Conversation with the Conductor

Guest conductor Sara Jobin arrived in San Francisco this week to conduct at our 40th Anniversary Gala concert, and also to work with SF Opera on the upcoming Ring cycle. After the first rehearsal of Salvatore Sciarrino’s wind quintet Il silenzio degli oracoli, she shared some of her thoughts on the unique experience of preparing this performance, and about working with SFCMP's musicians.

You’re well-known as a conductor in the opera world, where you direct works that are large-scale in form and structure and complex in their production onstage. Do you take a much different approach to conducting a small chamber music ensemble?

The biggest difference, honestly, is in the structure of the musical relationships. Besides that, amount of rehearsal time and complexity of sheer forces involved. I’ll take my most recent opera production as an example, since it was a premiere. The orchestra only had a few short rehearsals to throw it all together, and our relationship was in the framework of a traditional hierarchy. I was their boss, my job was to get good performances and a live recording out of them in a very short time and their job was to play well so that they would get hired again in the future, since they were all freelancers. At no point in the process did I ask them their interpretive opinion, though maybe if we had had more time there could have been interesting dialogues between the players and the composer, who was present.

By contrast, at my first rehearsal with the Players tonight, we determined which spots worked better led by the flutist rather than the conductor, and at one point a musician very politely pointed out that my 4 beat pattern was looking confusingly like a 2 pattern from the side. Meanwhile, I helped the rehearsal process by beating time, having the score in front of me and knowing where things were supposed to be together that weren’t yet. We’re all equals in the chamber music relationship – though I am grateful for and always inspired by the way the Players talk to each other, and me, in rehearsals. Some decisions we arrived at by group discussion. Just trying to imagine that at an opera rehearsal makes me laugh. Can you imagine a bunch of Valkyries trying to decide how the music should go?

There’s also exponentially more rehearsal time for this concert, per minute of music performed. For the Sciarrino, 8 hours for four minutes, versus 11 ½ hours for a two hour opera. That’s a ratio of 120:1 compared to roughly 6:1. That’s why the relationships are structured so differently; a conductor in front of an orchestra saves time.

How do I prepare differently – well, with an opera there are words. So I learn the words, and I sing the music, and then I figure out what the orchestra needs from me. With the two pieces on this concert, there aren’t even melodies – it’s more about texture, and in the Furrer, rhythm. A lot of my preparation for the first rehearsal is almost mathematical – translating the unusual performance techniques from Italian or German, then seeing how things fit together, what I should beat, what determines tempo and how else I can be useful.

In general, what do you enjoy about performing contemporary music?

It’s the reason for me to be a conductor – to bring someone’s music to life, to help the composer develop and/or bring something new to the ears of an audience. To find, appreciate, and foster the development of talent in our lifetimes. I’m not only interested in classical music but there’s a specific role for me there.

What are some of the specific challenges contained in each of the two works you’ll be conducting in our upcoming program?

The Furrer [Spur, for piano and string quartet] is incredibly hard. For everyone. Difficult techniques of playing the instruments, combined with complicated rhythms and very fast tempi. You can’t just play what’s written – you have to figure out what it means first. And then you have to practice for a long time.

The Sciarrino also has extremely difficult playing techniques, but once you get them the rest isn’t so hard. The parts are actually not printed very clearly – it’s amazing how much that matters! Important for composers to know: if you want people to play your piece, make it easy for them to read.

Terry Riley’s best-known piece, In C, doesn’t require a conductor in concert. In fact, it could be said that to have a conductor lead it would defeat its very purpose – which is to let the musicians collectively (and spontaneously) determine the pace and expression of each individual performance. When you participate in this piece as a member of the ensemble, how do you think the experience will relate back to performing more structured music as a conductor?

I’ll tell you after we rehearse it – this will be a new experience for me too. I’ve done a fair amount of Philip Glass which counts as minimalism but this is really different – much more in the moment, almost improvisatory. It will be fun to play, and I won’t be leading. My role may be just to facilitate rehearsals as necessary, in cooperation with Willie Winant who has performed and recorded it several times.

Anything else you think audiences might like to know?

We deliver a finished product that’s pretty polished, but there are some funny moments getting there. Like tonight after Rufus played his multiphonics – which are produced by overblowing on the instrument so much that it produces four tones instead of one – anyway Rufus, who is one of the most incredibly talented musicians I know, and can play Mozart like nobody’s business - he played this and it sounded vaguely like . . . a cow . . . and we all looked at each other and laughed. “Is that what the composer wanted?”

Or a moment with Larry, who brought a horn that specifically sounds good when you blow air through it, because he barely gets to play it in this piece, but he’s supposed to blow into it a lot and slap the mouthpiece with his tongue. He got water somewhere in there in all that tubing and spent several minutes trying to find it, emptying one valve after another (“condensation,” they call it, despite a well-named composition called Quintet for Wind and Spit) but he couldn’t find it so eventually he gave up. We made a few brass jokes and then continued with the rehearsal.

Or in the Comments That Conductors Are Prone To Making department, there was “it sounds like wind in a garden with birds . . .” to which one musician politely responded, “So you mean I should play after the fourth beat, right?” Ah, the rehearsal process.

We hope you enjoy the final product! See you at the concert.

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Contemporary Insights: Music and Conversation
Sara Jobin will conduct Beat Furrer's Spur, and moderate an audience discussion. Wine reception afterward.
Sunday, April 3 at 4:30 pm
Studio B at ODC Dance Commons, San Francisco
Tickets available at the door ($10 regular, $5 student/senior)
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Fortieth Anniversary Gala Concert
Sara Jobin will conduct music by Salvatore Sciarrino and Beat Furrer. Program also includes music by Charles Boone and Terry Riley. Post-concert party in the Green Room open to all ticket holders.
Monday, April 4 at 7:30 pm
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
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