Listeners to Q&A are familiar with Manfred Honeck, and with Rainer Honeck, too. The latter is a concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. I interviewed him last summer on behalf of the Salzburg Festival Society—listen to our conversation here. Rainer Honeck is now retiring from the Philharmonic, though his musical activities will continue.
Manfred Honeck, I have spoken with several times, and he is a favorite guest of our program. He was once a member of the Vienna Philharmonic—a violist (though his primary instrument had been the violin). He then turned to conducting. He and Rainer and their siblings are Austrian through and through, but Manfred has been in Pittsburgh since 2008, serving as the music director of the PSO, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
At the Salzburg Festival this summer, Honeck has been conducting an opera by Richard Strauss, one of the founders of the festival. That opera is Ariadne auf Naxos. In the pit has been the Vienna Phil, including one Rainer Honeck. So, these have been special days for the brothers.
As I remark to Manfred in our new Q&A, their parents would have loved to be in the house.
I have podcasted with Maestro Honeck, once more, on behalf of the SFS, the Salzburg Festival Society. He and I cover a fair amount of ground—and I begin with an odd question.
Like most people, or many people, I love the music of Richard Strauss: his tone poems, operas, songs, etc. (I especially like his songs. So did he, by the way. Toward the end of his life, Strauss told Hans Hotter, the German bass-baritone, “I like my songs best.”) I must say, I have never warmed up to Ariadne auf Naxos.
Does Maestro Honeck like it?
Yes, he does. And he relates a story.
Years ago, he was in the orchestra—the Vienna Philharmonic—for Ariadne. This summer, a violist in the orchestra showed him something touching. The violist in question was using the same score used by Honeck himself. It’s a tradition in the orchestra to sign your name in a score. Manfred Honeck and his stand partner did this, all those years ago.
In our Q&A, I ask Honeck when he first started at the Salzburg Festival. It happened in a memorable, even exciting, way. Honeck was a substitute in the Philharmonic, as I understand it—not yet a full-time member. And he got an emergency call: A member of the first violin section had fallen ill. Could Honeck come in and take his place?
Yes, he could. So, that night, he played in Der Rosenkavalier—another Strauss opera—under Herbert von Karajan (a legendary conductor).
In Pittsburgh, Honeck has a contract that runs through 2033. That would be a 25-year tenure. Such longevity is rare in a music directorship these days. Honeck and I discuss this issue.
We also discuss differences in audiences—Europe vs. America. Europeans tend to applaud on an on. The performers come back for several curtain calls. We Americans tend to jump to our feet, immediately, and give a burst of applause. Then we bolt for the exits.
Does Honeck mind? Not at all. He is a broad-minded fellow.
In every generation, people worry that classical music is fading away—that no one is interested anymore. I have often quoted Charles Rosen, the late pianist-scholar: “The death of classical music is perhaps the oldest tradition of classical music.”
So I know I’m embodying a stereotype when I say: I’m worried as hell, especially about America—the health of classical music on our shores. It seems like music and high culture in general are going downward, fast.
Manfred Honeck is not unconcerned. Music education needs to be shored up (or even reestablished). But he says, Have faith in music. Trust music to draw people, as it always has.
I can buy that.
What music is Manfred Honeck especially close to these days? He speaks movingly about Bruckner and Mahler. And, at the end of our conversation, I ask him what pieces he would like to conduct that he has not yet conducted. What is he looking forward to? Does he have anything in reserve?
In interviews over the years, Riccardo Muti, the Italian maestro, has told me that he waited a long time to conduct Beethoven’s Ninth. He waited until he was ready. He waited an even longer time to conduct Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. And he waited still longer to conduct the Bruckner Eighth.
That was two years ago, when Muti was 83.
Honeck understands the Italian maestro very well. He himself is waiting to conduct Mahler’s Eighth. And a masterpiece of Bach: the St. Matthew Passion.
It would be good to be present, when Honeck tackles these works. Meantime, I know you will enjoy this Q&A with him. He is a superb musician, a thoughtful interviewee, and a real gent.
