Slowing Down His World Travels

Cleveland may be the butt of some metropolitan jokes, but it is paradise enough for lovers of symphonic music. The revered Cleveland Orchestra, which has a long and exacting tradition of excellence, has a newly refurbished home in Severance Hall. And starting in September 2002, it also has a new music director, Franz Welser-Most.

The Austrian conductor has also been a favorite in Los Angeles since his debut with the Philharmonic in 1991. He is currently in the middle of a two-week engagement here, conducting mostly music from the Central European repertory: Beethoven and Bruckner last week, and opera excerpts Thursday through Sunday.

“I can’t escape that, coming from Austria,” Welser-Most says, “although I do not do as much Middle European music as I used to. Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is a friend of mine, has special requests for guest conductors. We’ll see what the orchestra gains or profits from somebody from that background.”

Welser-Most has had an explosive career, mixing the European fast track with some personal detours. Born in 1960 in Linz, he was chief conductor in two small outposts in Sweden and Switzerland by the time he was 25. In 1990, he became music director of the London Philharmonic and spent a turbulent six years embroiled in the internecine arts politics of that city.

In 1995, he became chief conductor of the Zurich Opera, a small company that he has transformed into an amazingly ambitious dynamo mounting 16 new productions annually. Coming up, he conducts Richard Strauss’ “Arabella” and Berg’s “Lulu,” and launches a new two-year “Ring” cycle, staged by acclaimed American director Robert Wilson, in October. Due out this summer on EMI is his recording of Johann Strauss II’s long-lost operetta “Simplizius,” the score for which was recently found at a flea market in Vienna.

All of which suggests that the Philharmonic’s program of music from Britten’s “Peter Grimes” and the “Ring” are in experienced hands.

“Oh yes, I’ve buried myself the last five years in this crazy opera house,” Welser-Most says with a laugh. “I’ve done a lot of Wagner, and I love ‘Peter Grimes.’ I did that in Glyndebourne the first summer the new house was open. It was great.”

Last week it was Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony--his “weirdest and most complex,” according to Welser-Most--that occupied his attentions. In the three weeks prior to that, he was attending to Bruckner, Wagner, Beethoven and much more music from the Central European tradition in Cleveland for three weeks, his first engagement with that orchestra since his appointment as music director was announced last summer.

“It was great,” he says. “The time before, when they were still in the search process, was very nerve-racking. You couldn’t escape the tension. This time, they welcomed me with open arms. I’m a conductor who is at his best when he does not have to fight.

“This is one of the great orchestras in the world. What is so fascinating about it is that the spirit and working ethos goes back directly to George Szell. The musicians act and react like a chamber orchestra. Down to the last stand, people are uptight in a positive way.”

‘You Are Responsible for the Artistic Quality’

It is not hard to understand Welser-Most’s enthusiasm for conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, but how does he feel about the administrative and fund-raising components of a major music directorship?

“Every job has its downside, every job,” he acknowledges. “The music director has very little to do with fund-raising in Cleveland, almost nothing. The most difficult thing for me are the personnel questions. In the United States there is no retirement age, like there is in Europe, although I’ve had at least 10 hard personnel questions to handle in Zurich.

“When you sign a contract, it says that you are responsible for the artistic quality of the orchestra, and if you do not face these issues, you have not done your duty. Some music directors shy away and never sort out the problems, but the collective well-being has to be put above the individual.

“[Christoph von] Dohnanyi [Welser-Most’s predecessor in Cleveland] did a fantastic job at this. He hired more than 30 players during his tenure. I’m extremely happy that I won’t find an orchestra where there are a lot of urgent personnel problems.”

Retirement age and personnel problems are not the only differences Welser-Most finds between European and American orchestras.

“First of all, American orchestras come prepared, which European orchestras mostly don’t,” he says. “You must be a really great instrumentalist to play in an American orchestra. In Europe, there is a different angle: good musicianship first, and then the technical side hopefully will be there as well.

“This is one reason why a lot of marriages between American orchestras and European music directors have been very happy and successful. An orchestra like Cleveland challenges me in many ways, especially in its drive for perfection. I challenge them on the musicianship side: expression, sound and phrasing.”

His Native Austria Must Now Deal With History

One of the things that Cleveland was looking for in its new music director besides roots in the Central European tradition was an interest in contemporary music. Welser-Most’s recent Cleveland programs included H.K. Gruber’s “Charivari: An Austrian Journal,” which treats political and social intolerance.

Welser-Most, through his charitable work with persons with disabilities at the Institute Hartheim in Linz, has had direct experience of the chilling effect of the rise of Joerg Haider’s far-right Freedom Party in Austria.

“I have very strong feelings about it,” he says. “It’s like dancing on eggs, talking with politicians now about the institute, which has a dark history of its own, training Nazi doctors. What makes me happy about the situation is that Austria finally has to deal properly with its history.

“But the reactions, mostly in France and Belgium, are just ludicrous, so much hypocrisy. This was the result of a democratic process and you can’t undermine that. People in Austria feel badly treated by bigger countries and that just strengthens the far right.

“I always think it is better to be for something than against something. You can’t condone this, but instead of sanctions and boycotts, it is better to endorse the positive forces.”

From Los Angeles, Welser-Most returns to his home in Liechtenstein, from which he commutes to work in Zurich. Avowedly not a city person, he prefers the countryside, with another home outside Salzburg.

“I’m just a mountain person,” he says. “My wife and I have a beautiful house on a lake, and I love hiking. I take about 12 to 15 weeks off every year. A lot of it is for studying, but also I like to just catch up with friends and you can’t do that always on the phone.”

Not surprising then, Welser-Most takes his commitments very seriously, devoting his full attention to projects. After he begins his term in Cleveland, he plans to phase out his work in Zurich.

“This is not the maestro business as it used to be, with the jet-set glamour and all. The time when people had three major music director jobs is coming to an end. I would rather really focus on something. I think there is much more identification with the job now and the relationship between a music director, an orchestra and a city.”

Which may be good news for Cleveland, but not for the rest of the United States, where Welser-Most has conducted every major orchestra since his U.S. debut with the St. Louis Symphony in 1989. Few music directors of American orchestras guest conduct elsewhere in the country, but Los Angeles may have an irresistible attraction in Disney Hall.

“American orchestras are very protective of their music directors,” Welser-Most concedes. “But I may have to see if something can’t be done about it. I really want to see your new hall from the podium. I can’t wait. Frank Gehry’s work is just so exceptional.”

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* Welser-Most conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 2:30 p.m., $10-$70. (213) 365-3500.