Keeping Baroque Fresh at the Academy: an interview with Andrew Manze by Lucie Renaud
/ July 1, 2000
Version française...
Andrew Manze, the internationally known English violinist whom The
New York Times has called
"the Grappelli of the baroque," is doing a return engagement this
summer at the Domaine
Forget, on August 2 and 3. He will also be performing at the Festival
de Lamèque on August 5.
Manze is not only a highly accomplished chamber player but associate
director of the
prestigious Academy of Ancient Music based in London. He shared his
contagious enthusiasm with
us in a break between rehearsals.
Andrew Manze mastered the violin gradually, almost as a dilettante.
At the age of ten, after he
had been playing the recorder for a few years, someone suggested that
he should study a "real"
instrument. His spontaneous choice was the oboe, but the orthodontist
thought otherwise. He
then opted for the practical solution of studying the violin - "the
instrument in the house" (his
father played it as a youngster). The school music program provided
an admirable start. "By the
time I was 11, I was already playing in an orchestra. I've played in
orchestras ever since! At
14, I did my first international tour. When I was 18 years old, I
was quite well travelled. It
was a fantastic opportunity to learn orchestral technique on the spot."
His love of baroque music developed during his studies at Cambridge.
Even though he was
studying classics (Greek and Latin), he continued to play the
violin. His friend Richard Egarr
(who will be playing with him at the Domaine Forget) had just
discovered the harpsichord. He
organized a baroque ensemble and persuaded Manze to try his hand. "It
was a struggle at first
but I'm glad now I discovered that repertoire. Richard is still
talking to me and I'm still talking
to him!" he chuckles.
Other youthful encounters also transformed his life. The wife of the
great harpsichordist,
Gustav Leonhardt, took him under her wing. Mrs. Leonhardt, a musician
herself, was "a
wonderful guide," says Manze. In 1988 he met Ton Koopman, conductor
of the Amsterdam
Baroque Orchestra. "It clicked right away. We appealed to one
another," Manze remembers.
Koopman hired Manze then and there. He made his debut with the
orchestra in the second violin
section, but moved quickly to concertmaster.
Manze left Amsterdam in 1993 to devote his time to conducting. He
feels that freedom is a must
for interpreting baroque music. "After all, when you are the first
to play that repertoire, you
can't ask anyone for input. The music was very much alive then and it
still should be today. If a
listener goes to hear a concert, we owe it to him to give a
one-of-a-kind experience. If I were to
play one piece the same way I did two months ago, it would be missing
a key ingredient:
flexibility. The performance obviously varies depending on how the
musician is feeling. It
should also depend on the venue you are playing in, its acoustics. It
can be strongly affected by
the character of the audience, how they react to the experience. For
example, the German public
take their baroque music very seriously, listening with great
concentration. I look forward to
playing in Canada, a nation I don't know very well. It's always
interesting to feel, to experience
an audience and find out what happens to the music as a result."
Paradoxically, the essence of baroque music is somewhat defeated by
its mass popularity, Manze
outlines the irony of the situation. "We're asked to play in rooms
way too big for the
instruments, originally designed to be played in churches or small
domestic venues." He
remembers the Domaine Forget concert hall in great detail, and
considers it an ideal venue.
Asked why baroque music has become so popular in recent years, Manze
suggested several
reasons. "If the music is well chosen and presented in the right
spirit, it is extremely good
quality music. Bach can stand comparison to any of the major
composers. The music is also
extremely well structured, very melodic, entertaining and it has got
drama to it." He draws a
parallel with the attraction western civilization feels for novelty.
"Music lovers are interested
in new repertoire but they've been burnt by some contemporary music.
They become wary of it.
Maybe baroque music benefited from the fact that a lot of
contemporary music is not accessible.
It must be possible to write contemporary music which says all the
things you want to say but
doesn't provoke the 'yuck' feeling!"
Manze doesn't entirely reject contemporary repertoire: on the
contrary, his wife is actually a
specialist in this rarefied field, and the Academy of Ancient Music
has interpreted John
Tavener's Eternity's Sunrise (in 1998) and Total
Eclipse (June 20, 2000). Tavener is one of
the most popular English composers of the day, and Manze appreciated
being able to ask him
about specific details of interpretation. In the process, he learned
that composers are generally
not dogmatic. "It's cowardly to justify oneself with an 'I ought to
do this.' It's like hiding on
stage behind a corpse. I always imagine what the composer would say
if he were there. He
probably wouldn't be concentrating on my question; he probably would
be amazed by the
technological progress. His music would be the last thing he would
want to talk about."
Manze's crowded schedule doesn't give him time for regular pupils. He
enjoys master classes,
however. "The questions asked by students are often the same
questions I ask myself." Some of
his former students have become fellow musicians at the Academy of
Ancient Music, something
he feels is a natural development. He speaks with great pride of
"his" orchestra, which recently
celebrated its 26th birthday. "The Academy of Ancient Music has
achieved a great momentum. It
is filled with great experience collectively. It took time to build
the trust but now the musicians
trust me completely. I don't quite know moment to moment what will be
happening." Manze
usually conducts from his position as concert master and seems
becomingly modest about his
personal prestige. He is looking forward to the orchestra's North
American tour in November
2000.
Chamber music remains an important part of his life as a musician. He
spent 10 years with
harpsichordist John Toll and lutist Nigel North in the Romanesca
Trio. A number of
award-winning recordings came from this collaboration. Manze had to
give it up in 1999, when
Nigel North accepted a post at the renowned Indiana University School
of Music. His friendship
with harpsichordist Richard Egarr reflects a similar meeting of minds
on the artistic and
intuitive level. Egarr will accompany Manze in August in Bach sonatas
for harpsichord obligato
and violin. Manze and Egarr have been exploring the rich baroque
repertoire for 16 years now.
"We love to surprise one another. It keeps the experience fresh and
interesting," says Manze.
[Translated by Jane Brierley]
Andrew Manze Discography
* Schmelzer: Violin Sonatas / Romanesca -- Johann H.
Schmelzer(Composer), et al
Listen: 1. Sonata
IV, from Sonatae unarum fidium, 1664
buy it @ amazon.com
* Telemann: Twelve Fantasias, Gulliver Suite / Manze, Balding
-- Georg Philipp Telemann(Composer), et al
Listen: 1. Sonata
IV, from Sonatae unarum fidium, 1664
buy it @ amazon.com
* Bach: Solo & Double Violin Concertos / Manze, Podger,
AAM -- Johann Sebastian Bach(Composer), et al
Listen: 1. Concerto
for Violin no 1 in A minor, BWV 1041
buy it @ amazon.com
* Tartini: The Devil's Sonata / Andrew Manze -- Giuseppe
Tartini(Composer), Andrew Manze (Performer)
Listen: 1. Sonata
for Violin and Basso Continuo in G minor, Opus 1 no 4 "Devil's
Trill"
buy it @ amazon.com
* Pandolfi: Complete Violin Sonatas / Manze, Egarr --
G.A. Pandolfi-Mealli(Composer), et al
buy it @ amazon.com
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