By Sebastian Spreng, Visual Artist and Classical Music Writer

To interview Nicholas McGegan is like taking an intensive seminar in serious enjoyment, because the British conductor embodies the joy of making good music. One of the deans of historically informed practice, his knowledge is encyclopedic and so amazingly assimilated it could well go unnoticed. A “total musician” where everything flows naturally, he doesn’t know pretense or pose and easily could pass as a child, grandchild or close relative of any composer you name: they’re simply part of his family. His enthusiasm sparks contagiously  and that’s enough reason to want to immerse in the music that he will conduct for the New World Symphony, the music of his idols Haydn and Mozart. Nicholas McGegan, photo by Randy Beach

SS: The upcoming weekend performances will be your sixth visit as guest conductor of the New World Symphony. NM: And I feel immense curiosity and enthusiasm. The last time, I had to wear a hard hat to visit the new building under construction!. I know it’s an intimate space, and since we will be doing Mozart and Haydn, it’s absolutely ideal.

SS: Do you put together your own programs? NM: In some cases I do. In this particular one, it was a joint effort with the NWS. It will be a concert devoted to the classical style, with a soloist soprano. I love it because my great friend Cyndia Sieden will be singing the arias Mozart composed for his sister-in-law, Aloysia Weber: No, che non sei capace and the famous Vorrei spiegarvi… I added the Exultate jubilate, a difficult, well-known piece composed for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. And… if there’s an encore and we are lucky, I can tell you – very much between us – that it might be one of the Queen of the Night’s arias from The Magic Flute, a role in which she literally “reigns”. Rounding out the concert are two Haydn symphonies, the early No. 30 (Alleluia) and the later No. 103 (Drumroll), one of my favorites “London” Symphonies.

SS: You specialize in historically informed practice, but NWS musicians do not play with original instruments NM: No, but they will be seated just like the orchestra of the time, and in the new concert hall we will achieve sound similar to the 18th Century’s. We will try to avoid too much vibrato. They are not new at this, it will be easy to achieve the sound I want.

SS: As a pioneer of this practice, what do you see as the advantages of playing music as it was originally played? NM: Well, I don’t know if I’m a pioneer. I’ve been trying for 40 years. The advantage is that the more you know, the better your musical judgment. I always try to find out how each piece of music was played in its time, but I do play for a modern audience. I have no intention of recreating a museum piece. The point is for acquired knowledge to help the performance stay closer to the original and in that way fulfill the composer’s intentions.

SS: How do you conduct this music for modern ears? NM: First, I think about what I want and how I want it. When conducting, I devote all my passion to the audience. I don’t want them to leave the hall thinking “that was stylistically correct.” To me the, the most important thing is what I call “The Factor Wow!”

SS: People tend to think of Mozart as fun and of Papa Haydn as boring. NM: It’s just a concept. They’re both among the most fun composers who ever lived. Haydn was also a very good person, Mozart was a little more complicated. The best part is that they adored each other, they respected each other and they learned from each other. To me, they represent the best possible music. A concert with both of them in it is like a walk in heaven.

SS: If you had to pick one work from each to take with you to a desert island? NM: Almost impossible! The Marriage of Figaro is certainly my favorite of favorites. As to Haydn, it would be nearly impossible to pick one. Perhaps one of his later symphonies, perhaps No. 103, which we’ll be playing. It shows an artist at his peak, in absolute command of his talent and his profession, such extraordinary control and resolve that it results in a perfect composition.

SS: You would have liked to have dinner with…? NM: Haydn and also Mendelssohn. I just returned from Leipzig, where I visited his home. He had magnificent china and silverware. I would have liked to be one of his guests.

SS: Good people, for what I see… NM: Of course! …  Imagine: Handel would have tried to eat my food, Wagner would have talked only about himself and I suppose Mozart would have been busy throwing bread balls at the pretty girls. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to have missed that. Probably, poor Beethoven wasn’t a great dinner companion, but I would have loved to have a conversation with Schubert in Viennawith some cake and coffee.

SS: And when would you have liked to be a fly on the wall? NML On so many occasions! At a performance of a Handel opera or a rehearsal of The Marriage of Figaro. I just happened to be reading the memoirs of Irishman Michael Kelly, the first Don Basilio/Curzio, where he tells of rehearsing with Mozart and the orchestra applauding wildly after the first Non più andrai. Isn’t that very moving?

SS: Who is the greatest music personality you have met? NM: Definitely Benjamin Britten. I played the flute in his orchestra. Next year we’ll celebrate the centenary of his birth.

SS: How do you see classical music now? NM: While many are predicting its demise, I see music more alive than ever. With all the technology that’s available, it can reach more people than anyone could ever have imagined, and at a lower cost. Yes, people are not buying as many CDs, because things have changed, but concert halls are packed. At present, many young people go to the opera because it provides “that sophisticated touch.” Taking your girlfriend or boyfriend to the opera makes you look good,  and that’s great. In Los Angeles, since the opening of Walt Disney Hall, the median age of the audience has dropped tremendously, just because it became fashionable, and that’s all right too.

SS: What’s your take on applause? NM: Let’s say that if you’re “historically informed,” you can applaud whenever you feel like it. Mozart wanted the audience to applaud even during the music, which may be going too far. But I, for example, have no objection to applause after every movement of a 19^th century symphony. In fact, Beethoven expected applause, because sometimes a movement would be repeated as an encore. The second movement of his Seventh was repeated as an encore during the premiere. It was only in the latter half of the 19^th century that people stopped applauding after each movement and only did it at the end. It happened when auditoriums became “music temples” and no longer resembled modern-day rock concerts. I don’t have a problem with it, and to those who think it’s a “provincial” custom, I apologize. If you like it, why not applaud? If in opera it’s the norm to applaud after each aria, why not in others? On the other hand,  certainly I understand those who say it disrupts the atmosphere the music creates, but even sophisticated audiences find it difficult to contain themselves after the first movement of the Emperor Concerto, and why wouldn’t they!