Word: ozawa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...seemed the embodiment of Japanese musical aspirations when he returned to Tokyo to lead some concerts with Japan's most prestigious orchestra, the NHK Symphony. But his brash ways offended the conservative, prideful musicians. "We won't be bullied by that kid," they declared. In December of 1962, Ozawa stood alone on a podium in front of an ensemble of empty chairs. That day he was forcibly reminded of an old Japanese proverb: "The nail that sticks out is hammered down...
...Today Ozawa uneasily straddles both worlds. The exemplar of success in classical music, in Japan he is a role model to thousands of young performers. Yet his exalted position is resented by many; to them, he is still the nail that sticks out. In the West, old questions about how deeply he understands music continue to dog him. His detractors write of his "blank interpretations," and indeed Ozawa has always been more effective in Strauss and Stravinsky showpieces than in Beethoven symphonies. Music that demands depth rather than flash taxes him. He has taken up opera in Europe...
...Ozawa shrugs off criticism that he is culturally unsuited to some repertoires: "Once, as an encore after a recital in Japan, Feuermann played a Japanese tune -- pentatonic, with delicate quarter-tone shadings. Everyone said it was the best performance of that melody in history." Yet Japanese performers, educators and critics admit that the lack of real comprehension is the greatest hindrance to Japanese musicians' acceptance in the West. Students too are often taught to emulate their sensei (teachers) rather than to think for themselves. Perhaps it is no contradiction that Saito's most flamboyant pupil is also his staunchest admirer...
Torn between his two lives, Ozawa has sent his wife Vera and their two children back to live in Japan, and he returns to their Tokyo home often. Yet a full-time career in Japan would be too limiting for a conductor mentioned as a potential successor to Karajan in Berlin. Although there have long been predictions of his imminent departure from Boston, Ozawa speaks confidently of his future with the orchestra (his only permanent post). He is, he says, content...
...Japanese born in China, raised a Christian in a predominantly Shintoist-Buddhist country, married to a woman whose father was Russian, Ozawa has had a divided life, symbolizing on many levels the duality that every Japanese musician in the West faces. "Sometimes I say, 'Why I become Western music musician?' " he muses in the film. "I think that made my life much more interesting, and much more exciting. Of course, I have to pay price...