BD: What do you look for when a violinist or a French horn player comes for an audition?
CK: A very high standard, first.
BD: Technical standard?
CK: Technical and musical. And second, does this musician fit into the group of musicians which I already have? But I don’t select them by myself. I am one among several who chooses. Perhaps I am the most important, but there are others. The committee is very, very big in Germany! For the important positions, it’s the whole orchestra.
BD: For concertmaster or a principal player?
CK: For concertmaster, you have all eighty musicians sitting there and listening! Everybody is allowed to say yes or no.
BD: And then you have to arrive at a consensus?
CK: Yes, and that’s not so difficult because normally we come along very well. Just in case, as Music Director I am absolutely able to say no. In Germany, if the conductor says no to a musician, then it’s no.
BD: So you have veto power.
CK: I have veto power. What I don’t have is if I say, “yes” and the orchestra says definitely, “no,” then it’s no. But that never happened.
BD: So you really need yes votes on both sides.
CK: Yes.
BD: But you say that the consensus is usually there?
CK: Yes. It happened three or four times while I was Music Director that the consensus was not there, and I said no. But if I would not be one hundred percent convinced that what I’m doing is good for the orchestra, I wouldn’t say no to a new musician.
BD: Is it difficult to change someone’s attitude from wanting to be a soloist as opposed to being a member of a section in an orchestra?
CK: We have a really very, very good standard in new players for an orchestra. But you have to decide pretty early if you are going to try to become a soloist or if you are going to be in an orchestra. At least from the musicians I know, with very few exceptions, even in the principal positions in the major orchestras are wonderful, amazing musicians. But they are orchestra musicians and not soloists. And there is a difference.
BD: Is the standard of the orchestral musician continuing to go up?
CK: No question! Absolutely no question! And certainly, from the orchestras I know on both sides of the world — in Europe and in America — we are still going to learn from each other. German and Austrian orchestras have to learn very quickly that technical standard is absolutely, absolutely one hundred percent necessary to arrive to a certain point in music! And as I see here in America, the ability of American orchestras to learn something new is outstanding! They’re going to learn the certain style where the European orchestras are. If you have the certain style in your blood, then it’s easier for you. The cultural background in Europe is different from the American, and that’s the reason why there are certain differences.
BD: When you stand in front of a new orchestra for the first time, is that a good feeling, a solid feeling, or does that depend on which orchestra it is?
CK: I would not deny that it depends a little on the orchestra, but that’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is what pieces I am conducting. In my case I was very lucky, and I’m still a very lucky conductor because normally I’m never nervous.
BD: You’re never nervous?
CK: Never. Certainly it’s thrilling if you stand in front of a major orchestra, one of the big ones, but if you are with a small orchestra which may be not so important for your career, and you are not trying to do your absolute best, then please get off the podium! For me, it does not make so much difference where I am. The difference is what I am conducting and if I have done it many times. If the work is something which is very, very difficult for me to do, then that’s the challenge.
* * * * *
BD: Tell me about making recordings.
CK: I made very, very few, and the basic reason is I don’t like to do it!
BD: Why?
CK: First of all, because with the technical standard of recordings, you can cheat. And I don’t like to cheat.
BD: Isn’t it, then, your responsibility not to cheat, to make an honest recording?
CK: Maybe it’s my responsibility, and I don’t want to tell you anything about other interpreters. I’m not saying that everybody cheats, but if you know the possibilities, then you are going to use them! And second — what is for me maybe more important — I’ve been listening to some recordings which are maybe the best you can get, and there is such an overwhelming difference between the recordings and a live concert. I’d go to a concert if I could; I would not use recordings. One of the major reasons why I don’t like to do recordings is that today we have records of nearly everything! And when talking about the really major pieces — not just fifty, but maybe five hundred or a thousand — we don’t have only one recording, we have twenty-five! So why should I make a recording if the things which I have to say are only going to come across if you listen to the concert. You are not going to get the message if you listen to the recording!
BD: So you’re going to turn down offers for recordings?
CK: I’m not going to turn them down, but I’m not looking! I could have been seeking them for years and years, but I always said no. I’m really not interested! [Note: In the decade since the time of this interview, Kalmar has made several recordings with the Grant Park Orchestra, all of them featuring works that have not been recorded previously, or are under-represented in the catalogue.]
BD: Are you optimistic about the future of music?
CK: Generally speaking, I hope very much yes. I can only tell you about the classical music — opera and orchestras in Germany and Austria. There, the future is going to change.
BD: How so? Gaze into your crystal ball!
CK: We are getting major problems with audience. Certainly you don’t have any problems if you are playing or conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. They are always sold out, no question. But I am not doing that. I’m Music Director in Dessau, and that’s a place where you first notice. In the major cities, they are going to notice, maybe, in five to ten years. I believe that we have to start to think about the future of classical music now, so we are prepared in ten years to maybe make something different. I can’t tell you exactly what we have to do differently, but I would try to start talking to executive directors and to other musicians when I see them. What we are basically now doing is just concerts of music which has been written in the last century. We are now presenting our music to only a few people. Most people don’t come to the concert and it’s going to be less in the future. So what could I do to get to more audience if the only thing I’m doing is just making concerts for less and less people and playing music which is old? You have always to think about how I could increase that and what kind of music I should play.
BD: You’re not going to sell out, are you?
CK: No. [Laughs] I had the experience that I think that does not happen here in this country. I had the experience that every time you tried to make with your own orchestras, for example, music for children, music for young people, or you try to make a concert which is not at all classical music — maybe going to the pops — musicians say, “Oh, this concert is not interesting for me because I was not born to do such kind of things!” Be careful about what you say because maybe the future is going to show us things which now we are not able to think about. But we have to change our mind.
BD: But you’re still optimistic about the future?
CK: I try to be, but there are more important people than I am who are already concerned about this problem. You asked me about records. Where you see the problem is in the record companies, now. You see it now because you have so many records. Everybody does a record! So it’s nearly impossible to sell; only if you are very lucky in advertising. That’s another question, but the whole industry is going probably to come down. Not the whole industry, but it’s going to be a very difficult time! And that is maybe something that is going to happen, in a different way, to the orchestras if we are not able to change a little.
BD: So you want to be part of the solution?
CK: Certainly I want to be part of the solution, because if I’m not part of the solution, I’m not going to work on what I’m doing.
BD: I hope you’re able to work on it for a long time.
CK: I hope so.
BD: Thank you for coming to Chicago.
CK: Thank you.
© 1999 Bruce Duffie
This interview was recorded in Chicago on July 12, 1999.
Award - winning broadcaster Bruce Duffie was with WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago from 1975 until its final moment as a classical station in February of 2001. His interviews have also appeared in various magazines and journals since 1980, and he now continues his broadcast series on WNUR-FM, as well as on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio.
Used by permission.