CONDUCTOR SETS THE TONE - interview with Günther Pichler

Adam Domagała: When you founded the famous Alban Berg Quartet over 40 years ago, you were already, like your colleagues, a recognized virtuoso, a professor at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Using terminology from the world of pop music: it was a supergroup, loud from the very beginning due to the reputation of its members. Do you think that in today's times such a 'professorial' venture would have a chance of success? Could it capture the attention of a distracted audience?
Günther Pichler: - It could only succeed if the reason for the formation of such a group was the same as ours: not self-love, showing the world how wonderfully played on instruments, and the desire to achieve artistic quality that goes beyond virtuosity. Our goal was the highest artistic quality, a value that will always stand, regardless of circumstances.

What does this 'highest quality' mean for a performer?
- It's not just about talent and excellent mastery of the instrument, achieved through hard, time-consuming work, but above all about dedication to music and the composer, honesty, and the ability to vividly communicate what has been written in the notes.

When delving into 20th-century music, did you ever feel like you were dealing with geniuses, revolutionaries on the level of Mozart or Beethoven?
- All times need geniuses. Ours too. And I am convinced that we have them. But when talking about Mozart or Beethoven, you make me take a historical perspective. Before we add new names to this list, a few more years must pass.

As a conductor, you have performed with orchestras in many countries. Have you noticed - to put it this way - cultural differences during these travels that allow you to say: this is how the Japanese sound, this is how Italians, Poles, Germans, or Americans sound?
- Many years ago, I might have ventured to make such assessments, but nowadays the differences are almost imperceptible. Asians learn to play in Europe, Europeans in the United States... In orchestras, including Polish ones, there are excellently educated musicians from different countries and cultures, sophisticated, versatile, the ensembles become similar to each other. The best example is with strings, where some differences can be noticed due to the different types of instruments used, among the wind instruments... But these are secondary matters. What can distinguish a particular orchestra is the sound given to it by its conductor. He motivates the musicians to sound in a certain way, imposes his vision, and bears the greatest responsibility for whether the orchestra has its character.

The program of concerts during which you will conduct the Leopoldinum orchestra includes music by Mozart and Brahms (but not their most famous compositions) and a little-known piece by Karl Amadeus Hartmann in Poland. What is the idea that connects these three pieces into one whole?
- I just wanted to demonstrate three musical styles: classicism, romanticism, and something from the 20th century. 'Concerto funebre' by Hartmann is a very sad piece. It was created in 1939, in the first months of World War II, in reaction to the invasion of Poland by the Nazis. Hartmann was terrified and tried to express what was not common in Germany at that time: fear, sadness, hope that evil would not prevail. The soloist in this piece has a wonderful, virtuosic, and emotionally deep part. They can show off their imagination.