"They are the guardians of European culture, because Vienna is a melting pot of Czech, Italian, Slavic, and German influences, and the orchestra is the highest expression of that," says Riccardo Muti in the "La Repubblica" interview. "With the Vienna Philharmonic, I feel like a father. I have met three generations of musicians," the star conductor continues. Next Tuesday (February 25), Muti will perform with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Milan Scala. The concert is sold out. Schubert's Symphony No. 4 and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 will be performed.

Riccardo Muti: "Vienna Philharmonic was the Everest for me"

In the interview, the 83-year-old Muti recalls his first concert with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1971. "I had been invited to Salzburg by Herbert von Karajan and even thought he had made a mistake with the invitation. I was 30 years old at the time. For three years, I had been a conductor at the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, but the Viennese... The older musicians had played with Toscanini and Furtwängler. They were the Everest," Muti recalls. "I took the train. I arrived in a Vienna that was not the vibrant capital it is today. At the station, I took a taxi to the Sofiensaal, where the rehearsals for 'Don Pasquale' were taking place, and I was trembling. When I remember it, I get a bit emotional, because today Vienna, Berlin, Chicago, these great orchestras, are home to me, but on that day I was like in a fairy tale, with a terrible heartbeat," the Italian conductor recounted. "The taxi driver took a wrong turn. I arrived, for the first and last time in my life, late to a rehearsal, breathless and with half the orchestra waiting for me outside the hall... Then we started playing Donizetti's overture," the conductor recalls.

Muti Will Be Eternally Grateful to Karajan

He will be eternally grateful to Herbert von Karajan. "Many conductors of my generation were promoted by him. This is an aspect that can never be emphasized enough. He invited me in 1972 to play with the Berlin Philharmonic, together with Maurizio Pollini as soloist," says Muti. When asked what he thinks of artificial intelligence, the maestro replied: "I am not against artificial intelligence, but if it is not controlled, it leads to emptiness. In Japan, there is already a robot on the podium, but what does it do? It moves its arms. A conductor must hear the notes with his soul, not with his ears. And that's why you have to study, study, study."

(APA/red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.