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Jean-François Paillard, A colleague and a friend
Richard D. Siegel, member, Orchestre de Chambre Jean-François Paillard
It is both difficult and satisfying to write this,
an homage to Jean-François Paillard;
difficult because there are too many things to be said,
satisfying because it's so easy to say good things.
Well before I met Jean-François,
I had heard the Paillard Chamber Orchestra.
By the mid-1960's the orchestra was already world famous.
I was discovering baroque music and was not far from beginning my work on cembalo,
so it was a pleasure to listen to their recordings of the Bach Cembalo Concertos (with Robert Veyron-Lacroix,
who would later become my teacher),
as well as recordings of Vivaldi,
Handel, and of many baroque masterpieces.
Then in 1971, when I came to France to study at the Paris Conservatory,
I had the pleasure of meeting him.
In fact, during that first year I began teaching the keyboard to his youngest son,
and I remember a good number of evenings spent at his home.
Just over a year later, I began working with the Paillard Orchestra;
for the last 18 years I have been a permanent member of the ensemble,
for 10 years I have also been the general manager.
Because of the variety of these jobs I have worked under his direction and also side by side with him;
on occasion I have even been his boss.
But in all ways it has been an enriching and good experience.
What, then, can I say about Jean-François Paillard?
One of the good points about a leader is the confidence he inspires in the people around him.
And for that, I can say easily that he is an excellent leader.
Part of that comes from the fact that when he conducts, he knows what he wants,
what sounds and phrasing he wants to hear; it is easy for musicians to have confidence in him and in his musical judgement.
But even more important for me is the confidence he shows in the musicians who work with him.
From the very first time I played with the orchestra, I felt as if Jean-François trusted me.
He was, of course, very demanding: technically and musically everything had to be in place.
But he made me and the other members feel that he knew we were capable of giving our best.
When something difficult was coming up, he never gave me the feeling that he was worried about me or about how I would play.
And because of that, it was easy for me to play with confidence,
giving my best for a leader who trusted me.
That isn't to say that it wasn't necessary for him to yell too,
and as a good leader he is perfectly capable of that;
fortunately it wasn't necessary often.
Another thing that struck me was his simplicity.
Despite his international reputation, despite the success of the orchestra and the recordings,
I never got the feeling that, like many conductors,
he took himself too seriously.
We could, and did, discuss our work together,
we could discover things together, we could and did agree (and sometimes disagree) on details about our music.
And it was OUR music, not just his.
All of us in the orchestra, including Jean-François,
worked together to make and to enjoy music.
This too, for me, is the sign of an excellent leader.
Our relations didn't stop there, however, and in various ways over the last 30 years I've found that Jean-François could be a good friend as well as a colleague.
We have spent many hours while on tour, or after rehearsals,
even on vacation together, sharing experiences and talking about different things (it shouldn't be surprising to hear that Mr. Paillard is interested in a lot of things beyond music,
including computers and astronomy, for example).
It has been fun to see up close the qualities that the public can perceive in his music:
his intelligence, his rigor and subtlety.
Jean-François Paillard is known as a successful conductor,
one who has played thousands of concerts around the world and made over 300 recordings.
I have been very lucky: I've had the pleasure of knowing both the musician and the man.
Richard D. Siegel
Copyright ©2001 Mito Arts Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Created by TK.
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