Night before last I turned on to Charlie Rose for the last segment of the show. The affable Italian-American Antonio Pappano; Music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, was his final guest (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11278).
Rose referred to him as Antonio but with his strong work ethic and drive for conducting he should be dubbed Tony the Tiger. His infectious passion in communicating music made even the poker face, Charlie Rose smile.
Time and again what popped into my mind were the similarities in music as in the written word. Based on his interview here are some examples; the love of art gets your blood going like no other thing can. You have to sustain and engage your audience and keep them interested. Listening (as in writing) is an emotional experience. And finally it's his job as a conductor (similar to writer) to take the words and find the inherent drama in them for others to relate to.
On a personal note my husband sang under his baton when Pappano was a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Steven moved by a particular piece, the Britten War Requiem, went up to him and asked him how he could prevent himself from getting choked up. Pappano replied, “that's the point, you're suppose to be emotionally spent.” The score is based on poems written by a soldier during World War I, found after his death in the trenches.
To conclude the interview, Rose made a remark about Pappano's sense of purpose, at which the conductor responded with, “Opera is hard to do. It's very easy to do it mediocre, it's easy to do badly, but it's hard to get it right.” I echo his statement about getting it right.
I thought about the inter-connectedness in art, how interpretative and communicative artists are grateful to their audience that allows them to let their gift shine through and how audiences desire to embrace music as they desire to embrace a good story.
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