As part of the Recordings of the Year 2025 project, run by Radio România Muzical, you will be able to listen on Wednesday, June 4th, during CD Review (in the Arpeggio program), to an album released on April 4th by the Austrian record label Gramola. The album includes the symphonic poems Don Juan and A Hero's Life by Richard Strauss, live recordings from the festival dedicated to this composer in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Richard Strauss Days have been taking place since 1989, and starting with 2024, the resident conductor of this event is Rémy Ballot. Under his baton, the recordings mentioned were made, performed by the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Rémy Ballot is a renowned French musician, 48 years old, a violinist and conductor highly appreciated in the music of Anton Bruckner. He studied violin at the Paris Conservatory with Gérard Poulet, and from the age of 16 he took private conducting lessons from Sergiu Celibidache, being the legendary conductor's last student. With this topic, we began the conversation we had with Rémy Ballot.

Maestro Rémy Ballot, how did you meet Sergiu Celibidache and what were the most important things you learned from the great Romanian conductor?

I was very young when I met him. I had the chance to attend a series of private conducting courses for students, which he held in his apartment in Paris. I, as a violinist, was able to attend these courses, and thus, I listened to him teaching. From that moment, I started to study conducting with Sergiu Celibidache. Of course, when I met him, I found him absolutely impressive. He had incredible charisma. It's interesting that these meetings of ours happened shortly before the rise of the internet, and it wasn't so easy to get information about anyone. It was the year 1994, and I didn't realize at the time that Sergiu Celibidache was great, was a legend. Then I went to Munich and understood who he really was. A great conductor. Instinctively, I understood that I could truly learn special things from him: a new world and a new kind of music. I was a student in Paris as a violinist and for me it was something completely new to listen to someone talk for two hours about music. Absolutely fascinating. Sure, there were also technical details about the science of conducting. I was accessing a new philosophy, a new way of making music. After these conducting classes, it was hard for me to keep playing the violin because I started thinking more about music and what I was really doing. It was for me a turning point and a moment that made me more aware and really listen to what was happening musically. That's why, for me, meeting Sergiu Celibidache was important, and in my mind, awareness is always essential, as well as having a concept in what I do and in the music I produce.

What do you think about the fact that he often chose slow tempos in his interpretations?

I think that in his recordings you don't always feel these tempos are slower than those of other conductors. Otto Klemperer, for example, also chose slow tempos, but no one talked about it. For me, the tempo itself is not important, but the deep insight into the meaning of the music. After repeating certain repertoires and working with some orchestras, attention to detail and score transparency develop. For this reason, Sergiu Celibidache was slower, developing, through long-term work with certain orchestras, the particularities of the interpreted works. If we compare older recordings from the years 1980-1981, for example with Brahms's Symphony No. 1, you'll notice that the interpretations with the London Symphony Orchestra are a bit faster, because there weren't the same conditions, they didn't have enough opportunities to rehearse.Soit's a matter of consistency and complexity of the music. In 1992, when Celibidache returned to the Berlin Philharmonic, he conducted Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 at a very, very slow tempo. But that happened because the orchestra had a very rich sound, many possibilities for developing the musical discourse, the details. And for me, that is a very important aspect. Conducting slowly is not a goal in itself. It happens or it doesn't. It's about the possibilities you have, including acoustically, for sound clarity and interpretation. The most important thing is to understand the score, the voices, the counterpoint, etc.

Since you've recently released a new album with Richard Strauss's symphonic poems, I'd like to ask whether the 1980s concert recordings of Sergiu Celibidache conducting these works inspired you.

Of course, I know them. But when I conduct a piece, I don't listen to other recordings, because I get influenced. If you have the possibility or the chance to find something new in the score or your own interpretation, if you listen to too many versions, you can't find your own way. Of course, I know all of Celibidache's recordings, and maybe there are similarities between them and my interpretation. But music is something personal and intimate, and if you listen to too many recordings, you can lose your personality in music. Celibidache talked about this, about the fact that live music is something unique. That's exactly why he avoided studio recordings. The problem is that, since the 1950s, many recordings have been made. Conductors listened to them, and then they no longer had the opportunity to understand the depth of music only from the score. Even so, recordings are fantastic documents, and we need them because they are part of history. In the concert hall, the dynamic contrasts are greater, while recordings reduce these dynamic differences. That's why I and Gramola, the label I worked with on the Richard Strauss album, tried to highlight the contrasts perceived in the concert hall.

How was your collaboration for these recordings with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra?

It was very interesting because the orchestra had never performed Richard Strauss's works before. They usually play music from the Czech repertoire. For me, it was strange because these symphonic poems by Strauss are very important works, but on the other hand, it was easy to do what I wanted, to impose my vision, without the influence of other conductors on the orchestra regarding the interpretation of these pieces. It was a lot of work, because the symphonic poems Don Juan and A Hero's Life are difficult pieces. We recorded them live and they were part of a broader program that we presented at the Richard Strauss Days in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. But we enjoyed it, and I believe the resultisa very good one.

As far as I know, you have a good collaboration with the Richard Strauss Institute to explore this composer's music. Will there be other albums in this collection dedicated to Richard Strauss?

Yes, of course. Now, in June, I will conduct at the festival the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra, and we will perform Aus Italien, a youthful work by the composer. I have a good collaboration with the director of the Richard Strauss Institute; we talk in advance, even a year before, about the pieces we program for the festival and about the new concepts and aesthetics we want to create. In June next year, I will work with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, and we will continue our plans through 2027, the idea being to try to create new sound aesthetics in Strauss's music, diversity, and to avoid clichés.

Returning to the album you released in April, what are the main characteristics of the symphonic poems Don Juan and A Hero's Life that you aimed for in your interpretation?

Don Juan is a famous work and represents the beginning of the style that Strauss developed in terms of symphonic poems. It is an important piece in music history due to its orchestration and for the innovations it brings in the orchestral performance style. And the poem A Hero's Life is very long. Many say it lacks structure. But I believe there is a large architectural line in this piece, and I consider that the most important thing is not to exaggerate its heroic character. For me, the score also has other deep meanings, incredible details and instrumental combinations.