INTERVIEW: JAMES GAFFIGAN & EDWARD GARDNER
Dual perspectives Conductors James Gaffigan (a New Yorker with positions in Amsterdam and Lucerne) and Edward Gardner (a Brit who recently made several major US debuts) share their perspectives on the classical music scene in the US James: One of the first things I wanted to ask is how you feel about being asked to conduct American music in the US; do you find it intimidating? When I go to the UK I steer clear from Elgar, or Britten, which is strange, because when I go to Helsinki I want to do Sibelius, and when I go to the Czech Phil I love to do Dvořák or Suk... Edward: It’s funny, I haven’t really done American music in the US; I shy away from it in exactly the same way I think. I would love to do some Copland in the US though; when you’re hearing an orchestra play their own music you get the real essence of who they are. Though I find American orchestras really good at British music as well. Let’s say Britten and onwards. They’re incredibly quick and get that style completely. J: I think it’s in their vernacular to swing things; I find it really easy to do anything that has elements of jazz in it with American orchestras. I’ve always found that when I hear bits of Ives it feels extremely nostalgic, but when I hear Enigma or
10 The Green Room Summer 2018
Peter Grimes I hear something very foreign. E: The more I do any of those pieces, the more I enjoy doing them outside the UK than inside. Somehow, they’re kind of trapped within whatever tradition is thought to be. If you talk to British orchestras about Enigma variations it makes them a little bit itchy, because on one hand it’s very wellknown and it’s overplayed, and on another it’s unbelievably elusive to get it great. Yet taking pieces like that to America, that doesn’t have the stigma or itchiness, is wonderful. Let’s talk about the temperament of the orchestras. I find it’s a very different feeling in a rehearsal with an American orchestra than with a British orchestra. J: I remember when I started conducting people would say, “the British orchestras are great in the first rehearsal, but it’s hard to get it any better than that.” E: That’s the cliché, yes... J: I’ve worked with LSO, LPO, BBC,
© Benjamin Ealovega
