KRISTJAN JÄRVI ABOUT ... Concert Impulses: Most important to me is my connection to the musicians. We give and take energy to one another through our impulses and responses. The result shows how we relate to one another. I try to approach it like a martial art: all the power is in the mind and the body is just an extension of that. We don’t need the audience to see the difficulty of our thoughts or internal conflicts, or the momentary decisions we constantly make in a performance, but just let them enjoy the final result. Musicians The individuals in the orchestra create charisma and sound on stage. If you approach them with an individualistic view where you are just making them shine, recognizing them as the real artists they are, then you get a unique and individual sounding orchestra.
His Father And Brother We give one another strength from three different generations of experience. I don’t always relate to their musical ideas and opinions but I like to hear them because they keep me balanced and help me search for my own outlook. People often assume that we’d have more in common artistically but my cultural education has different colours, it encompasses broad genres and artists. Crossing Borders I regularly spend time in India, Turkey, China and other far reaching cultures. I like to think these trips stretch me to grow in different directions than if I only stay in Europe or America. I’ve always been lucky to meet people everywhere I go who inspire me and show me their world. I am always seeking the authentic: I am the silly one eating the street food and drinking the tap water. For the first season with the MDR we are journeying the East and it’s as much an expression of who I want to be as who I know this orchestra can be. We are more than just a German radio orchestra, we’re an expression of our time. Multicultural, multi-generational, explorers, inventors and collectors, all at the same time. His First MDR Season We start our journey to the East at home in Germany with Carmina Burana. Of course, it’s a Germany that doesn’t exist any more, when in the 1200s pagans wrote anti-Catholic satire, travelling through central Europe writing Latin jokes and songs. A manuscript with an uncertain beginning somehow made its way to where a few hundred years later Carl Orff would write his most famous work. But the fundamental thought about this is that it’s a work about nomads - people travelling and taking their art, songs and culture with them. A clear statement as we continue the journey east. The German Sound In many places of the world people try too hard to standardize. But the different approaches and the resulting uniqueness make musicians special and interesting. People want to see us because of that, not because we are all the same. German orchestras actually have character. In Germany you can tell the differences between the various orchestras and the certain traditions they have maintained. They sound unique – like the MDR Symphony Orchestra. And that is great!
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The MDR Symphony Orchestra As soon as the radio was invented, this orchestra was created. So it was created because of new technology. There is a lot to learn from these beginnings, especially in our times of multimedia. This orchestra fulfils every requirement in order to survive the 21st century, yet maintains certain classical traditions. That is our challenge and I feel the MDR is in exactly the right position to take on this challenge. It has musicians who are willing to get involved and do what is necessary in order to make the MDR orchestra the best example of what a 21st century orchestra can be and to show what orchestral radio tradition means today. I am actually very, very excited to start working with them.