Nelsons on Beethoven

DW: You are a very busy conductor, on different continents, with different orchestras and a wide repertory. Now you are performing the Beethoven symphony cycle in Bonn. How do you manage to switch gears, going from Wagner to Strauss to Beethoven? Do you need a moment to relax before embarking on such a project?

Andris Nelsons: All composers who came after were influenced by Beethoven, even during his lifetime, both by his personality and by his music. He was a father figure for generations. You can see the link from Beethoven to Brahms, to Wagner, Strauss, Mahler, and so on. So it's not difficult to make the switch. The music speaks so strongly to you that it's easy to make the emotional transition.

But of course, the question is, to what extent is Beethoven a "classical" composer, and how much does he go beyond the classical traditions? That's a question of interpretation and will always be hotly discussed, even down to the last details like tempos and Beethoven's metronome markings.

He was a revolutionary. He wrote music on commission, but never sculpted it for a certain event. He was forever struggling, always going beyond the moment. That also has to do with his personal situation, beginning with his alcoholic father, and his own personal destiny and health problems, the hearing loss, and so on.

What is your personal relationship to Beethoven?

I always see Beethoven as having been influenced by Haydn. Yet he started a revolution - not just to be different, but also because he lived in a revolutionary era. But the music transcends that particular time. The Ninth Symphony is universal. Even the First Symphony is different: He starts it with a dissonance. And using scherzos in the third movement instead of minuets indicates that he's always going in a direction of his own.

As for my relationship to Beethoven, I admire people who can say what they really think. It's as though he's saying, "That's how I feel about the world, and I don't care what people may say." His music is pure and honest. Beethoven never pretends to be anybody else. That also goes for the triumphant moments in his music. He suffered so much in his personal life, and if you look at Beethoven portraits, you see that he was not a particularly attractive person visually. But his lyricism comes straight from the heart, not in an effort please somebody, simply to be honest.

The Sixth Symphony, for example, is inspired by nature, but that's only a metaphor. The "Storm" in it is actually the storm in his life. Even the "Scene by the Brook" mirrors his internal world. And in the Ninth Symphony, the third movement is the most intimate music you can possibly imagine. You feel that Beethoven is opening his heart completely. You can almost touch his soul here; it's like he's giving his destiny over into God's hands. At that point, tears come to your eyes.

Those victorious moments have to do with a belief in a positive outcome, whether it's life after death or victory over personal problems. It's amazing to think about: a composer who couldn't hear! I think that as a person, Beethoven talks to everyone in different ways.

You're conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Bonn. How would you describe your relationship with these musicians?

I feel lucky and so spoiled in a way. With the CBSO there's a family feeling of the kind you can only dream about. The chemistry I have with this orchestra as music director is such that I feel understood. I respect and love them and feel their respect towards me. As in family life, there's a feeling of acceptance, of one's strengths and weaknesses. They're not waiting for the moment when you will fail. And I feel that feeling has grown from year to year.

It's exciting and a great honor to perform the symphonies in Bonn, the composer's birthplace. It's been an interesting journey through Beethoven's symphonies with the Birmingham orchestra. It was very difficult for me to make the decision to leave the position; next year is my last with them as music director. But knowing what they achieved with my predecessors, Simon Rattle and Sakari Oramo, I'm sure they will always be like that.

What are the challenges, what are the rewards of performing the complete Beethoven symphonies?

Any conductor can only dream about the chance to perform the whole cycle. Beethoven is of course one of the most frequently performed composers today. But to go through the whole symphonies and to perform them in chronological order, to see how it all develops and changes, and to have this cycle is a privilege. And to perform with my own orchestra in Bonn is a dream come true.

This is only the second time I'm doing the cycle. It doesn't happen every year. And it's a tremendous challenge; sometimes you can hardly dare to touch these incredible works. But I think we should touch them and understand that this is the closest we can get to Beethoven's personality and his statement to the world.

DW's Rick Fulker interviewed Andris Nelsons. In his mid-thirties, Nelsons is hotly in demand as a conductor. Born in Riga, Latvia, he was named principal conductor of the Latvian National Opera at age 24. From 2006-2009 he was chief conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic in Herford and in 2008 began his stint as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. His debut at the Bayreuth Festival came in 2010 with a widely hailed rendition of Wagner's "Lohengrin." Beginning this season, Nelsons is principal conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a period of five years.