领先的音乐家和合作者向伟大的指挥家提问（Gramophone，2010）
克劳迪奥阿巴多
自1960年在米兰的斯卡拉剧院首演以来，克劳迪奥·阿巴多就与当时许多伟大的乐器演奏家和歌手合作并给予了启发。鉴于他在排练期间着名的专注力，更不用说他众所周知的通过手势而不是口头表达他的想法的能力，我们邀请他们中的一些人提出他们可能没有机会问的问题。准备表演。他们的范围很广，从阿巴多学习成绩的过程到他广泛的艺术兴趣，他对当代作品的态度以及他对未来的计划。当我为罕见的观众访问博洛尼亚的家时，问题被提交给阿巴多。毫不奇怪，他的回应揭示了一个对音乐有着无限热情的人，以及一个深入探索其解释解决方案的人。
半个世纪以来，阿巴多一直走在音乐会和歌剧生活的最前沿，从1968年到1986年，在斯卡拉大学担任音乐总监近二十年，然后在维也纳国家歌剧院（1986-91）。 1989年至2002年，他担任柏林爱乐乐团的首席指挥，此前曾担任伦敦交响乐团（1979-87）的主管。如今，他的精力集中在他于2003年成立的精心挑选的卢塞恩音乐节管弦乐团，以及第二年创立的位于博洛尼亚的乐团莫扎特。如果最近他的工作量不得不在胃癌手术后减少，那么他在领奖台上的出现并没有失去他们令人信服的权威或他们对他们所表现出的感知能力产生敬畏的能力。
艾伦吉尔伯特
我一直很欣赏你学习音乐的方式，并希望能够深入了解你是如何做到这一点的。您愿意告诉我们您的学习过程吗？
我喜欢读书，我喜欢文学，喜欢阅读乐谱和音乐。通常情况下，我非常喜欢这些东西，以至于我开始一次又一次地阅读它们，然后一次又一次地读到这一刻，直到我明白地了解它们。我一直认为我不够了解。您对一件作品的了解没有限制。每当我看到我已经进行过很多次的作品时，我都会从头开始。有了新作品，我试着了解更多关于作曲家的信息，但通常我会讲作我知道的作曲家的音乐。我将研究任何有助于更多地了解一件作品的东西，不仅仅是音乐，还有文化背景，字母，绘画，建筑或生活。
Maurizio Pollini
您认为当代音乐对我们的音乐生活和文化有何重要意义？
这很简单。如果你回想起贝多芬的时代，他就是当代作曲家。许多人不理解他。因此，只要你有一个伟大的作曲家，你应该试着理解，倾听。今天也一样。我演奏Stockhausen的Boulez音乐，我非常喜欢。我进行了很多Luigi Nono和Berio。每个国家都有出色的作曲家。
Jose van Dam
我们都知道你在曲目的许多不同领域表现出色，无论是意大利语，德语还是法语，但我想知道你发现哪些音乐难以理解并且可能理解？
没有音乐很容易。但我不喜欢的是限制。何塞没有谈到俄罗斯音乐。我指挥Mussorgsky和Tchaikovsky和Stravinsky以及Prokofiev和Shostakovich。
我不喜欢限制，所以我不明白为什么我不喜欢法国音乐，英国音乐，俄罗斯音乐，奥地利甚至是意大利音乐。我喜欢好听的音乐。
托马斯夸特霍夫
Lied和Lieder-singing对你的艺术生活和艺术诠释有何意义？
我总是喜欢演奏或表演Lieder，我认为Thomas Quasthoff，Anne Sofie von Otter和我一起拍摄的最佳唱片是Mozart的Lieder，直到Mahler和Des Knaben Wunderhorn以及完整的周期。对我来说，马勒以交响曲的形式写歌剧。在Lieder中，文本的含义非常重要。在意大利，我们拥有美妙的剧院和歌剧的伟大传统，但德国，奥地利，英国，法国和中欧的文化最伟大的方面之一就是带有文字的歌曲。它是最伟大的表达形式之一。
克里斯托弗奥尔德
当你开始学习你之前演奏过的作品时，你是否听取了录音或故意试图让自己远离任何先前的概念？
没有音乐很容易。但我不喜欢的是限制。何塞没有谈到俄罗斯音乐。我指挥Mussorgsky和Tchaikovsky和Stravinsky以及Prokofiev和Shostakovich。
我不喜欢限制，所以我不明白为什么我不喜欢法国音乐，英国音乐，俄罗斯音乐，奥地利甚至是意大利音乐。我喜欢好听的音乐。
托马斯夸特霍夫
Lied和Lieder-singing对你的艺术生活和艺术诠释有何意义？
我总是喜欢演奏或表演Lieder，我认为Thomas Quasthoff，Anne Sofie von Otter和我一起拍摄的最佳唱片是Mozart的Lieder，直到Mahler和Des Knaben Wunderhorn以及完整的周期。对我来说，马勒以交响曲的形式写歌剧。在Lieder中，文本的含义非常重要。在意大利，我们拥有美妙的剧院和歌剧的伟大传统，但德国，奥地利，英国，法国和中欧的文化最伟大的方面之一就是带有文字的歌曲。它是最伟大的表达形式之一。
克里斯托弗奥尔德
当你开始学习你之前演奏过的作品时，你是否听取了录音或故意试图让自己远离任何先前的概念？
不，我尝试再次学习，幸运的是，在一生中你总能找到新的东西。总是以同样的方式做同样的事情是无聊的。但我试图寻找新的重要事物。有时我会听我的旧唱片，然后想：“天啊，我在那里做什么？”有时我想，'那不错。好东西。'
吉尔沙哈姆
你对今天的音乐家有什么建议或建议 - 作曲家，指挥家和（特别是）乐器演奏家？我们应该怎样做才能改善我们的艺术？
多听，享受音乐。要爱音乐。对于各地的音乐都有极大的热情，即使在几年前的意大利也不是这样。这位音乐家应该乐于从巴洛克音乐到现代前卫音乐。不应该有任何限制。总是试着找到好听的音乐。我记得在战争结束后他们说巴托克和斯特拉文斯基说这不是音乐 - 它是打击乐，只是噪音。今天几乎每个人都会说它是经典音乐。今天的问题是要知道哪些是好作曲家。
Simon Keenlyside
你如何控制舞台上的歌手和你脚下的管弦乐队之间的动态？你有意识地有一种方法来灌输信任而不失去控制吗？
通常我试图找到一个很好的平衡，以便音乐家可以听歌手。当然，在歌剧或音乐会中，声音可能伴随着管弦乐队，或者有时乐团甚至更重要，因此歌手必须遵循管弦乐队的路线。听力是最重要的事情之一。
罗伯托阿拉尼亚
是否可以用其他图像描述您对音乐的看法？
我喜欢画画。我总是去看新的展览。有很多音乐，我可以看到与绘画的联系，但通常，就像在文学中我读了一本书的书，所以我读了音乐的音乐。我和管弦乐队的谈话很少。我们与眼睛或手有良好的沟通，他们理解。莫扎特管弦乐团的所有音乐家都会演奏室内乐。如果你知道如何打四重奏和五重奏，这是最好的方法。
芭芭拉邦尼
你怎么能用美丽的双手在空中画画？
当我和你一起唱歌时，我总觉得自己漂浮在云层上。我一直以为我和芭芭拉一起飞行。
乔纳斯考夫曼
您对Lohengrin的热爱有什么特别的原因？为什么你认为它经常被描述为瓦格纳的“意大利”歌剧？为什么人们很少从歌手那里听到瓦格纳所说的他正在寻找的东西 - “德国人”的表达与美声唱法的风格相结合？
在马勒室内乐团，我们与莫扎特，舒伯特，贝多芬和瓦格纳的歌剧咏叹调乔纳斯考夫曼合作录制。我认为他是一个伟大的歌手，我非常喜欢他.Lohengrin是一部伟大的歌剧，比Tristan更抒情，但我不喜欢对歌剧进行分类。关于很少听到瓦格纳所寻找的问题，答案是没有像Jonas Kaufmann这样的好歌手。
罗伯托阿拉尼亚
你怎么看待音高的变化？你认为它可以提高吗？
当我们演奏巴洛克音乐时，我们在音调方面存在问题。有时乐器必须在415kHz或440kHz或442kHz下播放。如果你去维也纳，它是447kHz。当然，如果它更高，它会使声音更加辉煌。这在很大程度上取决于声学。例如，在维也纳，它很高，但是Musikverein的音响效果非常温暖而且还不错。我记得在柏林他们过去常常以444kHz的速度播放;与乐团莫扎特一起演奏442kHz，虽然Pergolesi我们必须降低音高，特别是如果你有一个415kHz的双簧管。当歌手说球场太高时，我总是说，“低音到底是怎么回事？如果音高较低，他们必须低唱“。至于它的进一步提升，我认为维也纳的447kHz已经相当高了。
王羽佳
你曾经演过很多像Martha Argerich和HélèneGrimaud这样的钢琴演奏家 - 我非常尊重和钦佩钢琴家。我们如何让代代相传？当你开始你的职业生涯时，钢琴师的回归与我们现在的指导不同吗？你是否从不同的角度接触年轻一代的钢琴家？
当我和Martha Argerich一起学习钢琴时，她是11岁或12岁，我们立刻举办了音乐会，因为我认为她是一位伟大的演奏家。我想我们第一次在柏林与普罗科菲耶夫和拉威尔的玛莎阿格里奇一起演出是我与柏林爱乐乐队的第一次录音。对于独奏者，我总是说出我对音乐的看法，我们总是试图找到最好的方法。但我不明白年轻人和老年人之间的区别。我记得当时我和Arthur Rubinstein或Rudolf Serkin一起打球。 Serkin对我来说是最年轻的精神;他88岁，我们录制了许多莫扎特协奏曲。
我总是对管弦乐队说，'看，这里最年轻的是鲁迪。
Leading musicians and collaborators put their questions to the great conductor (Gramophone,2010)
Claudio Abbado
Ever since his debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1960, Claudio Abbado has collaborated with and inspired many of the great instrumentalists and singers of the day. Given his renowned intensity of focus during rehearsals, not to mention his well-known ability to convey his thoughts through gesture rather than the spoken word, we invited some of them to pose questions that they might not have had the opportunity to ask while they were preparing a performance. They range over a wide spectrum, from Abbado’s processes of learning a score to his breadth of artistic interests, his attitudes towards contemporary works and his plans for the future. The questions were put to Abbado when I visited his Bologna home for a rare audience. It is no surprise that his responses reveal a man with a limitless passion for music and one who searches deeply for the solutions to its interpretation.
For half a century Abbado has been at the forefront of concert and operatic life, first as music director at La Scala for almost two decades from 1968 to 1986, then at the Vienna State Opera (1986?91). He was chief conductor at the Berlin Philharmonic from 1989 to 2002, having previously been in charge of the London Symphony Orchestra (1979?87). Nowadays his energies are concentrated on the hand-picked Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which he established in 2003, and on the Bologna-based Orchestra Mozart, founded the following year. If in recent times his workload has had to be reduced in the aftermath of an operation for stomach cancer, his appearances on the podium have lost none of their compelling authority or their capacity to generate awe at the powers of perception that they manifest.
Alan Gilbert
I’ve always admired the way you learn music and would love to get some insight into how, specifically, you do it. Would you be willing to tell us about your study process?
I love to read books, I love literature, I like to read scores and music. Normally I like things so much that I start to read them once, and then again and again until the moment I know them by heart. I always think I don’t know enough. There is no limit to what you can know about a piece. Every time I relook at a piece I have conducted many times, I start again from the beginning. With a new piece I try to know more about the composer but normally I conduct music of composers that I know. I will study anything that helps to know more about a piece, not just the music but the cultural background, letters, paintings, architecture or life.
Maurizio Pollini
In what way do you think contemporary music is important for our musical life and culture?
It’s very simple. If you think back to the time of Beethoven, he was a contemporary composer. And many people didn’t understand him. So any time you have a great composer, you should try to understand, to listen. Today’s the same. I play music of Boulez, of Stockhausen, and I like it very much. I conduct a lot of Luigi Nono and Berio. Each country has wonderful composers.
Jose van Dam
We all know that you excel in many different areas of the repertoire, be it Italian, German or French, but I’d like to know which music you find difficult to empathise with and perhaps to understand?
No music is easy. But what I don’t like is limits. José doesn’t speak of Russian music. I conduct Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky and Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
I don’t like limits, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t love French music, English music, Russian music,Austrian, or even Italian music. I like good music.
Thomas Quasthoff
What significance has the Lied and Lieder-singing had on your artistic life and artistic interpretation?
I always love to play or conduct Lieder, and I think some of the best recordings that Thomas Quasthoff, Anne Sofie von Otter and I did together were of Lieder from Mozart onwards, up to Mahler and Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the complete cycles. For me, Mahler wrote operas in the form of symphonic pieces. In Lieder the meaning of the text is very important. In Italy we have wonderful theatres and a great tradition for opera but one of the greatest aspects of culture in Germany, Austria, England, France and middle Europe is the song with text. It is one of the greatest forms of expression.
Christopher Alder
When you start studying a piece you have performed earlier, do you listen to your recording or deliberately try to distance yourself from any previous concept?
No, I try to study again, and fortunately in a life you can always find something new. It would be boring always to do the same thing in the same way. But I try to find new, important things. Sometimes I listen to my old recordings and think, ?‘Oh my God, what was I doing there?’. And sometimes I think, ?‘That’s not bad. Something good.’
Gil Shaham
What advice or suggestions do you have for today’s musicians – composers, conductors and (especially) instrumentalists? What should we do to improve our art?
To listen more and to enjoy the music. To love music. There is a great passion for music everywhere, even in Italy where some years ago it was not so. The musician should be open to play from Baroque music to the modern avant-garde. There shouldn’t be any limits. Always try to find good music. I remember after the war they were saying about Bartók and Stravinsky that it’s not music – it’s percussion, just noise. Today almost everybody would say that it’s classic music. The problem today is to know which ones are the good composers.
Simon Keenlyside
How do you control the dynamic between singers on the stage and the orchestra at your feet? Do you consciously have a method to instil trust without losing control?
Normally I try to find a good balance so that the musicians can listen to the singers. Of course, in opera or in concerts, the voice might be accompanied by the orchestra or sometimes the orchestra is even more important, so the singer must follow the orchestral line. Listening is one of the most important things.
Roberto Alagna
Is it possible to describe your vision of the music in terms of other images?
I love painting. I go always to see new exhibitions. There’s a lot of music where I can see connections with paintings but normally, just as in literature I read a book for the book, so I read music for the music. I speak very little with the orchestra. We have a good communication with the eyes or the hands, and they understand. All the musicians in the Orchestra Mozart play chamber music. If you know how to play quartets and quintets, that’s the best way.
Barbara Bonney
How are you able to paint pictures in the air with your beautiful hands?
I always felt like I was floating on clouds when I sang with you. I always imagined I was flying with Barbara.
Jonas Kaufmann
What particular reasons are there for your love of Lohengrin? Why do you think it is often described as Wagner’s “Italian” opera? And why does one so seldom hear from singers what Wagner says he was looking for – “German” expression coupled with bel canto style?
With the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, we did a recording with Jonas Kaufmann of opera arias by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Wagner. I think he’s a great singer and I like him very much.Lohengrin is a great opera and more lyric, say, than Tristan, but I don’t like to make classifications of opera. As to the question about seldom hearing what Wagner was looking for, the answer is that there are not too many good singers like Jonas Kaufmann.
Roberto Alagna
What do you think about variation in pitch? Do you think it can be raised any higher?
We have problems with pitch when we are playing Baroque music. Sometimes the instruments have to play at 415kHz or 440kHz or 442kHz. If you go to Vienna, it is 447kHz. Of course, if it is higher it makes the sound more brilliant. It depends very much on the acoustics. In Vienna, for example, it is quite high, but the acoustics of the Musikverein are so warm that it is not bad. I remember in Berlin they used to play at 444kHz; with the Orchestra Mozart we play at 442kHz,although with Pergolesi we have to lower the pitch, especially if you have an oboe d’amore at 415kHz. When singers say the pitch is too high, I always say, ?“What about the basses? If the pitch is lower, they have to sing lower”. As to its being raised further, I think Vienna’s 447kHz is already quite high.
Yuja Wang
You have conducted many pianists like Martha Argerich and Hélène Grimaud – pianists I greatly respect and admire. How does conducting us change from generation to generation? Was conducting pianists back when you began your career different from conducting us now? Do you approach conducting the younger generation of pianists from a different perspective?
When I was studying piano together with Martha Argerich, she was 11 or 12 and we did concerts immediately, because I thought she was a great player. I think the first time we played in Berlin with Martha Argerich in Prokofiev and Ravel was my first recording with the Berlin Philharmonic. With soloists I always say what I think about the music and we always try to find the best approach. But I don’t understand the distinction between young and old. I remember when I was playing with Arthur Rubinstein or with Rudolf Serkin. Serkin was for me the youngest spirit; he was 88 and we recorded many Mozart concertos.
I was always saying to the orchestra, ‘Look, the youngest here is Rudy.’