Renowned French-born, Grammy-winning conductor Ludovic Morlot has worked with orchestras around the world, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Boston Symphony. During his eight years as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony he pushed the boundaries of traditional concert programming. He takes the baton as City of Birmingham Orchestra (CBSO) returns to Harrogate in June for an opening night concert at the Harrogate Music Festival. He sheds light on the mysterious world of conducting…
You’re conducting CBSO in Harrogate in June. Have you performed with them before?
I’ve performed with them many times going back 15 years or so. It’s one of the UK orchestras I’ve worked most regularly with. I’ve always felt very close to CBSO. We’ve done regional tours, premieres, more intimate repertoires, and the Proms.
You have performed all over the world, have you ever played in Harrogate?
I haven’t been to Harrogate but I’m looking forward to it. It’s always fun to discover new audiences as well as new spaces.
You have performed with some of the best known orchestras around the world. Can you talk about some of your highlights?
I’m an artist who likes to work on a journey rather than a memory. In that sense it’s been very special for me to have music directorship where I could develop a culture of how to listen to one another. So my eight years with the Seattle Symphony is a big highlight. It’s a bit like what I’m doing now in Barcelona with my new orchestra, which is to develop a culture I believe in and a way of playing I believe in. I was also one of the co-founders of the National Youth Orchestra of China and the development I saw in just a few weeks from those young artists was so moving. Of course, standing in for the Berlin Philharmonic was a big highlight and when you work with orchestras at that level it’s a privilege. But for me it’s the satisfaction of building something week after week, year after year, so that when you go back to them you recognise your voice.
Where did your love of music come from?
I studied the violin as a kid from about the age of six. I wanted to play in orchestras and play Chamber Music and that’s how I fell in love with the orchestra repertoire, and my curiosity made me want to conduct. But my love of music came quite late because my family isn’t musical at all. It was only in my late teens when I realised that I couldn’t spend a life without music in it. But I didn’t know if that meant playing, teaching or composing. The violin was important until I started my postgrad studies and then from my master’s degree I moved into conducting.
What was it about conducting that interests you?
The repertoire mostly. When I was younger I was torn between music and architecture. So those two passions of mine formed really well with conducting because you’re studying masterpieces that are just like buildings. I loved jigsaw puzzles and analysis and all of this was about form and structure and that’s how I became curious about music scores. The two things are very similar. We are trying to create something beautiful by refining our technique, to build the most beautiful castle possible.
What is the role of the conductor and why are they important?
I see the role as a coach accompanying the team. We work a lot in rehearsals like a sports team does in training. We polish as much as we can so that when we reach the concert the players can give the best of themselves. That’s how I see my role, as someone who is there to help and support so that each player can perform to the best of their abilities. I don’t see my role as telling people what to do. I’m part of a team. You might have people who have played a piece a hundred times more than you and also someone who is playing it for the first time. My job is to decide what good idea we’re going to aim for and try and create the right environment for that to happen.
What makes a good or great conductor?
It’s difficult because every orchestra needs something slightly different. What one orchestra thinks is a phenomenal conductor another might not bear working with. If there was a recipe I’d like someone to give it to me. I would say a good conductor is one who listens and someone who is open minded and curious to learn something from the orchestra every day, which is why listening is so important. That’s more important than someone who has a beautiful technique, or is very charming on the podium. Those things can be very important but for me it’s about growing, listening and learning.
Who are some of your favourite conductors and why?
I have to mention my mentors starting with Sir Colin Davis in London and Bernard Haitink, who was very important to me. I was also assistant to Seiji Ozawa who was a big influence on me. I was assistant to James Levine in Boston and I learned a great deal from him. I come from the Pierre Monteux school [for conductors] and the idea that the role of the conductor is to be faithful to the voice of the composer is something very important to me. In that sense I like Kubelik a lot and more recently Harnoncourt. I’ve learned a lot from Sir Simon Rattle, too. I don’t think there’s one conductor I haven’t learned from, both good and bad. I was lucky enough to be an assistant long enough to see a lot of different conductors and see what works and what doesn’t and I think that’s how you create your own voice as a conductor and your own identity as an artist.
What about classical music and orchestral music, is it still relevant in the modern world?
Yes, absolutely. I’m very optimistic. We’re always going to need those great paintings and great books and great concerts. I think it’s doing better than it ever has in terms of accessibility. In the orchestral world I think we have been our own worst enemy in a way by wanting to make it very exclusive at some point in history. If you think of the 80s and 90s and the start of cd, we made it very exclusive, so you had to dress up and to know what you were going to experience. We made it very intellectual and I think now it’s much more about how it can touch people emotionally. We can go further in making it more easily available. Sometimes we complain we don’t have enough young people in the hall but they are busy with their jobs and young families, but I think if we make a bigger effort to keep music part of our education at school then there’s no reason why people when they’re a bit older and have more spare time in their life can’t come back to it – if you have that early connection to the concert hall.
What is it about conducting and being part of an orchestra that you love so much?
Being on stage is one of those moments where I forget where I am and who I am, it’s like time stops. I might have a headache or something but it all disappears for a few hours. That’s why I think singing is so important. When we’re actively involved with sound and communicating emotions, everything else becomes much less important. I also enjoy the idea of sharing something and taking risks. It’s a bit like sport with that adrenaline rush. In a concert you can’t go back. If you make a mistake it’s more about how you can fix it or live with it.
We often try and categorise music, do you think musicians from different genres can learn from one another?
When I was in Seattle I became quite close to members of rock bands like Pearl Jam. I went on tour with them as a VIP backstage and I saw the level of adrenaline built up before they go out on stage and I think we can learn something from those guys. I think it would be more exciting to see orchestra players go out there and do a dramatic solo. I’m very close to Mike McCready (lead guitarist in Pearl Jam) and commissioned him to write a piece for the orchestra in Seattle when I was there. I was impressed by how much those guys know about our music. There’s only good and bad music as Duke Ellington said, right? We just have to decide what’s good and what’s bad.