That means you don’t have to work everything out in advance because you can leave some things to the moment, knowing what tendencies someone may have.

Steven Ansell Right. Exactly. And that’s really good, actually. It’s really good to be able to be a little bit spontaneous. And I also wanted to mention that aside from the great joy and excitement that Mozart brings to the first movement, even though there’s a little bit of tragedy in G minor in the development [plays excerpt], the slow movement he wrote just after his mother had passed away is just one of those genius movements that takes your breath away. And then the presto that follows, he’s, you know, “well, life has to go on and I’m going to enjoy it.” It’s just so joyous. So, you have these big contrasts in feeling in the piece, and it’s fantastic. It’s just such a great, great piece.

Brian McCreath It sounds like you never get tired of playing it.

Steven Ansell Never.