‘These old works must be preserved’
As Italy’s La Scala is attacked for a ‘racist’ ballet, Ivan Hewett talks to its unapologetic music director Riccardo Chailly
In a classical music world that grows ever more globalised, conductor Riccardo Chailly cuts an old-fashioned figure. He is as European as they come: trained in Italy, with a distinguished composer for a father, he speaks four European languages, has never held any position outside Europe, and has run some of the continent’s most exalted musical institutions.
From 1988 he led what some consider the world’s finest orchestra, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, before moving to an even more venerable one, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, in Germany. But he hasn’t neglected his homeland, directing the opera house in Bologna in the late 1980s, and becoming the first director of the new Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in 1999.
Now in his late 60s, Chailly is doing what most great conductors do as they get to retirement age: working obsessively on their craft, taking on new challenges, and renewing old ones. In 2017, he took over Italy’s and probably the world’s most famous opera house, La Scala, and has just signed up for another four years.
It seems a dream job for a lover of Italian opera, but even that hallowed space has been caught up in the contemporary culture wars. La Scala’s ballet company is in hot water for programming the enormously popular Petipa/minkus ballet La Bayadère, a staple of ballet companies the world over which tells the love story of a Hindu temple dancer. A Hindu cleric based in America has said the ballet ridicules Hinduism, accused the opera house of “perpetuating dehumanising colonial stereotypes”, and called on La Scala’s new CEO, Dominique Meyer, to withdraw La Bayadère from its 2021-22 season.
At first, Chailly bats my question away, saying it’s a matter for the ballet director. But he finds it impossible to keep his opinions to himself.
“In music, and art in general, there should not be barriers placed before these old works,” he says. “Nobody wants to be mean-spirited or negative or disrespectful in any way. Of course, sometimes there are aspects of historical works which are not in line with our present world-view [but] to me, La Bayadère is an essential part of the repertoire, like Coppélia and Romeo and Juliet, and these things must be preserved.”
That determination to cherish the tradition, if necessary in the teeth of opposition, is what fires Chailly up. And he says the Italian repertoire will continue to be his priority at La Scala.
“That is the historical root of the art form and also the historical root of this theatre,” he says. “I am focusing on the complete works of Puccini, and of course Verdi, Donizetti, and Rossini. I’m really excited to be doing Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in a new edition with completely revised orchestration and also some new numbers which are completely unknown.”
It’s strange that Chailly feels the need to focus on Italian opera at Italy’s premier opera house. Hasn’t that always been the case? “Well, certainly it was not a regular part of the 10 seasons before I arrived. Daniel Barenboim, who was my predecessor, did a great job here but he was very focused on Wagner.”
What about the charge that an opera house as important as La Scala should be more forward-looking? “Focusing on Italian works doesn’t mean La Scala is just a museum,” he replies. “We have to renew these works with new productions [and] that is a challenge because I must tell you the public here is very demanding and critical and can be very tough.”
He’s not exaggerating. The Milan public is famous for its cruelty, and is quite capable of booing a singer it doesn’t like off the stage.
Chailly also faces financial challenges. Italy’s public debt has soared, and is now the second highest in Europe after Greece. Chailly admits that for a vastly expensive artistic institution like La Scala, whose annual budget is now
€86 million, this is a problem.
“Some major Italian opera houses like Genoa and Turin are in deep financial trouble owing to limits on government spending. But I would say the political will and the desire to help is very strong. The problem is that [the government’s] resources are limited. This is why our new intendant Dominique Meyer, here in Milan, is now seeking private sponsorship, which we now need more than ever to create the kind of season that we want.”
As if running La Scala weren’t enough, Riccardo Chailly has also renewed his contract with the Lucerne Festival Academy, which brings together 100 young musicians from all around the world to rehearse and perform under the best conductors every summer. This has now given birth to a new group, the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, which will focus exclusively on late 20th and 21stcentury music.
“You know these young people play this music as if it were Mozart, with a wonderful transparency and complete understanding,” he says. “So to have a group focus exclusively on this is wonderful, because it helps to keep the public’s attention on contemporary music. Like it or not, we need to engage with the music despite the difficulty and even the headache it sometimes causes.”
It’s fascinating to hear Chailly enthuse one moment about a new edition of a Donizetti opera, and the next about the joys of contemporary music. When I ask if he’s schizophrenic, he laughs. “I never heard that word before but it’s a good one. You know, I always want to fight routine. It’s important not to be in love with doing the same things that already you know you do well. It would soon become boring, not only for me but for the orchestra.
“The crucial thing for me when performing contemporary music is to choose things for which I feel an affinity. I look at the first page and the last [of a score], and instantly I know – but then comes the hard study.
“It’s just like the art of conducting itself. You have to be born with an instinct for the right gestural language, but then you need to fortify the instinct with knowledge and study. The challenge is not to overshadow the instinct with too much rationality. Achieving a balance is what keeps you alive, but it is a very hard balance to achieve.”
La Scala audiences are famous for their cruelty and will boo a singer they don’t like