Who or what inspired you to take up conducting and pursue a career in music?
I was told that as a baby I was very restless and the only way my mother could keep me calm was to make me listen to Mozart. Later, at the age of about 6, I started telling everyone that I wanted to be a conductor.
Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life?
Speaking of conductors, all my teachers and mentors have been a very strong source of inspiration and continuous stimulation: Gianluigi Gelmetti, Simon Rattle and Christoph von Dohnányi. But there are other figures who have constantly influenced me both during my years of study: Carlo Maria Giulini, for example (whom I had the good fortune to meet in an amusing encounter on the beach in Punta Ala, Tuscany), has always been a model for me. Even today, his recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra are a continuous source of inspiration.
When I was conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra last year (during the recording of my CD of Elgar and Britten), I could not help being moved by the thought that two of my heroes (namely Giulini and Dohnányi) have been so long associated with this fantastic orchestra!
What, for you, is the most challenging part of being a conductor? And the most fulfilling?
The most challenging: Perhaps the fact that this profession leads you to be alone for many moments of your life. You work a lot with yourself (which is certainly a good thing), but because of that you end up alone quite often. You must make sacrifices. The discipline required to be a good musician and conductor leads you to make many renunciations.
The most fulfilling: Certainly, that feeling you get sometimes when you are one entity with the orchestra musicians… when in concert you have the feeling that all the musicians are by your side and that you are all almost possessed by a higher force guiding you in the right direction.
As a conductor, how do you communicate your ideas about a work to the orchestra?
We should never forget that conducting is a non-verbal communication. We can express many things with our gestures or simply with our presence and concentration. I always try to speak as little as possible with the orchestra during rehearsals. A few small images to stimulate the imagination of the musicians in front of me can be helpful. However, talking is always a bit of a defeat for a conductor. We have our hands.
How exactly do you see your role? Inspiring the players/singers? Conveying the vision of the composer?
Surely the main role of a conductor, and of any performer, must be to conveying the composer’s intentions. To do this, however, it is also necessary to inspire the musicians in front of you.
Is there one work which you would love to conduct?
Too many! For example, after releasing my first album of Respighi (a composer I know well and have conducted a lot), I keep discovering new pieces of his that I would like to conduct and, why not, even record.
A composer I would also love to conduct and have not yet performed is Skryabin.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in?
There are many halls that have impressed me with their acoustics:
Obviously the Philharmonie in Berlin, the city where I live. But also many others like the Dewan Filharmonik in Kuala Lumpur, or the Tonhalle in Zurich. Last year I was impressed by the Philharmonie in Essen, Germany: after just a few seconds of rehearsal, I felt like a violinist who had been given a Stradivarius.
What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?
Anything that serves to relax me and keep me away from music during my moments of rest is very helpful in regaining my inspiration when I am on the podium. In my spare time I try to swim as much as I can, read something not related to music, study languages. Even hobbies like collecting wines help me to ‘switch off’. At the moment I am devoting myself to decorating my new home in Puglia (my father’s birthplace) which I have named “Villa Belkis” in honour of my beloved Respighi and his fantastic piece ‘Belkis, Queen of Sheba’.
What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music audiences?
Certainly, music education in schools is very important. And the education programmes for children and young people that orchestras are increasingly offering nowadays is a very important tool. Moreover I think classical music should be taken to the most unusual places. We should give concerts in places where people do not expect classical music (and have never been able to enjoy it). In my experience, music should not be explicated or simplified for people who are unfamiliar with classical music. Even those completely unaware of it can suddenly fall in love with it, they just have to get in touch with it.
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
As a conductor, certainly improving your career (this word is a bit overused) leads you to have the opportunity to collaborate with orchestras of ever higher quality. And for us, a better orchestra is like an instrumentalist playing a better instrument. For this reason, being successful means improving the level of your activity to the point where you can always choose programmes and orchestras.
Speaking instead of success as a person, I really love the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, especially this sentence:
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived”
What advice would you give to young or aspiring conductors?
Be patient, do not seek the short cut. Go deeper. Think with your own mind because not all traditions are true traditions, sometimes they are only bad habits. At the same time never put your ego before the scores.
What’s the one thing we’re not talking about in the music industry which you feel we should be?
One should talk even more about how incredibly difficult and exhausting it is to play an instrument and make it one’s profession. Especially in Italy, the musician’s work is hugely undervalued. People are often looked at as having a hobby and not a real job.
We should make society more aware of how fundamental music is in everyone’s life and how valuable musicians are. Some say that music is the bread of the soul. We should look at musicians as healers of our soul.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
Chief conductor of a top orchestra in UK or Germany.
What is your present state of mind?
I am very happy right now. I just had a baby girl (Ambra) who is simply adorable and has brought indescribable joy into my life.
In the near future I have wonderful concerts with the London Philharmonic and the Philharmonia among other orchestras. I couldn’t ask for anything better at the moment.
Alessandro Crudele will launch his new CD of Britten’s Sea Interludes and Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia and Michael Barenboim at a concert hosted by the Italian Institute at the Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London, on 12 October. Crudele will conduct the Philharmonia in a programme of Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, Respighi’s Ancient Arts and Dances, Suite III and Britten’s Sinfonietta Op.1.
His album with the Philharmonia of Elgar and Britten is available now on Linn Records.
(Image: Marco Borggreve)
Discover more from MEET THE ARTIST
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
MEET THE ARTIST 