Valerij Gergijev with Karen Cargill and the London Symphony Orchestra closed the Moravian Autumn in a way which swept aside any doubts concerning the importance of the festival. The concert also showed some niches and particularities in our music life and its place in society today.
When the London philharmonic players started to play Berlioz’s overture Waverley people must have had the same feeling as when Viktoria Plzeň went to Germany to play against Bayern Munich. After their timid performance with no goals scored they received a beating and immediately after the match they started to talk about our conditions which cannot compare to the Bundesleague. “They outplayed us clearly; they are one of the best teams in the world. We cannot possibly play against them well”, this is what goalkeeper Kozáčik said. In the return match in Plzeň the local team lost again, but this time it was only 0:1 and the football match was nothing to feel ashamed of and it was even enjoyable. In a single week there cannot have been any change in the financial situation or physical fitness of the players in Plzeň, the major change was in their heads and this is extremely important.
Every sensible person must have understood even intuitively that at the Janáček Theatre all of a sudden a different league than usual is played. However, there is no reason to say that in London they have more money and that they were quite happy with our sloppy job which our mums will praise us for. The orchestra performance showed clearly the level of the individual players, which forms the natural basis. In addition, there is the team spirit which turns technically equipped individuals in a music organism. An organism where the instrument groups play as one whole, they make the tones together; and the tone increases in volume, in intensity and expression incredibly. And then there is the extraordinary conductor who gives the long-term cultivated material his or her own brand.
The individual players neither goof off nor do they play their own game. You cannot see a violin player taking a rest, or a wind instrument player pompously looking around after his short solo to see if everybody saw him play. It is primarily a group of professionals who do not care about silly talk about the heart put into playing, traditions or duties towards their hometown. They all know that you go to work to work. It sounds very stodgy; there is no holy art or enthusiasm for eternal values – just responsibility. The same responsibility finally destroyed Cordelia, King Lear’s banished daughter, because love in harmony with responsibility or obligation sounds very plain. People who know that they must do it usually do much more than people who sometimes want to do it. Hector Berlioz, of whose works the whole concert was composed, would probably accept the reference to Shakespeare, whose works he loved, and this craftsman’s responsibility in the orchestra. His memoirs are full of complaints about musicians who are bored with music.
During the London Symphonic Orchestra concert I remembered two important things. We undoubtedly need a new concert hall with good acoustics, with no rattle of fans, a hall which would be perfectly okay from the technical point of view. The other thing is that the Brno Philharmonic would not become a top orchestra only by performing in an acoustically perfect hall – and here we get back to the awkward comparison of Plzeň and Bayern. I am convinced that most musicians in our local orchestra do not lack technical equipment, they do not lack instruments. However, I think that somewhere deep in their minds there is still this unhappy feeling that an individual can hide behind a group. Skills and willingness to do things as well as the others do them and at the same time be an individual is something which is still missing – they mix up the team and an anonymous crowd. Ladies and gentlemen – you are not anonymous – I can see you, I am watching closely what you are doing, I know your names. And I am certainly not the only one.
However, the aim is not to threaten one another but rather to look at what this seemingly inaccessible quality can bring – apart from the experience which is fading away. We have to have an option to come across top level performances here to consider them normal. It must become something we expect here, not just an exceptional treat brought to us by our English auntie. There are several ways to keep the festival quality in the future; and there is one option which definitely should not be forgotten: why don’t the Brno Philharmonic players learn to play on the same level as the London symphonic players? I am truly convinced that it not impossible, even though it is much harder than taking here exceptional guests once every two years. It is a solution which can survive generations and make Brno a specific place on the music map of the world. Unfortunately, we are little aware of what it means to be on this social map.
Valery Gergiev has been accused of supporting Putin’s discriminatory laws against homosexuals (there have been many rumours about his good relationship with the Russian president). Activist Peter Tatchell accused Gergiev in public during his concert at the Barbican Centre. In his public speech the conductor strictly denied this accusation and music critic Rupert Christiansen from the Telegraph defended him. I am speaking about this especially because I want to make clear that important music events are part of social life; not as an exclusive place, where some unidentified cream of society drinks champagne in their lobby and turns up their noses at smoke-filled pubs and the working class. It is part of our environment in the broad sense and it contributes to the better and noble which can be present. It is, however, quite hard to explain to people why the only top representative of the city does not appear at an extraordinary concert which is successful in the greatest concert hall all around the world and all the other performers are the same. For the activists in Brno – at least for those I know – such an event is not prestigious enough. Our social affairs are outside concert halls and will return to them only if they offer perfectly planned and performed concerts. Only then will people realize that it is cool to be there. And maybe we will meet there not only enthusiastic lovers of music but also human rights and political activists and finally maybe even the mayor – in short, everyday life will return there.
This essay could be extended to a book but it ends here – it is just a substitute for our usual Monday interview. It does not mean that there is nobody to talk to, but an opportunity to talk about protracted issues has been given such a strong impulse and I could not resist the temptation to strike while my music iron is hot.
