Marek Janowski

 

I hadn't heard his interviews on You Tube so I listened to them this morning. I actually had a closer relationship to him for a few years. He became Chief Conductor in all but name (he didn't want the title) of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and I used to go to his concerts there and chat well into the night with him afterwards.

In some ways a lot of what he said in the interviews he also said to me back then in the 1970s. I'm thinking particularly of his view that a conductor has to learn his (or her) trade when very young and on the job so the arm has its own mind and can bring a singer into line automatically when they stray. Also, his ideas on operatic production. I remember he got an offer from Bayreuth quite early on but told them he would only accept if they gave him his own new production. That closed the door to him for about 40 years! He later admitted that had been a mistake but that was typical of his personality.

His father had been a Polish aristocrat and painter who had split up with his (German) mother when the war startd. She took the infant Marek with her to Wuppertal while the father stayed in Poland. Such was the bitterness between them that after the war there was no contact. I believe the father tried once or twice to communicate but he was persona non grata to such an extent that when Marek was invited to give a concert in Warsaw decades later, his wife secretly arranged a meeting with the father upon which Marek divorced her!

I'm relating this story to explain Janowski's autocratic decisiveness at certain times. Here's an anecdote I hope you will find it amusing.

When we were planning the recording of 'Euryanthe' Jessye Norman was the choice for the title role. She wanted to meet Janowski before committing. An opportunity arose when they were both in London. I was on friendly terms with Jessye but thought to mention to Janowski that he should be nice because she could be a little difficult at times. I whispered this to Marek while walking the 20 yards to meet her through the hall where Jessye had been rehearsing. Marek extended his hand and said 'Frau Norman, I hear you can be a little difficult. Don't try any of that with me!' I looked at Jessye's face and understood she was thinking she could either take that in good humour or end the conversation right then and there. Fortunately she decided to laugh and they got on like a house on fire from then on but that shows a lot about Janowski's character; he was after all very much the unknown quantity compared to her at that time.

So when he says in the interview he wanted to tell people what to do and not vice versa, that was very familiar.