Orozco-Estrada on Beethoven and his final season with the symphony
The role of music director at Houston Symphony gives an impression of a long-term role. Hans Graf took the baton in 2001 and held the position for a dozen years. His predecessor, Christoph Eschenbach, held the position for about 11 years. If Andrés OrozcoEstrada’s transformative time here felt short, it was only so compared to those two men. But Orozco-Estrada held the role of music director and conductor for eight seasons, which is longer than the average for the 15 music directors starting with Julien Paul Blitz in 1913. In one year, Juraj Valcuha will lead the symphony, starting a new tenure.
In Orozco-Estrada’s time here, the native of Colombia worked to engage younger audiences through newer platforms. He oversaw the appointment of 25 musicians, a little less than a third of the entire Houston Symphony — including a new concertmaster in Yoonshin Song. His departure appeared inevitable based on his contract, and was confirmed earlier this year after a pandemicriddled 2020-21 season that was the most unusual for both Orozco-Estrada and Houston Symphony. The maestro was stuck in Vienna as the symphony engaged fans during the most remarkable of times. The past year witnessed some close calls, where the music director was packed for Houston, but pandemic protocols kept him in Europe. This weekend he returns to lead the symphony through Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
Orozco-Estrada plans to dicuss his time in Houston over this final season. To start, he talked about working during these strange times and the choice of program for his long-awaited return.
Q: Well, it’s been a difficult process getting here for you. What, 18 months?
A: (Laughs.) Absolutely. Even yesterday waiting at the airport, it took a little time at passport control. It took more than an hour of just sitting there, waiting for double checks, getting everything approved. Making sure the documents were there.
Q: And then you arrive and are greeted by a tropical storm.
A: Isn’t that how it sometimes is? It is not always easy.
Q: This is your last season with Houston Symphony. I’d love to hear your thoughts on choosing Beethoven’s Fifth. It has perhaps the best-known first four notes in all music. It’s as well known as any piece. And there’s also some subtextual allure in his “Fate” symphony: These dark and ominous passages with moments of triumph. It feels right for the moment.
A: Yes, I think it was both simple and complicated, the reflection picking the right piece for this performance. At the time, we still didn’t know if we’d be able to play bigger. There were a lot of unknown factors like the size of the orchestra, the size of the audience. Decisions like this used to be made five years in advance. After this year with the pandemic, sometimes they’re made days in advance. But we thought there was something there that worked for this show. Some might consider such a well-known work to be safe. We gave the Seventh Symphony a thought. We’ve done that many times. But as you said, there’s this sense of suffering and hope that is expressed in the
Fifth. And I did and do believe this is an important moment. Every concert right now feels a little like a miracle. But also it’s well known, but there are still things about this music that are unknown — many people only know the first movement.
And it’s still so strong. So this was a popular piece, and a strong piece. And most importantly, I feel like it takes us through a journey, which we’ve all been on over the past year and a half. You mentioned this “Fate” motif. We think of fate as this knocking on the door. And for Beethoven, it was: He was recognizing that he was going deaf. I think we have experiences — especially in the past year and a half — that are dramatic. Where we feel emotional and desperate. So this seemed like a great beginning. Trying to see the light, to see hope, to get out of this. It moves between anger and desperation and hopefulness. There’s desperation in the first movement, and then it’s like a prayer, like he’s talking to God or to himself. A prayer for inner peace. And then he taps into this light, and it becomes dramatic. It becomes like a giant standing up. And that motif, RRRAM PAM PAM PAMMMM.
Q: And that motif keeps getting reconfigured throughout. I’m intrigued about how we view a piece of music one way at, say, 15 years old, and differently at 40 or 60. Here in the span of a symphony, he condenses that sort of varied perspective with just those four notes.
A: Exactly, and that’s what’s magical about it. I said how well known it is, but I was looking into the history of the Houston Symphony with the Fifth Symphony. I think 1931 was the first performance on record. It has been through all these performers and conductors and interpretations. Every time there was something magical about, and people listened at stages in their lives different than those we are in now. I think that’s why it felt so appropriate for this moment. Things about humanity repeat themselves, but there is this forward movement, too. A piece of music like this moves through not just my life or yours, but our lives and the history of humankind. So I liked it for this season. To think about survival and hope.
Q: It sounds like you also feel it’s a good connection between you and the symphony. You’ve worked together nearly a decade now.
A: I agree. The programming this season, we were thinking about cycles and finishing cycles. Our lives are full of cycles. We live and experience time with beginnings and endings and new beginnings. This ending was a different one with the coronavirus situation. But we’ve still had this great journey together, with musical and human connection. So it’s a celebration. Not that I’m gone. (Laughs.) But what we’ve done and accomplished. The way we’ve made music. I’m interested more in that than anything people call “legacy.” This connection through music of the human soul. So I think these shows will be powerful, beautiful and intense. … And I say this a lot, I make a lot of decisions, but I’m the only one up there who doesn’t produce any sound. At least, no sound anyone pays to hear. I only exist together with the orchestra. So there’s a romantic view that this is an instrument I play, but in the real world, the players are the ones producing these sounds.
Q: I doubt you need me to tell you how lovely this sounds during a time of division.
A: Exactly, togetherness … it’s a romantic vision of life. And I don’t want to be too metaphysical or philosophical, but without love, life doesn’t exist in a meaningful way. That’s my opinion. But I see an orchestra, this orchestra, as a reflection of an ideal society with togetherness. It is possible. If you put a new violinist in, they have to listen and connect, no matter their training. Like other things in society, we should listen to others, serve others. That idea of togetherness is perfect. I think this weekend will be an excellent metaphor or inspiration that way. And I can’t wait to be back in November for Tchaikovsky, which will be different but equally enjoyable and inspiring.
Q: And Beethoven finally gets his 250th birthday party. Most of those shows got canceled last year. This also fits simply because you’ve sought in your time here to introduce listeners to a new global group of composers while also reminding new audiences why the classics are the classics.
A: Yes, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert … people have been very educated in their work for a long time. But we should remember they used to play in their time. I think it’s important to listen to the present and think about the future. But I think Beethoven opens as many doors to the future as he does the past. And you have young musicians all the time who bring something interesting to this music because those doors are open. Someone opens the door for us, and we take that first step. So I hope listeners also feel that way, that the music is more approachable and that it’s not just history. Beethoven’s music is something somebody would enjoy singing on the street a long time ago. His music was accepted as popular music like pop music today. When you consider things like that, you walk through that door and find more doors to go through.