Interview
Benoît Jacquemin for La Monnaie De Munt, MYMM
May 11 2012
As the new resident conductor of the Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot will be entitled to a much longer interview in the next issue of MMM. In this interview he talks about two composers very dear to him, Beethoven and Schumann, who he has decided to include in the programme for his second full concert in charge of his new orchestra.
The Pastoral Symphony occupies a special place in Beethoven’s symphonies. What do you think of this work? How will you tackle it in order to avoid the clichés?
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony is, without doubt, along with the Ninth, the most difficult work in the composer’s symphonic repertoire. It is conceived with a romantic form but requires the discipline of a classical interpretation. It has to be, I think, approached like a piece of chamber music with special attention paid to the smallest details of phrasing, articulation, nuance. Nothing can be left to chance in order to be able to add that final touch of magic which makes it so special. As for the clichés maybe we can avoid them by exaggerating them! We know that each of the movements is intended to awaken our feelings and moods by evoking rather than describing the countryside scenes. The storm in the fourth movement makes us feel the emotions only if each of the gestures is exaggerated and, therefore, it inevitably belongs in the world of cliché. It is the same thing with the bird song at the end of Scene at the brook and the Country dancing in the scherzo.
