Yamada ‘played it by ear' as he conducted Berlin Philharmonic
'I played it by ear, just as I always do,' he said. 'I was excited by the way the orchestra transfigured.'
In June, Yamada appeared on stage with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time and drew applause from the audience.
Yamada, 46, shared his impressions of the fulfilling time he spent with one of the leading classical music orchestras in the world.
CONDUCTING IS ABOUT 'CARRYING'
'The orchestra organizes 100 top-notch soloists, who are performing in the way they each prefer,' Yamada said. 'A swell arises, however, when they unite. They become mutually linked, both in music and in appearance. The better that things work out, the more wildly, and incredibly, the swell begins to grow.'
He added: 'I was thinking about how I could add air into the harmony. Nobody there, apparently, had ever experienced an approach like that. They were, like, 'Oh, this guy is going to try something novel with us. OK, why don't we take him on?' They likely decided to deal with me in that way.'
The Berlin Philharmonic was founded in 1882 by young musicians as a self-governing body.
It went on to be a time-honored, prestigious orchestra, where famed composers Johannes Brahms and Antonin Dvorak conducted their own pieces and Herbert von Karajan built a golden age.
Yamada is the 15th Japanese to have wielded the baton on the illustrious stage, where every aspiring conductor fancies taking a turn.
Yamada took the rostrum during the Berlin Philharmonic's regular concert held from June 12 through 14.
He told about the experience in a casual manner, as opposed to the way that Yutaka Sado talked passionately, and excitedly, about how he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in 2011.
Yamada chose to perform, instead of pieces of the German school, works by an Italian composer (Ottorino Respighi's 'Fontane di Roma'), a Japanese (Toru Takemitsu's 'I Hear the Water Dreaming') and a French artist (Camille Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3, 'Organ Symphony').
In selecting these pieces, Yamada sought advice from Daishin Kashimoto, a close friend, who has served as first concertmaster with the Berlin Philharmonic since 2010.
'He encouraged me by saying, 'Why don't you try a French piece?'' Yamada said. 'I found that reassuring. After all, he is the only person that fully knows both me and the orchestra.'
For reasons of scheduling, Kashimoto was unable to appear on stage with Yamada, who, however, said he didn't mind.
'I think it worked out all right in the end,' Yamada said. 'I am afraid I would have been reliant on him if he had been there. And that could also have been counterproductive if that were to make the others believe that he and I, fellow Japanese, were helping each other. Well, to tell the truth, however, I would have wanted him to be in the audience.'
Yamada said that while he was performing on stage, he recalled an episode he had been told about by the late Hiroyuki Iwaki (1932-2006), who also previously served as music director of the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo and conducted the Berlin Philharmonic himself.
In Yamada's words, Iwaki quoted Karajan as often saying, when the native of Austria was artistic director with the Berlin Philharmonic, that conducting is not about 'driving,' but is about 'carrying.' Yamada said he understood for the first time what that description meant.
'I realized that I am not there to control,' he said. 'Perhaps, in a sense, an orchestra is not so much like a car as it is like a horse. The horse has a strong willpower itself. I have to respect that when I am astride it. I am there to show where we should be going, but I am not there to force it.'
Yamada continued: 'We are on totally equal terms, so I am always face to face with all the 100. I realized that this sense, which says this orchestra would be all right even without the conductor's cues, represents, more than anything else, the tradition that Karajan nurtured.'
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