Oskar Morawetz doesn't aim over heads
Avant garde composers like to think of themselves as pied pipers leading
music towards its future. Then again, it's never a bad idea to look back to see
if anyone's following.
"Some composers are so abstract and experimental that the public can't get
it," said Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz, in Saint John for the performance of
his Sinfonietta for Strings tonight. "And to be quite frank, I can't get it
either."
"The avant garde think I'm old-fashioned and the public think I'm avant
garde."
That may be the curse of a 20th century composer, but it hasn't got in the
way of Czechoslovakia-born Morawetz whose compositions, such as Memorial to
Martin Luther King and From the Diary of Anne Frank, have been performed in
Canada, the United States and Europe by some of the world's top orchestras and
conductors. Unlike many composers of his generation, he rejects technical
experiments for their own sake in favor of rhythmic vitality, colorful
orchestration and full-bodied emotion.
"Emotion plays a very important part in my compositions and I'm not afraid to
admit it, even if the avant garde thinks anything with emotion is old-fashioned.
Music that has no emotion - I just don't enjoy that."
It's the weaving of two different musical lines that bring Morawetz to New
Brunswick. A year ago, he met Saint John Symphony conductor Nurhan Arman, as he
prepared a Morawetz composition for the studio and then a performance with the
Leningrad Symphony. They've been friendly ever since. And when the composer
received an invitation to stay at the Red Head home of Margaret Ann Ireland, he
couldn't pass up a chance to visit the retired concert pianist, who he's known
and admired since she was 16.
Sinfonietta for Strings received its premiere with the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra in 1965. But the composer was not pleased. Two years ago he completely
rewrote the piece that has only been performed two or three times since.
"Even Beethoven completely redid compositions. Puccini completely rewrote
Madame Butterfly. Some composers never rewrite, but I'm one of those people who
are more critical of the work than the critics."
The revamped composition contains energy, mood and drama and should
complement the Bohemian Rhapsody theme of the program that also includes
Janacek's Suite for Strings and Dvorak's Serenade for Strings. The National
Trust-sponsored Symphony New Brunswick tour began last night in Moncton, with
Morawetz present, as he will be tonight at Saint John High School. The tour
continues Thursday at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton.
The retired University of Toronto professor has seen many changes in the
Canadian music scene since he escaped war-torn Europe in 1940.
"It's incredible. You wouldn't even recognize Canada musically from that
time," he said. "There was no opera in Toronto. And the improvement of all the
orchestras is incredible. And then there's the growth of artists and performers.
There was always quality, but now there's quantity."
Now 74, Morawetz reputation among Canadian composers is assured. But he
resists the impulse to box him into any musical category.
"Emotion has so many meanings. Musical historians try to classify everything
as baroque or romantic or modern, but I find that superficial."
He doesn't like smaltzy music anymore than other serious composers, but one
thing he's learned is that you'll never find the listerner's heart if you aim
over their head.
"I never write something where neither I can feel it or the public. I don't
like to write something that's above the heads of everybody."
