2012-09-19 Update
Masayuki Naoi, French Horn
―You have been performing regularly at MCO (Mito Chamber Orchestra) concerts since 1995, and have been a full member of the orchestra since April. How do you feel now?
First and foremost, it is a great honor for me to be welcomed to join an orchestra with such great members. Some of my classmates (Naoko Tanaka and Masao Kawasaki) and a senior of mine (Mazumi Tanamura) from my time at Toho Gakuen College Music Department are here, all of whom were in the top of their class, and I never imagined that such a poor student as me could become a member of such an orchestra as this in a few decades. Some of the members are like gods to me, such as Masuko Ushioda, Shoko Aki, and Miwako Watanabe. A chamber orchestra is something like a crystal. Because it does its music making intensely with a small number of people, there was an extraordinary level of tension at first, in particular. But in excellent orchestras, you sense a good sort of tension of a kind that you have never experienced before. I think that in such an environment, everyone tries to bring their energy together. When you start to sense that special atmosphere, you begin to feel, “As long as I am going to work together with everyone, I better bring my level up.” In real terms, I feel that the group has cultivated me.
―You have been a lecturer at Seiji Ozawa Music Academy for a long time. You seem to have the trust of Seiji Ozawa.
First of all, I never thought that someone like me would gain the trust of Mr. Ozawa, and I still do. I wonder if he understands that when I watch him talking to an orchestra and waving his baton, I am trying to learn. If so, I’m really honored. I am amazed by the level of absorption by young people studying at a music school. I believe that a big mission of mine is to communicate what Mr. Ozawa considers most important, namely, the spirit of coming face-to-face with the music.
The horn section of an orchestra is divided into those who mainly play the upper range and those who play the lower range. I now mainly play the lower part, but when I was in Germany, I played both parts. I have the head of the horn section at the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra for eleven years. That’s why I’m a little strange for a horn player, being able to play almost everything (laughter). Because of various experiences doing various parts, I would like to share that with young people as a teacher.
―What is the source of your passion for educating young musicians?
The more you have learned, the more you want to convey it. When I was a student, I often performed chamber music with such musicians as Toru Yasunaga (former concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmonic), Yasunori Kawahara, and Mazumi Tanamura, playing Beethoven’s Septet, Schubert’s Octet, and others. Before then, I had almost no interaction with string players, but since then, I have learned a lot (from them), while performing in Europe and Japan, about such things as pausing while playing and breathing techniques. It won’t do to take breaths unrelated to the music, such as momentarily inhaling a lot. When string players move their bows, they seem to be doing the same thing as taking breaths. Speaking of breathing, Mr. Ozawa does the same kind of thing. Looking at his baton, his music is really doing the same thing as breathing. I feel a sense of relief when I visually understand, “Here is where we need to breathe.” His motion is truly musical, making it possible to predict how we should speed up our breathing. That makes me, as a member of the orchestra, feel comfortable.
―Incidentally, could you tell us how you started the French horn?
When I was a junior high school student, I played euphonium with a brass band, but when I decided to aim for a career in music, I entered a music high school where I started to play the horn. Playing the horn allowed me to join an orchestra, and I liked the soft tones of its middle range. I went to a professional concert for the first time when I was in ninth grade. A teacher of mine at the time gave me a ticket to watch a performance by The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, at the Osaka Festival Hall. When they performed “Der Freischütz,” both the first and third horn players missed the first note when playing solos at the beginning! My first orchestra experience made me think, “This is such a tough instrument ...” (laughter). But the sound of the horn section was great, and the sound of the orchestra was breathtaking. I still remember the way the superb sound filled the great hall.
―After studying abroad in Germany, you played with various orchestras in that country. Could you tell us some of your most memorable experiences?
I was active in German orchestras for a period of thirteen years. It was a very happy part of my musical career to be able to participate in a lot of opera orchestras. When I was part of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bonn was still the capital of West Germany, and was able to spend a lot of money on operas. Famous conductors and singers came, and I learned a lot from then. Then there was also the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra nearby, in which I often participated as an outsider, but I had a lot of good experiences because of its high level. At that time, Fumiaki Miyamoto and Yasunori Kawahara were also there. The group also made two performance tours to Japan. During one of those trips, some of the members got mischievous on the airplane and started throwing wet hand towels at each other! One of the crew ordered me, as a Japanese, to “do something about it.” When I relayed that in German to our general manager, who was sitting behind me, he said, “That’s impossible, for sure” (laughter). Everyone was acting like a child, and I thought that that was one aspect of being a musician (laughter).
―By the way, what position or role does the French horn play in the orchestra, in your opinion?
The horn’s tone, by its nature, binds together string and wind instruments and creates a single sound. Even when playing a linear melody, the sound of the horn is rich, as if you were listening to harmony. In other words, the most important thing of the horn is its pitch. It’s quite difficult, given the pitch of the people that you’re playing with as well as the pitch of the whole orchestra! But that’s the most rewarding thing about it. Even when making a single sound, I’m thinking various things about the whole sound. In the long run, though, sounds produced simply work often work better than those produced with huge effort. Especially when playing with people like Radek Baborák, it won’t work well if you try to do it hard it will never fit his playing, being instead exposed as it is. Anyway, it’s much better to do it that (natural) way, and I’d like to continue doing it that way in the future (laughter). I think the horn needs to be played in a simple fashion. That is the most difficult the. Even the Guinness Book of World Records states that the French horn is “the joint most difficult instrument in the orchestra,” along with the oboe. But that just needs to be overcome in some way. However, doing it in a simple way needs to be proven, and I’m still working on it. studying. So, I am really grateful for this opportunity.
―Let us know what your future goals are as a member of the MCO.
First of all, I want to be a good partner to Radek Baborák, making it easy for him to play. That is my goal. In order to do that, I have to have my own musicality, and need to be flexible. But I’m a character who wants to lift other people up, so I think my role is right for me. We’ve played together many times, and I hope to continue doing so until he says, “Don’t make play with him” (laughter). And Julia Pilant and Neil Deland (MCO horn players) are also really amazing. Their personalities are great, and they’re so witty. Although their personalities differ, being able to play with them makes me think, “How happy I am!”
―Lastly, if you have any thoughts about the future of MCO, what are they?
Young people are gradually entering the group, so this is an important time for them to inherit it (from us). In the twenty years since MCO’s foundation, the first generation of members has built up various traditions, such as having successfully cultivated (its capability) as “a conductor-less orchestra.” In 2008, when Mr. Ozawa was unable to participate in the group’s 2008 European tour, the group played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 without a conductor, despite being known a work that most would think too difficult to play in that way. Not only that, they played it very successfully. Then back in 1996, the MCO did a concert at the Festival Hall in Osaka without conductor, and I went to listen to it. I think they played Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, and it was really wonderful. They’ve done another European tour more recently. Their mettle and spirit are really something else. This is an orchestra that can do such things, I think.
Indeed, I think that each of us has a part of what has been built around Hidekazu Yoshida and Seiji Ozawa over the past twenty years. That’s the result, exactly, of everyone having been together until now. While it’s something that we can’t know for sure, I think the group’s still evolving. This is an important period in which things will be handed down and passed along to the next generation through hands-on experience, I think, as there will be a generational change someday when young people take over and become the core of the group. That is why it would be great if both sides—those handing down the group, and those to whom it will be entrusted—can enable those things to be passed down through communication over the next few years. I’m hoping that that will happen, because the MCO is really a wonderful chamber orchestra internationally. I want to take my role seriously and challenge myself to do that.
―Thank you very much for sharing your valuable stories with us.
September 2012
Interviewer: Maki Takasu
