2012-05-03

Interview: Stphane Denve, musical director of RSNO - News and features - Scotsman.com

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Interview: Stphane Denve, musical director of RSNO

Stphane Denve, outgoing musical director of RSNO. Picture: Robert Perry By KEN WALTON

Published on Thursday 3 May 2012 00:00

SEVEN years well spent at the helm of the RSNO comes to an end next week for Stphane Denve, but why exactly is he going? Saying goodbye is never easy. But its the inevitable task facing Stphane Denve as he embarks tonight on a ten-day roller-coaster ride that is his swansong as musical director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). With two spellbinding programmes to conduct one this weekend featuring Samuel Barbers gorgeous Violin Concerto and Stravinskys Rite of Spring, another next week ending with James MacMillans riotously satirical Britannia and Ravels Daphnis et Chlo and the coincidental release this month of a major double disc recording of Debussy with the orchestra Denve has helped transform over the past seven years, its an experience he is finding a little hard to come to terms with. This has been my first musical directorship, so its the first time Ive ever had to leave an orchestra, he says. Right now Im so busy anyway, having just returned from conducting in Santa Monica. Ive already completed a season in my new post at the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Ill spend the summer conducting in the States again. But when I do finally have time to reflect on my time at the RSNO, I honestly dont know how its going to affect me. Im chatting to him in his south Glasgow home, which he and his family intend to stay in for the foreseeable future, and Denve is every bit as affable, honest, larger-than-life and passionate as he was the first time we met back in his early RSNO days. Audiences, now used to his opening repartee at concerts, will instantly relate to that. Denve has made genuine friends of the folk he entertains. Is it no accident that RSNO audiences have steadily increased in recent years? Thats just one of the facts nobody can deny. Otherwise its difficult for me to talk objectively about whether my original aspirations for the orchestra have been met. But I can tell you for certain that we do bring music to more audiences, we have more full houses, more young people, which is hugely rewarding for me. Clearly none of that could have happened without accompanying artistic success, and the fact that Denve as musical director unlike his immediate predecessor, who was nominally only principal conductor has exerted his influence over the programming of entire seasons. I really cared a lot about making good programmes. Its a fascinating process to learn what works, and what doesnt. He cites several of the themes that have embellished recent seasons: the literature theme; the 10 out of 10 contemporary series; this years exploration of the Auld Alliance; the popular Naked Classics concerts with Paul Rissmann, which Denve wishes could have been captured and marketed on DVD; and, more generally, a permeating presence of French music, ranging from mainstream Debussy and Ravel, and the glittery revelations of Albert Roussels music (captured on disc as well as in concert), to Denves special relationship with the music of Guillaume Connesson. Stemming from that, who would deny that the RSNO is now playing with heaps more character, unanimity and self-belief, particularly when it comes to French repertoire and the sensitive sound world associated with anything from Berlioz to Dutillieux? When I arrived I changed the layout of the strings and focused on the sound, which is a very big preoccupation of mine. Its all part of the live concert experience, which is so much more special than listening to a CD. The human interaction is so important: what happens when we are all sharing emotions; the magic that results from hearing this incredible quality and complexity of sound. I think that we now play Debussy and Ravel in a way that is wholly idiomatic and quite convincing. But I dont just look for a special sound in French repertoire. I want to achieve a special sound for any composer, and I hope that the RSNO has become much more flexible in doing that. Nonetheless, Debussy has held a special place in the relationship, with performances this season to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, and more especially the current release of Denves multi-disc recordings of the composers major orchestral works (which will be the subject of Mondays classical CD review). There is so much more to say about Debussy, in Jeux, for instance, I wanted it to be more narrative than usual, something we all experienced in December in a stunning live performance enlivened by surtitles to elucidate the storyline.
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2012-05-03

Interview: Stphane Denve, musical director of RSNO - News and features - Scotsman.com

Denve is a man of steely determination, an aspect of his personality that may at times have been interpreted by some RSNO players as ruthless and uncompromising. But it gets results. Im very demanding of the players, and I have the feeling that there is more tension, more energy in the orchestra to play well all the time, to really be more competitive and on the ball than they were when I arrived. Nor has he compromised with audiences, who eat up his French charm regardless. I really feel weve changed the dynamic with audiences who, when I came here, would only come out for Dvork or Tchaikovsky because they knew it. Now they come to the RSNO just because it is the RSNO and know they will have a good night, even if they dont know one or two names on the programme. Its essential that continues. Id hate for the old conservatism to come back. So why go now, when the RSNO board made efforts to keep Denve a little longer? Sometimes people dont notice when theyre past their peak. I didnt want that to happen with my first ever orchestral tenure. I feel we did a lot and I wanted to leave at the peak of our development. When I got the proposal from Stuttgart, it kind of made sense. Here was a new adventure. One, in fact, already set to benefit from a brand- new symphonic work Denve has commissioned from James MacMillan. Will he come back as an occasional guest conductor? Ive refused to come back for the next two years, because its only fair to leave space for my successor [Peter Oundjian] to do his own thing. But Id be happy to return in three seasons. I want to enjoy that comeback feeling, rather than feel Ive never been away. So its au revoir, Stphane, not goodbye. Stphane Denves farewell performances with the RSNO start tonight in Aberdeen, continue tomorrow in Edinburgh and on 5 May in Glasgow, with final concerts next week in Edinburgh and Glasgow. See www.rsno.org.uk. Denve Conducts Debussy is available on Chandos
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