65th Yokohama Culture Award: Culture and Arts Encouragement Award Winner! Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Conductor Kentaro Kawase talks about the appeal and future of the orchestra

--Congratulations on receiving the Culture and Arts Encouragement Award at the 65th Yokohama Culture Awards!

Kawase : Thank you.

--The Culture and Arts Encouragement Award at the historic Yokohama Culture Awards is given to young people who are currently active and who are expected to achieve even greater success in the future. How did you feel when you received the news of your award?

Kawase : It will be 10 years since my debut next year, and I have had the opportunity to receive many awards from last year to this year. I was very happy to receive another award on top of that. This time, it is especially from Yokohama City, the home of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra. I am very grateful for this award because it is possible for more people to know about me through my activities with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra.

--Indeed, since last year, Kawase has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Watanabe Akio Music Fund Music Award, the Kanagawa Culture Prize Future Award, the Saito Hideo Memorial Fund Award in the Conducting Category, and the Idemitsu Music Award.

Kawase : Yes. However... I think you have an image of conductors leading an orchestra confidently on stage, but you never know how a concert will turn out until you try it. There is the pressure of possibly failing, but I don't want to give up on the challenge. I'm always anxious about whether I've done it right. But receiving an award like this is proof that people are interested in my music and that it's interesting. It gives me a lot of confidence.

--This award also reflects the expectations of those who have actually come to Kawase's concerts.

Kawase : That's why I don't think I'm the only one who received this award. As I said in my speech at the award ceremony, no matter how arrogant a conductor may seem, I alone can't produce a single note. It wouldn't work without the orchestra that performs. In particular, the award I received from Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama City was only possible with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra. I would like to express my gratitude once again to the performers, staff, and audience who come to see the performance.

--After the presentation ceremony, a commemorative Oe Kaoru violin concert was held. What did you think of the ceremony?

Kawase : The Yokohama Culture Award has been awarded to people in various fields, not just music, and just listening to their speeches deepened my knowledge. And I met Kaoru Oe, who performed at the commemorative concert, for the first time in about three years since I conducted the concert where he won the Japan Music Competition. That was also nice.

--And Mr. Kawase, you were appointed as the youngest principal conductor of a Japanese orchestra at the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014, and this is your third year in that position. Looking back on your career, how do you feel now?

Kawase : It went by so quickly. From my first year, I was able to conduct the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra's 300th anniversary regular concert, release a CD, and was featured on NHK... I think it was a very productive three years in which I gained a variety of experiences. At the same time, it was the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to do this with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, so I was also faced with the challenge of what I should do as a permanent conductor. I'm still searching for the answer.

How do you deal with that difficulty and sense of responsibility?

Kawase : I don't try to hide my true self. I'm the type of person who will tell you all about it (laughs), so I try to be honest with my feelings as a human being and treat the orchestra members like a human being.

--I think that your straightforward personality is reflected in your musicality.

Kawase : I hope it's like that too. It's very difficult for people to share music and play and create together. I especially feel this when we're rehearsing, but music isn't something you understand with words, it's something you feel with your body. The more I tell the orchestra how I want it to be played, the more I feel like I'm moving away from the essence and the more empty I feel. For example... in dramas and movies, there are scenes where a couple asks the other, "How much do you love me?" (laughs)

--Yes. There are situations like that in everyday life too (laughs).

Kawase : But I think that when you say "I like it" there, you are not expressing your true feelings or emotions. It's the same with music. I always feel the difficulty of expressing what I "feel" as a conductor and how to convey that to the orchestra. However, being able to be involved with the Kanagawa Philharmonic so closely allows me to try various things musically and grow as a person. I'm really glad that I was able to be in contact with the orchestra in the position of permanent conductor.

--Mr. Kawase, you currently perform with many orchestras, including not only the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra but also the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. What do you think is the appeal of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra?

Kawase : It's a very friendly atmosphere, and many people are flexible and fighting to make the orchestra better. That attitude is reflected in the music, and we pursue what's good to the end, and we can discuss any questions together. In October, we announced a three-year contract extension from April 2017 to March 2020, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things will change in the next three years.

What do you think about the appeal of music?

Kawase : He has always been good at playing classical pieces such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Not only technically, but he also expresses the language of classical pieces well. He is full of the charm of speaking with sound, rather than just following the notes. In particular, Naoto Sakiya, who became the first concertmaster at the same time as me, is younger than me, but he has many ideas that I don't have and has a lot of experience in chamber music. With that kind of effort, he can express music with punctuation. I feel that the expressiveness of playing natural intonation and harmony has increased. In addition, he has become more dynamic recently. I think the Kanagawa Philharmonic will continue to grow musically.

--For the past three years or so, you have been challenging yourself with various pieces with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra. What do you keep in mind when thinking about the programs you will be conducting?

Kawase : It's a program I would like to listen to as a music fan, rather than as a conductor. I try to think of it like "food combinations," like cooking. By adding accents between the standard, delicious courses, the flavor of each dish stands out even more. Even in a concert, if you place an accent piece, a famous standard piece will sound different than usual, making it more interesting. I select the pieces while considering the aim of the package, hoping to bring new enjoyment to the audience.

--Where do those ideas come from?

Kawase : Recently, I've been reading Shusaku Endo's novel "Silence," which is about Christianity, and something suddenly occurred to me... For example, there are several songs in Japan that use the theme of fumie (a Buddhist rite of passage in a Buddhist sabbath). If I combined that with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5, "The Reformation," I thought it would be interesting to feel the difference in the music, even though the songs have the same Christian theme. ... Or something like that. I'm always thinking about things like that.

-- Perhaps one day that theme will come true. And soon, on December 3rd, a regular concert conducted by Kawase will be held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Hall. The program will be Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'", which is a year-end tradition.

Kawase : The Ninth Symphony has become so popular that some guests feel they cannot end the year without listening to it. Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," sung in the fourth movement, has the theme that all human beings are brothers, but because it is something that cannot be realized in reality, it is filled with an eternal wish. That is why it is a work that has tremendous energy, so I hope that you will receive great power from this piece and use it as a good opportunity to think about how you will live your life and how you will interact with people in the future.

--This is a very rude question, but do you ever get tired of performing the Ninth Symphony every year?

Kawase : That's... not the case! (laughs) Conducting the "Ninth" at the end of the year is also the culmination of my year. So, every year, what I read from the score is different, and it's also a measuring stick that allows me to know what I've been thinking and growing over the past year. There's something new to discover every year, so I never get bored of it.

--After this year's culmination, you will have a regular concert at Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall on January 21st of next year, which will mark the start of 2017. I'm looking forward to that too.

Kawase : I usually conduct three regular concerts a year at Minato Mirai Hall, and one of those three times I always recommend something a little different: "This dish is a little unusual, but it's really delicious!" That's what I did in January. Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 is the most famous, but this time I wanted to have the audience listen to No. 3, which I think is the most fulfilling piece, even though it is not often performed. In addition, I wanted to introduce my fellow flute player Seiya Ueno, who performed with me at my European debut, to the Kanagawa audience, so I included Khachaturian's (arranged by Rampal) "Violin (Flute) Concerto in D minor." "Violin Concerto in D minor" is also a specialty of our solo concertmaster Yasunao Ishida, but this time I'm going to have him listen to it on the flute. And the first piece is JS Bach's (arranged by Elgar) "Fantaisie and Fugue in C minor Op. 86." This is also a really cool song, so I hope as many people as possible will listen to it.