Auf der Homepage des New Zealand Symphony Orchestra findet sich ein Interview mit James Judd, das Sie mit einigen Gedanken und Ansichten des Dirigenten vertraut machen soll. Wir geben es hier ungekürzt wieder:
Music Director James Judd was appointed in 1999. Since then he has brought the NZSO international exposure through appearances at the 2005 BBC Proms in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, the 2003 Asia International Performing Arts Festival in Osaka, and the 2000 Summer Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. His recordings with the NZSO have received worldwide recognition, most recently his CD of music by Leonard Bernstein (Editor's Choice in Gramophone) and Lilburn The Three Symphonies, which reached No 4 on the UK's Classical CD Chart published in the BBC Music Magazine.
NZSO: Maestro Judd, when did music first come into your life?
Judd: In Church in Hertford, England, where my mother and father and uncle and grandfather sang...enthusiastically, I fell in love with the sound of the organ and voices.
NZSO: What was your first instrumental lesson like?
Judd: First instrumental lesson age of 4 and half was piano with church organist. I loved it, but was really waiting for my legs to grow to reach organ pedals. My first conducting lesson was watching and singing with church choir director. Then at about 12 or 13 taking the odd choir practice, probably very oddly since I was directing my relations and their friends.
NZSO: What was it that made you decide to make music your life?
Judd: The above...never had any thought for anything else. The church organist, Mr Powell, was an amateur, but played with an amazing imagination and sensitivity which caught my imagination.
If you could invite five people from any period in history to dinner, who would you choose and why?
1.Jesus, so I could form my own opinions about all that
2.Bach...we know rather little about him, and he was the greatest composer who ever lived.
3.Furtwangler..the conductor who probed deeper into the core repertoire than any other.
4.Socrates...to listen to a great mind from Athens BC, and because he was probably quite strange and so wise.
5.My own mother and father, because I now understand the questions I want to ask them and because I miss them.
NZSO: What would you serve them?
Judd: Roast lamb with plenty of vegetables for the veggies, and on the assumption that one of my guests might take care of the water, wine, bread and fish situation.
NZSO: What are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
Judd: Wozzeck, conducted by Abbado.
NZSO: How would you describe the experience of performing live?
Judd: Terrifying and exhilarating.
NZSO: What has been your most embarrassing moment on stage?
Judd: It is when I move too much and my braces unclip from my trousers, my shirt comes untucked, my cufflinks fly off and I stab myself with the baton. Luckily these do not always occur at the same concert.
NZSO: What is the most supreme musical moment you have ever experienced?
Judd: Many moments of listening to great performers while living in London as a young student.
NZSO: What piece of music would you play to convince someone of the power of music?
Judd: Mahler 9.
NZSO: Most unusual place you've ever been to?
Judd: I think I will circumnavigate this question since I am so lucky to travel the world and to realize there is nothing usual about anywhere. In the end, I remember places through the people I meet.
Music Director James Judd was appointed in 1999. Since then he has brought the NZSO international exposure through appearances at the 2005 BBC Proms in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, the 2003 Asia International Performing Arts Festival in Osaka, and the 2000 Summer Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. His recordings with the NZSO have received worldwide recognition, most recently his CD of music by Leonard Bernstein (Editor's Choice in Gramophone) and Lilburn The Three Symphonies, which reached No 4 on the UK's Classical CD Chart published in the BBC Music Magazine.
NZSO: Maestro Judd, when did music first come into your life?
Judd: In Church in Hertford, England, where my mother and father and uncle and grandfather sang...enthusiastically, I fell in love with the sound of the organ and voices.
NZSO: What was your first instrumental lesson like?
Judd: First instrumental lesson age of 4 and half was piano with church organist. I loved it, but was really waiting for my legs to grow to reach organ pedals. My first conducting lesson was watching and singing with church choir director. Then at about 12 or 13 taking the odd choir practice, probably very oddly since I was directing my relations and their friends.
NZSO: What was it that made you decide to make music your life?
Judd: The above...never had any thought for anything else. The church organist, Mr Powell, was an amateur, but played with an amazing imagination and sensitivity which caught my imagination.
If you could invite five people from any period in history to dinner, who would you choose and why?
1.Jesus, so I could form my own opinions about all that
2.Bach...we know rather little about him, and he was the greatest composer who ever lived.
3.Furtwangler..the conductor who probed deeper into the core repertoire than any other.
4.Socrates...to listen to a great mind from Athens BC, and because he was probably quite strange and so wise.
5.My own mother and father, because I now understand the questions I want to ask them and because I miss them.
NZSO: What would you serve them?
Judd: Roast lamb with plenty of vegetables for the veggies, and on the assumption that one of my guests might take care of the water, wine, bread and fish situation.
NZSO: What are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
Judd: Wozzeck, conducted by Abbado.
NZSO: How would you describe the experience of performing live?
Judd: Terrifying and exhilarating.
NZSO: What has been your most embarrassing moment on stage?
Judd: It is when I move too much and my braces unclip from my trousers, my shirt comes untucked, my cufflinks fly off and I stab myself with the baton. Luckily these do not always occur at the same concert.
NZSO: What is the most supreme musical moment you have ever experienced?
Judd: Many moments of listening to great performers while living in London as a young student.
NZSO: What piece of music would you play to convince someone of the power of music?
Judd: Mahler 9.
NZSO: Most unusual place you've ever been to?
Judd: I think I will circumnavigate this question since I am so lucky to travel the world and to realize there is nothing usual about anywhere. In the end, I remember places through the people I meet.
