Questions set by Paris Konstantinidis, musicologist
EMG: What did really push you to get involved with early music? Have you been influenced by your family or by your environment?
Harry Christophers: Although I had been a boy chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, my love of earlier music didn't really begin until my days at Oxford. I had always enjoyed it but I didn't really understand it! My tutors at Oxford were Bernard Rose and David Wulstan and it was them that inspired me to delve more into this period of music.
EMG: Apart from early music, do you listen to other genres of music? In which way are you affected by other genres that you listen to? Why do you believe that a contemporary listener could be emotive towards early music compositions?
Harry Christophers: Of course I listen to other music. All classical music - I have a penchant for Mahler, Stravinsky, Poulenc, Ravel and Britten. I adore Mozart but I can do without Puccini and Wagner. Sorry Puccini and Wagner! I was brought up in the 1960's , when you were either a Beatles fan or a Stones fan. I am the latter - Rolling Stones. I enjoy a lot of the great music of the 60's and 70's and because of my children am pretty well versed in today's music (Ben Folds, Jack Johnson, Lily Allen) - can't stand boy bands though and the trash that is served up by shows like Pop Idol and the X-Factor. I am also fascinated by film scores - John Williams and Hans Zimmer especially. His score for Gladiator is staggering.
The music I listen to often reflects what I am doing at the time - Mahler Symphonies are Sunday afternoon relaxation when I am not enjoying a good, long country walk. I listen to Stones, Folds etc while I am cooking, or in the car returning from concerts. Just like Eric Clapton, I believe, listens to opera after gigs, I listen to rock after concerts!
Early music to most contemporary listeners sounds modern. Because it is old, the instruments, the voices, the style sound new and refreshing to modern ears. People who have not heard Bach before will say it sounds like jazz - very simplistic I know, but there is no doubt early music has the following it has because of the devotion of its artists to play and sing with a real belief in what they are doing.
EMG: What kind of studies have you undertaken in music? Where did you study? Who do you regard that played decisive role in developing your technique, your performance perspective and your greater musical perceptions?
Harry Christophers: I was an Academical Clerk at Magdalen College, Oxford. I read classics and then changed to music for my finals. As a conductor though, I am, I suppose, self-taught - I developed my own style by watching others. I was very fortunate to have worked at the BBC (for three years soon after I left university) and had the privilege to perform under such great conductors as Pierre Boulez, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Seiji Ozawa and Roger Norrington among others. My early influence and most lasting, in fact my most important, was from Allan Wicks who was the organist and choirmaster when I was a boy at Canterbury Cathedral - he taught me the love of music, love of my art and above all never to give up!
EMG: Do you think that is preferable to use authentic (period) musical instruments or is it preferable to use modern relatives?
Harry Christophers: For all baroque music there is no really effective compromise - it has to be period instruments. However, going into the classical period then I am little undecided. I love the sound of a great orchestra (Academy of St Martin in the Fields, LSO for example) playing Mozart et al as long as they play "pure-toned". Their tone, sheer technique and physical approach and indeed willingness to play in a style appropriate with the period is almost second to none. I think however, as indeed Harnoncourt does, that the brass and timpani do need to be period. Their modern sound is so alien to this period of music. So a good compromise. It is very, very important that modern orchestras play classical music especially Haydn - it is not only a good discipline but also they have so much to offer.
EMG: Do you believe that it is better to preserve the authenticity of compositions (Historically Informed Performance) or it's upon the artist to perform the way he/she feels better? What makes you believe that?
Harry Christophers: It depends on how you interpret "Authenticity". First and foremost I ensure that we are working from scholarly editions therefore in some cases a lot of research has had to be done. When it comes to performance then interpretation takes over. How can we call our performances of renaissance polyphony totally authentic? I don't use boys on the top lines; thank God we don't have castrati - I use women. We take the music of the church written for the glory of God and as an accompaniment to divine worship out of its context and into the concert hall. Very few understand or indeed know a word of Latin so I feel we are duty bound to convey the meaning of the text through our performance. Orchestral forces - I fully accept the argument for solo voices in a lot of Bach. However I don't conceive my performances in that way - there is room for everyone and that is what makes the period movement so exciting.
EMG: Do you prefer to perform into historical venues than modern concert halls? How do you think the venue affects the audience, the musicians and finally the performance?
Harry Christophers: There is no doubt that a historical venue lends a certain atmosphere. Sometimes it can be a disappointment - I remember once performing Music from the Eton Choirbook in Eton Chapel and it was not the acoustic one had hoped for! However performing Haydn symphonies in Eisenstadt was simply fantastic. As for sacred music a capella, there is no doubt a church/cathedral acoustic is a must not only for the choir but also the audience. The ambience, the stone, the tracery, the vaulting and the stained glass windows all add to that amazing atmosphere. We of course perform a lot in concert halls and there is no doubt that I have to alter my approach and exaggerate the architecture of the lines.
For the larger works, oratorios, passions and operas then we have, all over the world, wonderful concert halls, some better than others and quite frankly it is up to us as performers to ensure we bring the best out of any venue we are in.
EMG: Which are your criteria on choosing a musical piece that you are going to perform? How do you manage to get the desirable result, in order to decrypt its musical sensitiveness?
Harry Christophers: Great music is great music. There is no way in my lifetime I will perform all the Handel and Bach I would want to. I have a wish list and I sincerely hope that I will be able to tackle much of it. Rarely heard scores are a different matter - some deserve to remain unheard but just sometimes a work (in recent times for me pieces by Melgas, Padilla, Steffani) leaps off the page and I have to perform it. Very often it has been one work by a composer that has interested me and so I have then delved further and more often than not have been surprised by the quality I have found.
EMG: Music is an art that blossoms in time and space. The emotional state of the artist, the resonance of the room, the interaction of the performer with the audience...
All the above elements compose the magic moment of the experience of a concert.
Do you remember a concert during your career that holds a special place in your heart? Was there any special reason?
Harry Christophers: We were in Spain. Lerida to be exact, on 13 March 1996 about to perform Bach's St Matthew Passion when we heard the appalling news that 16 children and their teacher had been killed by a lone gunman at a school in Dunblane Scotland. The tragedy affected us all and I will never forget how different moments of the Passion brought all of us at some stage to tears. The performance was one of the finest we have ever given and was our tribute to those children whose lives were brought to such an abrupt end.
EMG: Nowadays, apart from live concert(s), there is the feature of recording and expanding the moment to eternity. Which is your latest CD? From which musical pieces is it consisted of and why did you choose those ones?
Harry Christophers: Our latest cd is of Music for the Sistine Chapel. It came about because of our 2007 Choral Pilgrimage in which I included Allegri's Miserere. We have recorded this twice already so there was no reason to do it again. But this made me think - was Allegri a one piece composer? So I asked Martyn Imrie to delve around his music more and indeed other Sistine Chapel composers and he came up with some very interesting works by Allegri and some revelatory works by Felice Anerio. After working my way through many scores I chose a programme of Allegri's Mass Che fa oggi, some double choir Anerio motets plus some rarely-heard offertories by Palestrina along with his sumptuous motet Assumpta est Maria.
EMG: What do you intent to present us from now on?
Harry Christophers: 2008 we are concentrating on music by Parsons, Tye and White - three composers born in the reign of Henry VIII but all survived the reformation and subsequent turbulent religious times through to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. 2009 abounds in anniversaries - we will be focussing on Handel and Purcell but principally the oratorios Samson and Jephtha. I am also having edited at the moment a Stabat Mater by Steffani. As for 2010, it is a long time since we have performed Bach's B Minor Mass - I intend to revive that.
EMG: What are your suggestions - advices to young musicians who wish to start a career in Early Music?
Harry Christophers: Be enthusiastic and dedicated to your art. First and foremost it is essential that you secure a good technique whether instrumentally or vocally. Style can follow. Perform as much music as you can both solo and in small and large ensembles. There is a great wealth of music to be performed. But be healthy - don't just devote yourself entirely to early music; look at later centuries and the way composers were influenced by the great masters of the renaissance and baroque.
Is there anything that you would like to propose concerning the future of early music scene? Do you have in mind any institutions that could assist to the expansion of early music audience(s) or to the improvement of musical education?
Harry Christophers: Progress is excellent - many conservatoires have now faculties for "historically aware performance" and excellent teachers. Obvioulsy it would be wonderful to see every conservatoire worldwide have this facility. And please let us see every major concert hall and opera house programming earlier music - there are far too many who still confine themselves to a period of 200 years of music (which doesn't include contemporary either! ).
We say it of the arts in general but the earlier we can introduce pupils to the wealth of great muisc (and not just early music, every period pf music) the richer our lives will be.
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