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Around Town

Strike up the band

By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 20th, 2008 issue

When conductor Eliahu Inbal finished rehearsing Elektra at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice this past Sunday, he hopped in a waiting water taxi and went to the airport. At 11 the next morning, he was sitting in the sumptuous Hall of Columns café at the Rudolfinum, being formally introduced as the new chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.

About 60 journalists and music professionals were there, including half a dozen photographers who kept the flashes popping as if Inbal were a rock star. The conductor, natty in a dark suit and gray and black-striped scarf, was articulate, intelligent, personable and highly complimentary of the orchestra.
The feeling seems mutual. One of the most revealing moments of the press conference came afterward, when a retired viola player approach Inbal. “I remember when you conducted us in Mahler’s seventh symphony,” he said. “That was one of the highlights of my career.”
If not a love affair, there’s been an infatuation between the Czech Philharmonic and Inbal ever since September 1989, when he guest-conducted the orchestra for the first time, in two concerts in Prague and two in Hamburg, Germany. “There was wonderful satisfaction on both sides, for me and musicians,” Inbal said in an interview after the press conference. “So, when they said they wanted me as chief conductor, I said, ‘Yes, with pleasure.’ ”
Starting with the 2009–10 season, Inbal will replace Zdeněk Mácal, who abruptly resigned as chief conductor last year, complaining about the workload. That’s not likely to be a problem for Inbal, who holds the chief conductor position with two orchestras at the moment, at Le Fenice and with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He’s held similar positions in Frankfurt, Berlin and Torino, and says the only thing that’s ever bothered him is the jet lag. “I’ve been conducting in Japan for 35 years, and I’ve never gotten used to it,” he confided.
Inbal, who was born in Jerusalem, studied in Paris and the Netherlands. He’s been a star on the European circuit ever since he won the prestigious Guido Cantelli conducting competition in Novara, Italy, in 1963, at the age of 26. He has conducted many orchestras around the world since, and has a huge discography, including complete cycles of Mahler and Bruckner, who are considered his specialties. “Of course, we’ll play Czech music when we go on tour,” he assured a concerned questioner at the press conference. “But, because of who I am, people are also going to expect to hear Mahler and Bruckner.”
Czechs tend to be insecure about their music’s place in the world repertoire, and Inbal went out of his way to characterize it in flattering terms. “It’s earthy, natural, not abstract, with a real connection to the people,” he said. He was even more effusive about the orchestra.
“The sound of this orchestra is something special,” he said. “It has an identity, a quality that I think should be kept and developed. You would have to work hard with a French orchestra to get that sound. With the Czech Philharmonic, I think we can do all kinds of music.”
Inbal won’t be at the podium at the Rudolfinum until April 2009, but already he’s working on winning hearts and minds in Prague. “There’s something missing here,” he admitted during the press conference. “I can’t speak Czech.” But he left with a Czech-language workbook, and promised to get to work.
It won’t be easy. Inbal speaks six languages, but allowed in the interview that “all those other languages have connections, but Czech is really different.” Still, he sees learning the language as critical. “It’s vital to understanding life here and the character of the people,” he said.
Never mind the music. With an attitude like that, Inbal is going to do just fine in Prague.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


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