2012-10-18 Update
Dai Miyata, Violoncello
―I am delighted to welcome you as a new member of MCO. What is your impression of the ensemble?
Before I joined MCO, I had only performed as a solo artist, so I wondered whether it would be all right to join the orchestra so suddenly, and I was nervous to play among such world-famous musicians. But as I gradually learned to appreciate the atmosphere and communicate with people I normally don’t associate with, I came to see them as my companions in music rather than feeling tension. And the people in the cello section were all very mild, with an atmosphere of companionship.
― How has the experience been for you, having conducted various orchestral activities with those kinds of colleagues?
Though I often play chamber music in small ensembles, here, at MCO, I need to listen to more sounds around me. It’s the kind of place where I need to think more about how I am playing my low-register instrument and convey that to others, enabling them to play more easily, and where I can study various things at once. Ensembles are also important even in such cases as performing solo with an orchestra in the background, so I am learning a lot as an extension of that.
―At MCO’s 83rd regular concert last January (2012), you featured as soloist in a performance of Haydn’s cello concerto. At that time, Seiji Ozawa gave you several pieces of advice to you, right?
Yes. He always told me, “(Play) more freely.” I had always tried to make sure to feel things freely and not simply “make music,” but sometimes my efforts to “feel the music” pointed me back in the direction of just “making the music.” But Mr. Ozawa told me, “Don’t just be satisfied that you can play what you have practiced so far. It’s precisely because of that foundation that you can have more freedom and expand your (musical) vocabulary.” That meant first believing in everything I had amassed since starting the cello at age three through to the age of 26, and then just breaking through that shell. I the felt that I could do more freely.
Japanese people tend to be shy, needing motivation to learn, but first they ought to make the most of their own abilities. On top of that, by adding what is missing, they will reach the point where what they believe in grows.
When we started rehearsing at Mito, I thought, “Let’s play as if I were jumping off a cliff,” but I ended up being just satisfied with what I was trying to do, not treating it as a challenge. However, after getting advice from Mr. Ozawa, I started to go all out without thinking too deeply about it, making me feel indeed like I was jumping off a cliff. I then realized that there was such a wider range in music making.
―What makes this orchestra so attractive for you?
I don’t feel so much that I am coming to Mito for my work but rather to have fun making the music. The good thing about MCO is how we take what we rehearse day after day, boil it down and let it mature, letting us present it in concert form. The way the music feels varies from day to day, so precisely thanks to our large number of rehearsals, everyone is able to play the music freely with one another to the fullest, allowing us to reinterpret new pieces of music over and over again. When something is discovered that doesn’t quite fit, you don’t want to just stay in your shell saying “This doesn’t fit,” but instead also have the time to talk with each other, saying “There is a lot to do, let’s all work it out together.” Meanwhile, in the case of other orchestras, there is often the sense that the members sitting in the back don’t stick out so much as they play. Also, those orchestras only spend a couple of hours rehearsing each piece, cutting out those areas that do not fit so that there is nothing that doesn’t work out somewhere. I think the MCO is the kind of orchestra where all those things end up positively, making them whole.
Also, I think the conductor is really fun! That’s because he carefully takes the time preparing for concerts explaining his thoughts about making the music. Normally, , for example, if an orchestra is doing a piece that it has performed many times before, its orchestral style performance may be too strict and solidified, making it impossible for the conductor to get them to accept new things, or to have the time to communicate those to them. Our upcoming 85th regular concert will feature Heinz Holliger and MCO playing pieces by Haydn and Bartok. I think that the originality of the program is very good.
―You started cello lessons at the age of three, and in 2009, won the Rostropovich Cello Competition, the first time ever for a Japanese. How was your life as a child?
Actually, I always enjoyed sports, and played volleyball in junior high. Compared with someone like Heinz Holliger, who seem fully wrapped up in the music, there are parts of me which make me less absorbed or immersed. So, sometimes it tires me out to meet someone like him (laughter). On the other hand, but because he has something that I do not have, I can learn a lot from him and absorb a lot of new things.
―What kind of music did you like when you were a student?
I like Russian classical music, but also such things as tango and jazz. When I was in junior high, there was a period when I liked to go out to sing karaoke, at which time I listened to various genres such as J-Pop. I don’t think I’m so different from normal people. For example, carpenters also have special skills, don’t they? I probably give people the same impression, because I draw the line between when I am fully absorbed in the music and when I am not. I don’t feel too comfortable, but seen from a long distance, I have to learn these things and watch the music. Switching on and off (between both sides) is also important.
―You normally work as a soloist both in Japan and overseas. How do you spend your holidays?
I love traveling, and always refresh myself by taking a trip before doing a concert. I also avoid playing too much before concerts. That’s because I sometimes I get anxious and start to play too much, and that’s not a good thing. I also have a scuba diving license, and I go diving in such places as Saipan, Izu, and Okinawa.
―You are currently studying at the Kronberg Academy near Frankfurt, Germany.
Yes. Now I come back to Japan whenever I have a concert, and go back there whenever I have lessons. There are no classes at the Academy, but only lessons, so I go there whenever my teacher goes there. My plan is to stay registered there until next year. I study under the cello teacher Frans Helmerson. In addition, there is a variety of other teachers coming to the Academy, such as Ana Chumachenco, Christian Tezlaff, and Gidon Kremer on the violin, Nobuko Imai on the viola, and Sir András Schiff on the piano. There are also classes given by teachers on other instruments.
―That’s quite an impressive lineup of teachers. Could you tell us who your most impressive teachers have been so far?
I studied under the pianist András Schiff, learning Schumann’s Fantasiestücke. I was bowled over by his aura! Also, my lessons with him made me realize that people who are good on the piano are also very good at playing with their left hands. Since the cello also makes music in the bass register, I discovered various things, such as playing in ways that make it easier for my partner to accompany me, or in an orchestral situation, playing in a way that would make it easier for the violinists to play, for instance. I feel that many piano players tend to play notes with their left hands too slowly because they concentrate too much on the melody, but Mr. Schiff also made music through the low notes, making it easier to play.
―Please let us know about what you gained from living in Europe?
Mr. Helmerson, with whom I am currently studying, often tells me, “Always try to play (the cello) with a different tone and feeling.” Even in my lessons, he makes me play the same movements about four times in a row, saying, “You tried to play it with a different feeling now. That’s the most necessary thing when studying music.” I realized that my goal was not being able to play a certain place, but to know that I had to try practicing in way that I could express various kinds of feelings as well. When I live over there (in Europe), I start to think about things more flexibly. In Japan, I tend to think the way such as zero or one hundred percent. But I realized in Europe that if you think about 50 percent, there are times where you end up finding yourself surpassing 100 percent.
In fact, I don’t really like other countries so much. It’s OK just to travel abroad, but even then, there are times when I return to Japan early because of shaky language skills or stress. For me, as that kind of person, just having dinner with the people hosting me during a homestay can be stimulating. When I talk with them about various topics, I think about the sounds in their pronunciation of words that don’t exist in Japanese. It’s the same thing when I talk with Heinz Holliger. The words he uses to express sounds when singing (a melody) can be quite rich in variety, such as “doon,” “yang,” “pan,” or “tan.” Someone once told during a lesson that whenever I sing a phrase, the number of words I could express was the same as the number of tone colors I had. Having been told that, I often think, “Why do I want to sing this way and not that way?” For example, in Japan, the words we use to express sounds (when singing) can be just “tan” or “pan,” for example, as well as (such longer ones as) “yan pan pan” and “ti-ran.” When I listen to those kinds of words when living abroad, I think that I am expanding the range of my vocabulary.
―In the future, what kind of activities do you want to do as a cellist?
I guess that after I reach the age of 30, I’ll probably start leaving things up to younger musicians, and start teaching them various things. I’m the type of musician who plays with feeling, so I’d like to know how to express my feelings in words. If there are wonderful teachers around you, you start to think, “This kind of thinking will make everything better,” and you can learn a lot from that. For example, even if someone says, “Play it in a misterioso way,” the way people feel that depends on the person, and if someone warns you to “Make that part softer,” you will only be conscious of playing it softly rather than producing the sound that is really needed. If (the teacher) uses terms that don’t have a fixed meaning, such as “keep your feelings inside,” I sense that it will be associated with other things as well, making it all right.
The older member of the MCO cello section have taught me a lot of things at the time of the concerts at Mito, and Sadao Harada has taught me about quartets in the Saito Kinen Chamber Music Study Group for young people. I have good experiences every time I go to Mito because its playing style is different from my own. The sounds being made are the kind that even if you make a single one, you are letting the other party know, “I want to play like this.” Cello teachers are great, in my opinion.
Mr. Helmerson told me, “Even when you make a mistake during a performance, treat it as part of the music you are playing.” That took a load off my mind. That’s because even if you make a mistake, the music will continue, and it’s not true that the audience is looking forward to it. I see that Mr. Harada and Mr.Helmerson don’t really express the feeling “Why can’t you play it?” either in explicit words or in their atmosphere. It’s because students don’t realize that thing that they are being taught, and I think it’s a really good teacher who can tell them that in such a way that they can understand it. I think that teaching would also help me learn a lot, too, and because there are still things I need to study, I want to do both (i.e., be both a teacher and a student).
―You are interested in being largely due to having met wonderful teachers. In closing, what are your thoughts about your future with MCO?
As long as time permits, I would like to continue participate in it and learn a lot more. As I grow older, I feel that the chances of people pointing things out to me will decrease. My thinking is that by participating in a lot of things when you are still young, you can absorb a lot of things.
October 2012
Interviewer: Maki Takasu
