Elvis' ' impudent energy'
Michael Tilson Thomas talks about his collaboration with Elvis Costello -
Extract -
Q How'd this project with Costello come about?
A He got in touch with me and he came to San Francisco and we were looking at the piece and talking about it. He's a very creative musical mind, and the thing that most impressed me is that he was actually writing this piece with a pencil and really trying to understand every note and how it all works. I really liked his whole feeling of curiosity about music.
Q Are you a fan of his old records?
A Sure. And I like the impudent energy of the pieces that he and his band can still turn out after all these years.
Q Why does ``Il Sogno'' work for you?
A I don't think in 5,000 years that you would imagine this music was Elvis' because it's quite far out there in terms of the tonalities. It's pastel-colored, and really quite remarkable.
Posted on Tue, Sep. 07, 2004
Tilson Thomas' wide world of music
AT 59, CONDUCTOR STILL EXPANDS HIS INTERESTS AND AUDIENCES
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News
When the San Francisco Symphony threw a party for conductor Michael Tilson Thomas last spring, some of his famous friends offered testimonials: Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, novelist Amy Tan and organic foods innovator Alice Waters.
The event marked Tilson Thomas' upcoming 10th season with the orchestra, which begins Wednesday night at Davies Symphony Hall. It also burnished his image as a classical music icon who understands the wider world. Tilson Thomas, who turns 60 in December, went on the road with James Brown in the '70s and can explain ``the groove'' as easily as he can wax on the construction of a Mahler symphony.
He even has a new collaboration with Elvis Costello: ``Il Sogno'' (``The Dream'' on Deutsche Grammophon). The hour-plus orchestral work is composed by Costello, with Tilson Thomas conducting the London Symphony Orchstra. On the phone last week, Tilson Thomas talked about Costello, as well as facing the big ``6-0.''
Q How'd this project with Costello come about?
A He got in touch with me and he came to San Francisco and we were looking at the piece and talking about it. He's a very creative musical mind, and the thing that most impressed me is that he was actually writing this piece with a pencil and really trying to understand every note and how it all works. I really liked his whole feeling of curiosity about music.
Q Are you a fan of his old records?
A Sure. And I like the impudent energy of the pieces that he and his band can still turn out after all these years.
Q Why does ``Il Sogno'' work for you?
A I don't think in 5,000 years that you would imagine this music was Elvis' because it's quite far out there in terms of the tonalities. It's pastel-colored, and really quite remarkable.
Q He wrote all 200 pages of the score in pencil. How do you compose?
A I do pencil sketches and then I enter it into a software program called Sibelius, and from then on, I'm in the computer. It's a very good tool for proofreading.
Q Have you spent time on the road with anyone other than James Brown?
A With Sarah Vaughan a few times in the '80s. It was great fun, because she was a trouper, she'd been on the road so much, and she had her own wonderful way of sailing through even the most vexing snafus.
Q Do you still listen widely outside classical music?
A Mostly in the car. I scan all the different stations, just to get an idea of the smorgasbord of sounds that are out there. But in general now, I listen to much less music than I used to. I'm kind of saturated with music.
Mostly, when I go someplace where they have music playing, I ask them to turn it off because it's in competition with the music I'm hearing in my head.
Q You do that in a restaurant?
A Sure. But mostly in people's homes. They're playing music because they want me to feel comfortable, but I say, ``Listen, I want to be able to hear you.''
Q A lot of classical and jazz musicians are into Björk and Radiohead. Are you?
A I don't find the harmonic content of what's currently happening in popular music to be as advanced as I wish it were. It's becoming a very huge issue of textures and sound design. For me, the most important thing about music is what remains in the listener when the music stops. When you find yourself in silence again -- what do you have then?
Q Do you have any guilty pleasures? Like Cheez-Its?
A How did you know? My one problem with junk food is Cheez-Its. My mother loved them, and I have to stay away from them. I'm not tempted by chocolates or anything sweet -- but I have to watch out for those Cheez-Its!
Q How do you feel about turning 60?
A It's taken me by surprise, I guess. But I seem to be continuing to have new dreams and work on realizing them. It is interesting for me that, for example, my grandparents (who were stars of the Yiddish Theater in New York) -- they had this whole life-long theater empire, yet by the time they were my age, they were really winding it down. I realize I'm not winding it down; I'm winding it up.
Q As you begin your 10th season, you're still content, being in San Francisco with the symphony?
A Absolutely.
Q What are your dreams for the next 10 years?
A I'm just interested in making our music ever more inclusive for the people we play for; and doing more in the area of multi-media which will allow us to bring this music to more people; and just continuing, as we understand the music more and more together, to make it still more joyous and more spontaneous and more elegant and all those things that we musicians dream about.
San Francisco Symphony Opening Night Michael Tilson Thomas' 10th season with the symphony begins Wednesday night with a gala opening concert and celebration. Tilson Thomas conducts Bernard Herrmann's Suite from Hitchcock's ``Vertigo''; Claude Debussy's ``La Mer''; Aaron Copland's ``Danzón Cubano''; George Gershwin's ``An American in Paris.''
Time 8:30 p.m.
Where Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.
Tickets Tickets: $125-$240. (415) 864-6000 or www.sfsymphony.org.
Also The program repeats Saturday at the Flint Center, Cupertino. Tickets: $26-52. On Friday at noon, Tilson Thomas and the symphony perform the Herrmann, Copland and Gershwin works (but not Debussy's ``La Mer'') at a free concert at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco.
Michael
Tilson Thomas Pianist; composer; music director and conductor of the San Francisco Symphony since 1995.
Personal 59; born and raised in Los Angeles. Attended University of Southern California; while a student, worked with Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Aaron Copland on premieres of their works.
Key appointments Assistant conductor, associate conductor, principal guest conductor, Boston Symphony, 1969-74; principal guest conductor, Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1981-85; principal conductor, London Symphony Orchestra, 1988-95.
Founded New World Symphony, 1987. He remains artistic director of the Florida-based national training orchestra.
Number of Grammy wins with San Francisco Symphony 6
Latest composition ``Island Music 2'' (world premiere will be Jan. 6-8 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Richard Scheinin at (408) 920-5069 or by e-mail at rscheinin@mercurynews.com.