In Service of Classical Music -An interview with Musicians of the Year

By Pamela Tsai
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—From Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, Isaac Stern to Herbert von Karajan, Kurt Masur and Yo-Yo Ma, musicians of our time are not only representatives in the halls of the fame, but also social harbingers that embrace the idealism and aspirations held by a collective whole.

Joining this prominent list of Musicians of the Year, a prestigious award given annually by Musical America, a publication that has been considered the bible of the performing arts industry for the past century, are cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, a husband and wife duo.

Co-artistic directors of such premier arts organizations as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City and Music@Menlo in San Francisco, and the first to launch their own Internet-based record label AristLed, the husband and wife team has emerged as one of the most dynamic advocates of classical music to a wider audience, and on an international scale.

In a special award ceremony held in Lincoln Center in New York on Dec. 5, the couple shared the stage with four other honorees—Composer of the Year, Meredith Monk; Conductor of the Year, Jaap Van Zweden; Instrumentalist of the Year, Gil Shaham; and Vocalist of the Year, Jonas Kaufmann.

Sedgwick Clark, Editor of Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts introduced the couple as a force to “create a revolution in the traditionally quiet world of chamber music—in the process building new audiences and rearing a new wave of players.”

The couple, who flew in from Germany after completing their second residency there, accepted the award with great humility.

Cellist of the renowned Emerson String Quartet, David Finckel has participated in over 30 acclaimed recordings produced by Deutsche Grammophon. He has won nine Grammy Awards and three Gramophone Awards. He has studied with the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, in fact, he was Rostropovich’s first American student.

Pianist Wu Han, a native of Taiwan who has a stellar career in the United States as a chamber musician, has worked closely with and taught chamber music alongside the legendary Isaac Stern.

In accepting the award, Finckel said the collaboration with his wife has lead to “a vibrant marriage and a precious daughter.”

We have accomplished much more together than we could have separately.

“We have accomplished much more together than we could have separately,” he said.

He described himself and his wife as artists who are “painfully idealistic.” “We recognize that our idealism, when music is at stake, may well have played a role in bringing us here tonight. Our objectives remain the same: to make music in the best and the most honest way we know how and to share our love of the music with as many as possible.”

In an interview with The Epoch Times prior to the award ceremony, David Finckel said he believed the award took into account their wide-ranging artistic endeavors in the service of music, which included their playing, teaching, and their administration of the arts.

The couple’s more detailed interview is presented here.

The Epoch Times: Were you surprised by this honor?

Wu Han: If you look at the list, this award is reserved for superstars. We never see ourselves that way.

ET: In the ever-changing music industry, how do you stay ahead?

David Finckel: We are always on a mission. It is our job to keep developing ourselves artistically no matter how old we get, no matter how famous we become. We are always working on ourselves to become better, to become better artists. That work never stops. The minute you sense somebody is relaxing, satisfied with their artistic state, they become much less interesting. The artists who are really interesting are the ones who are always in the process of developing. They are the ones that provoke interest—renewed interest in public, year after year.

Wu Han: You can have talent, you can be smart, but they are not enough to sustain you. You just have to work hard. There is no other way around it. There is also no such a thing as good luck. You have to continuously refine yourselves. I feel [it is] my hard work … being rewarded. I don’t think I am more special than anybody else.

We just know we love working hard, doing things for other people, trying to do the best as we can when playing everything we do.

ET: What does the award mean to you as a chamber musician?

Wu Han: I think it is fantastic to have our industry acknowledged with such an honor—for the art form’s sake, not for me and David’s stake. This award gives us a very solid credential to work even harder for this art form.

I think the understanding and appreciation of chamber music is simply not as deep today. I know that because I travel so much, sit on so many auditions, award panels, competition juries. There is a lot of catch up to do. Especially in the Far East, people are often dazzled by fast playing, who can play loud and fast. There aren’t enough efforts put into training complete musicians to understand why we play music—slow movement of graceful playing that brings tears to your eyes. We need to train musicians who can carry that mission.

ET: David, you said “passing the torch became a huge priority in our lives.” What motivates you in arts education?

David Finckel: I don’t think you will find a mature musician who will not say: “I was inspired to be a musician by somebody—a great teacher, a great player, a colleague, somewhere along the line, people have become inspired, guided, mentored and become successful musician because an older generation … have helped them, guided them in the right direction and have said things to them that are inspiring to them. It’s amazing. You gave a lesson in some classes. Twenty years later, somebody will come back to you, and you don’t even know who they are. They tell you that you said something that they never forgot and you don’t even remember saying it. You never know what’s going to happen. It’s like putting a whole bunch of seeds in the ground of your garden. You don’t know which ones are going to come up. But if you don’t plant the seeds, for sure, nothing comes up.

If people don’t do anything to inspire, to encourage, and to lead the next generation, that generation will be disadvantaged. We are all working in the art form that’s an ongoing tradition. We still play the music written from hundreds of years ago. There is always … freshness in performances, always something being remade. People who are doing this are making the future and that’s exactly the work that we do now. It is very gratifying.

ET: You do a lot of work internationally. How does international work help sustain the future of classical music?

Wu Han: The nature of this art form is very communicative. Chamber music is a meeting place to exchange ideas, build relationships with other musicians and their musicianship. It is a cultural exchange.

We grow, as artists from international experience and the connections we make. For example, when playing in London’s Wigmore Hall or Hamburg’s Mozartsaal, you listen to your European colleagues and their sound productions, learning how to play in European halls, which are quite different from American halls. You are dealing with different acoustics and your ear just becomes sharper immediately. It’s a cultural exchange. We learn from European colleagues and they benefit from learning from us too.

To have CMS (Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society) residency in so many organizations and in different countries is something quite unusual. If I had my way, I’d love to take this kind of cultural exchange to more countries.

I want to make sure chamber music not only continues flourishing in the U.S. and Europe, but also the Far East. We are starting our new (chamber music) festival in Korea. David and I … just heard good news that all of the concerts are sold out.

You are not going to see the effect just by making one visit. It is not enough to develop a relationship and friendship. To give you an example about we have done in Korea, this is our third year there. It is, however, the first year we could start a major festival with more people coming to the concerts. We start seeing results after three years of our hard work. The young Korean musicians feel more comfortable with the art form, understanding the meaning of chamber music. We didn’t see it at all when we first went there. Now the young players are in blossom. I am happy and grateful to our Korean partner. It is a private corporation, but they understand the social impact of what we do and continuously support the program. They just made a commitment for another three years.

David Finckel: I don’t think anybody or any institution can truly be world class, artistically, unless they are international, especially today. I don’t know anybody really at the top of classic musical profession who doesn’t have an international career. It’s about connecting to different cultures, as artists seeing the world from different perspectives and angles.

It’s walking the streets of Vienna where Beethoven and Haydn walked, going to Scandinavia and feeling the coldness in the air, so when you play their music, you understand where the music is coming from. It is [about] knowing other languages, speaking and listening to French, being in Paris before playing Debussy.

This year we’ve made many trips to Europe, started our first adventure in South America. Here in the U.S., we had a very good season at Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society—seeing rising subscriptions. More people are coming to concerts and committing ahead of time.

ET: What does the award mean to you?

Wu Han: This award is an acknowledgement of what we believe in and the impact of the work that we’ve done. Now I should use my time, where I should be devoting my energy, [and ask] ‘is there anything that I am not doing but should be, using my position to really help classical music? Is there any place where I could make an impact that I couldn’t have … before?’ I feel such a sense of responsibility.

The award invites us to step back, take a new look at our lives, and ask ourselves not only how we could live up to it, but also how we might better fulfill an exemplary [position] of what musicians of the year can be and should be. It’s an incredible challenge, position, and undoubtedly one of the most valuable in our lives.

David Finckel: It makes you take your work more seriously. First, every time we walk onto the stage, we have to play our best. We can’t neglect our practicing and studying of our instruments one second, which is always a challenge because you have administrative responsibilities, plus lots of travel. It means getting up every early morning to practice.

We have to be extremely disciplined because people will be expecting us to perform at a very, very high level.

Second, the nature of this award thrusts upon us a certain leadership. People will pay attention to what we say and do in the world of music. It’s going to matter more the decisions we make. We have to be careful that we are helping lead the industry in the right direction.

I am starting to be careful with exactly how I spend my time. In light of this incredible award, I promise myself to do everything I can to live up to and fulfill the expectation that this award creates, which means working as hard I do and work even harder.