Marcin Majchrowski (Polish Radio): Do you remember your first encounter with Beethoven’s music? Paavo Järvi: I cannot say when exactly it was – yet definitely in childhood. I was raised in the family of a conductor [Neeme Järvi – ed.], who frequently played at home, and took me to rehearsals. I myself began to conduct symphonies in Malmö: my first place of employment. At that time I was under the powerful influence of traditional interpretations by conductors of the like of Bruno Walter.
When was the idea of the Beethoven project with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen born?
I worked with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for over 12 years as a guest conductor. The programme of our first concert included one of Beethoven’s symphonies. I came to like their sound and their sense of style. Even as the music director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen I placed plenty of emphasis on Beethoven’s music. Moreover, I found that if I were to record his complete symphonies, it would be with that very orchestra.
Were your interpretative visions influenced by the trend for performing music on historic instruments?
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie plays contemporary instruments, yet I admit that we gave in to the influence of authentic performance and what is defined in English as HIPP – historically informed performance practice. I am glad that we are “historically reinforced”, but we are not trying to belong to any of the camps supporting the use of instruments from the period or not. There is a difference between understanding of early performing practice and blind faith in it. It is important that, if it is applied blindly and without powerful internal conviction about that music, such a performance will never sound natural. Your vision of Beethoven’s symphonies seems highly analytical, full of elaborated features and brilliant detail. I simply wanted to study the score hard again and look at it with a fresh eye, to the extent that is possible in the case of music that is so well known. I have followed the new “Urtext” Bärenreiter edition. I believe that I was successful in capturing plenty of details that had earlier failed to be perceived or ones that were lost in history due to the development of the orchestra apparatus or different understanding of tradition.
Why do audiences still opt more often for works by Bruckner, Beethoven, and Mahler than that of contemporary composers?
Let’s face the truth: there must be something in Beethoven’s symphonies if people want to keep on listening to them over and over again. This is the question of a great work of art, of utmost importance for the culture of the West. For the same reason, Shakespeare’s plays keep on being returned to. In a sense, these are modern works that we find very close.
Beethoven Magazine, No. 5