Studying in Paris again

Studying in Paris Again
I was invited to Paris gain, to stay for another three months. I had beenchosen as the recipient of the overseas professional study program of the Agency
for Cultural Affairs. It had been a while since I stayed in one place for such along time. I would be trained at the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestral
Conducting Department of the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the samedear school where I had studied decades ago. I had many experiences aheadof me. Here is the record of my visit to Paris.
September 7th, Tuesday, 2004
The day I had been waiting for, the departure for Paris, finally came.
Twenty-two years ago, when I left for France the first time, I went to Narita Airport
in a hectic way. Nowadays, we live in a convenient world, and we can easily
visit Europe anytime we want. When I was packing for this visit to Paris, I was
surprised by how many different belongings we bring now, compared to what weused to bring: a computer, a digital camera, CDs and an MD player, and of course
a cell phone. Today, we live in a different world. We feel as if time had jumped
into the future. Back when I first went, we did not have credit cards and we
carried cash or traveler’s checks with us. For communication, we only had theoption of writing letters or making a very expensive international collect call.
Today we can send a text message, “I am leaving now,” through a cell phone atNarita.
September 7th, Tuesday Evening, Paris
I could not stand the heat when I left Tokyo, but it was hot in Paris, too.
The temperature was twenty eight degrees and it was like the middle of thesummer. I had been expecting autumn weather, so I was surprised by the heat.
People were wearing no sleeves and sun glasses. At a café, there was nobreeze inside, so everyone was drinking beer on the terrace. This kind of viewis what I would normally see during the vacation season. I stayed in a hotel near
La Place du Trocadéro where the Eiffel Tower is located. There was a kitchenin the room so that I could cook by myself. The room was nice, though it was
hot. How I loved the liveliness of Paris!
September 8th, Wednesday, sunny
My life in Paris started today. I began arranging my room so that I could
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Studying in Paris again

live comfortably, and went grocery shopping. There was a bakery nearby thehotel which made me happy because I could eat freshly baked breads every
morning. But I could feel the heat even early in the morning. It was stillsummer time here. My room was located on the fourth floor and faced the
backyard on the south. By 9 A.M. the sunlight came right into my windows andI got hot. I had brought long sleeve shirts and sweaters from Japan for the fall
and winter seasons in Paris. I had only one short sleeve shirt with me, so I waswashing and wearing it every day. Inside the room, wearing just a t-shirt wasenough. I kept watching the weather channel to see when the temperature
would go down.
I went to a supermarket, Casino, which was located five minutes awayfrom the hotel by foot.
At first, I was amazed by the variety of food there.
There was a whole aisle of different kinds of yogurt. The variety of yogurt, madeof milk, butter and cheese, low fat, no salt and so on, was beyond imagination.
I agree that France is an agricultural nation. The people in France must be picky
about their foods. The vegetables were excellent, too. Carrots and radishes
were sold with leaves and stems still on. If I bought just one radish, I would haveto eat nothing but radish for several days. They were that large. And all thevegetables were very fresh. Many of them were priced by the gram. On the
top of the vegetable shelves, prices were written by one kilogram in Eurocurrency.
In particular, figs were very ripe and tasty in this season in Paris. I remember
eating the fruit with whipped cream when I had visited Paris before. Anyway,
this supermarket was like a storehouse of the food culture in France. I liked itso much, and wanted to come every day.
September 10th, Friday, Sunny but Occasionally Cloudy
I went to a concert for the first time since I had come to Paris. Ironicallythe first concert I saw in Paris was a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
I walked to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées since my hotel was nearby.
Because the Salle Pleyel, a large concert hall in Paris, had been underconstruction, most of the concerts had been performed at the theatre. There
isn’t much echo in this theatre. I have conducted here but I always felt anxious
because I was not sure if the place was resounding. I listened to a Viennese
waltz and Pathétique by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Regardlessof his interpretation of the piece, the Vienna Philharmonic sounded very good.
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The whole string sections sounded together as one body. I saw that any firstclass orchestra provided excellent music to the audience wherever they may be.
Message from Paris, September 11
To Papa and Mama,
Finally I am able to email you. Somehow my computer is working after
touching various buttons.
Let me share with you about this place. My hotel is in a wonderful
location. In front of the hotel is the Avenue Raymond-Poincaré and I can easily
walk to the Paris Métro Trocadéro. The théâtre des Champs-Élysées is two
stops from the station. It is so close! The area is also filled with restaurants
and cafés. There are two supermarkets near the hotel and I go shopping there
every day. You would not believe how many kinds of goods they have. Even
yogurt has tons of different kinds, and all are written in French and beyond myunderstanding! They have all kinds of vegetables and fruit. They even haveavocados, figs, peaches and so on. It is so convenient I could live just by eating
vegetables. Meat is sold in packages like in Japan. Street markets are every
Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. It is so good. No other place is asconvenient as this place. It is perfect except for one thing…I have not found aplace that sells good cakes.
I like my hotel room except that it gets really hot when the sun shines into
the room from around 9 A.M., which is not comfortable. My room is cleaned
once a week by the hotel staff, so other than that, no one comes to my room. I
am so free. I get up in the morning, eat bread with jam (fig jam is tasty), drink acup of tea, and then clean up the room and take a shower. An illusion happens
when I go outside, because then I find myself in Paris. But I have no problem
speaking French, so I wonder where I am now.
It started raining. Today I am going to eat at Le Train Bleu with Mr.
Kimata from Nagoya. I will email you again. What a convenient time we live innow, indeed!
From Yoko

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Studying in Paris again

September 11, Saturday, Storming
An unexpected thing happened today. Due to terrorism, the whole world
was cautious on this day, September 11th. The rain, which started falling in theafternoon, became intense and turned into a thunderstorm. I had made a dinner
appointment with Mr. Kimata, a friend of mine from Nagoya, who was coming toEurope for business. We were supposed to meet in Paris. He had told me that
he would come from London to Paris through the Eurostar train. But I had nocontact from him at all. I suspected that the train had stopped or was late dueto this rainstorm, and decided to wait for his arrival at the restaurant. The
restaurant was located inside the Gare de Lyon, one of the mainline station
terminals in Paris, and I expected him to come sometime.
Three hours after the scheduled time, the train finally arrived, and so did
my friend. He explained that Japanese companies had a policy not to allow theiremployees to travel by air on September 11 th just to prevent anything fromhappening on that day. He was frustrated by how unkind the Eurostar
announcements were on the train. The train had stopped for a long time inFrance. They explained a lot in French but very little in English. Because he
was fluent in English, he must not have been satisfied at all. This seemed togive him a negative impression of Paris. But the meal was very good, and thetwo of us got drunk on wine, and soon forgot about the rainstorm and returned
home with happy feelings.
September 12, Sunday, SunnyIt was my first Sunday since I had come to Paris. Many restaurants andstores were closed and the town was quiet. I went for a stroll in the town for the
first time in a while. I visited La Madeleine, a Catholic church, which was having
an organ concert. The audience that gathered at the church was from all over.
I was sure many of them were tourists. La Madeleine was a historic church
where the French composers, Saint-Saëns and Fauré, had held positions as its
organists.
I am convinced that you can listen to the best organ performances atchurches. When I listened to the sound of the organ for the first time while
studying in Paris, I was deeply moved and my tears did not stop. I could sense
the depth of history in its solemn sounds.
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The views in Paris were gorgeous, and I could see beautiful scenery fromanywhere in the city. Various bridges were built over the Seine. Each of thebridges had its own distinctive character. Especially at sunset when the street
lamps begin to be lighted, an unbelievable mood of sadness covers the wholeview as if I were in a movie scene of an old movie that was made a generation
ago.
Staying in Paris for a long time reminds me of the days when I had lived
in Paris as a student. I did not care what kind of clothing I wore, because I was
not there to eat at a fancy restaurant nor drink at a fancy café. I would walk in
the city with a bottle of water in my hand. I would stop when I became thirsty
and sit on a bench under the trees by the Seine to drink water. Then I would
walk again with a sense of pride in such beautiful scenery of the streets in Paris,
despite the fact that I was not French. I feel connected to Paris, the city where
I had my first overseas experience at the end of my twenties. It feels like home.
Twenty two years later, I am so delighted and blessed to come back and live inParis again.
September 13, Monday
I brought my lap top computer for the first time on my overseas trip. I
had some trouble sending and receiving emails at first, but have no problem now.
I began receiving many emails from my friends in Japan. More typhoons havegone through Japan this summer than they usually do. I could easily learn thesize and direction of the largest typhoons through their emails. I felt as if I could
write its course map from what I read from their information. Mr. Hiroyuki Odano,
my colleague at the Tokyo University of Arts and conductor, sent me an email,saying, “Until I read your message, I cannot tell if you are emailing from Paris ornot.”
September 14, Tuesday
It seems to be cooler than it was yesterday. Yet the temperature isaround twenty one degrees. I visited the Service Culturel et d'Information at the
Embassy of Japan in France, which was located right by the Arch of Triumph.
When I complimented the staff on the location of the Embassy, the staff said that
there were mice in the building. I sensed the long history of the building. “The5

Studying in Paris again

Avenue des Champs-Élysées used to be just fields, though it is very fashionable
today,” said the staff with a smile.
In the afternoon, I visited the office of the Orchestre de Paris to get theorchestra’s schedule. The staff kindly gave it to me. The orchestra was goingto have a concert tour in China from the middle of October, because this year,
2004, was the year of France for China and was also the year of China for France.
The orchestra was planning to perform many French compositions such as
Ravel’s Bolero. I was going to observe its rehearsal of Beethoven’s 9th
Symphony as my first observation with the orchestra.
September 16, Thursday
Today I listened to a concert by the Orchestre National de France at the
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The performance was conducted by Mr. Kurt
Masur, who was full of energy. The orchestra performed the new composition
Correspondances by the French composer, Henri Dutilleux, and Scheherazade
composed by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Mr. Dutilleux turned eighty-eight year old thisyear, and he appeared on the stage after the performance. He looked very lively.
It made me glad to see the composer of whom I had only known through hisorchestral scores. I felt as if I were in a dream as I listened to the composition
filled with beautiful sounds.
Listening to the composition by a Russian composer, performed by the
French orchestra, I felt a different image of the piece. It sounded very French.
Ravel, a French composer, took Rimsky-Korsakov’s compositions as models fororchestration. I understand why he did. I think I will also create other colors ofmusic when I conduct this composition next time.
The following day, I went to see the same orchestra’s rehearsal. Mr.
Masao Takeda, who studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts during the sametime as I had, has been singing in the choir of the national radio station, RadioFrance, which is equivalent to NHK in Japan. Radio France manages two
professional orchestras and one professional choir. When I visited the choir thatday, the choir was practicing Joan of Arc at the Stake composed by a Frenchcomposer, Arthur Honegger. Many performers play in this piece, and some act
and others sing as soloists. Ms. Marthe Keller has been performing the role of6

Studying in Paris again

Joan of Arc for decades and I saw her acting with sincere feeling during therehearsal. She seemed to be in her sixties, but she acted as if a teen age Joanof Arc were present, according to Mr. Takeda. Both the orchestra and the choir
shared the story to the full.
September 19th, Sunday
I visited my longtime French friend, Olivier. His family gathered in his
house to celebrate his daughter’s nineteenth birthday. Twenty-two years ago
when I was studying overseas, I was a classmate with Olivier’s younger brother,
Frederick at the Orchestral Conducting Department of the École Normale deMusique de Paris. I have been in close relationship with his family since then.
Both Olivier and Frederick are married now and have children. All their children
have jobs related to music, or play musical instruments.
As our conversations went on, we naturally talked about music education.
In France, funds were granted to each district and residents could learn musicwith fees based on their incomes, which were divided into ten categories. By
paying between 40 Euros and 165 Euros annually, children could learn any
musical instrument, music theory and chorus. They could even learn dancing.
So the way they regard arts in France was completely different from Japan.
There was a system in France in which children could naturally acquire musicrather than through special lessons or apprenticeship.
Message, September 23rd
To Papa and Mama,
It has become much cooler in Paris, and I need to wear a jacket now.

I

think it is the holiday for the fall season in Japan now, isn’t it? The Orchestre deParis gave me permission to pass through the rehearsal. The École Normale
will also start next week. Right now I am free, except for going to concerts atnight.
My daily life here is convenient. There is a fish store, but I don’t
understand the names of the fish. The other day I checked the name of the fish
after eating it, and it was swordfish. Yesterday I had a trouble choosing potatoes.
There were many kinds and brands of potatoes sold in each net bag, holding
about one and a half kilograms each. Some of them were for fries and others
7Studying in Paris again

were for boiling or stirring, according to the notes. Lately they have been selling
packages of chicken tenderloin. Ham is also sold by packages of two, four andsix, which is convenient. Unbelievable quantities of frozen food are sold here.
They are selling a set of vegetables for pot-au-feu like an “oden” set in Japan.
They have everything, including ingredients for authentic Chinese food,Vietnamese spring roll wraps, and other ethnic foods, but not Japanese food.
Obesity among women is a serious issue in Paris today because they
always stir fry everything before cooking.
instead of mozzarella cheese.

I saw on TV a recipe for using tofu

Take care.
Yoko
September 24th Friday
I went to a concert to celebrate the eightieth year birthday of Mr. GeorgesPrêtre, a French conductor. He performed the overture of Wagner’s Tannhäuser
and A Hero’s Life, a tone poem by Richard Strauss, with the orchestra of l'Opéra.
I had known of him but had never seen him conduct before. He walked up to
the stage in a vigorous manner. He did not seem to be eighty year old. The
moment he started the overture, I could see the depth of his music. I could tellthat the music was performed by someone who has conducted orchestras formany years and thoroughly knows and understands the composition.
His
conducting was not easy to follow, but the orchestra performed with joy.
The performance of this conductor made me think about several things.
There are various types of conductors, yet only a few conductors express
themselves as human beings, beyond conductors or artists. His own life wasexpressed in the music, which influenced the expressions of the orchestra. The
members were filled with joy and pride in playing the genuine music. It is noteasy for an artist to be active for a long time, but Mr. Prêtre does it. So I was
envious of him.
On this day, Françoise Sagan died in a hospital in Honfleur at the age of
sixty nine. She was my favorite author. I saw her on TV in an interview rightbefore her death. She was elegant and very French.
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September 25th, Saturday
I moved to another place. Actually I just moved to the room next door.
It was bigger than my room, and I thought it would be convenient. So I
requested the room change. I emailed Olivier, who had had his daughter’sbirthday party the other day, “Since you gave us lots of delicious food, I gained alot of weight and my room was getting too tight. I decided to move to a bigger
room.” He emailed me back saying that when his family read my email, they all
burst into laughter.
September 27th, Monday
Today the École Normale had an entrance exam for the Orchestral
Conducting Department. I vividly remembered the day when I took theexamination years ago. On that day, I went to the hall without knowing anything
and without understanding French. The atmosphere of the school had notchanged at all. When I arrived at La Salle Cortot, a small hall in the campus, I
saw about ten applicants gathering there.

They were all tall and looked

confident despite their young ages. Then various tests were held to check theapplicants’ levels, and I recognized Professor Dominique Rouits. When I was astudent here, he was an assistant to my dear teacher, Professor Pierre Dervaux.
Professor Bruno Gousset, a musicologist, gave them tests of listening toharmonies and of the simple knowledge of music. It was not easy. All of thewritten tests were written in French, so it was hard to understand them. In theafternoon, the applicants were given another test of conducting with a quartet anda piano. They could choose to conduct either the overture of The Marksman, or
the overture of Oberon, both of which were composed by Weber. Regarding thelevel of the program, its level is the same as of music universities in Japan. Allof the applicants had characters of their own, and it was fun to see themconducting. There weren’t many French applicants.
Benjamin, who was
Swiss, had studied orchestral conducting in a music university in Japan and was
fluent in Japanese. Kirov, a twenty year old Bulgarian, was the youngest
applicant among them. Natalia was a Ukrainian woman, and others are from
Mexico, Argentina and China. Two Japanese were also taking the exam.
Because some of them understood French well, while others only understood
English, the teachers spoke both in French and English to explain the test.
When I was studying here, they only spoke in French and I had a hard time9Studying in Paris again

understanding, but it was actually good for me.
students will grow as conductors from now on.

I am excited about how theseIn the evening I observed the rehearsal of the Orchestre de Paris for the
first time.
Mr. Christoph Eschenbach was conducting Beethoven’s ninth
symphony. It has been performed several times during end of the year concerts
in Japan but it hasn’t been performed traditionally in Europe. Yet lately, it has
been appearing in concert programs. The orchestra seemed not to be used tothis composition. Mr. Didier Bouture was directing the chorus of the orchestra.
He studied in the same class I did. He did not remember me, though, since it
had been twenty two years ago. But soon we began talking about the memories
we shared.
The stringed instrument sections of this orchestra sounded wonderful.
Due to the construction of the resident hall, Salle Pleyel, the orchestra had been
having concerts at Théâtre Mogador, located near l'Opéra. Since the theatre
was suitable for performing arts, acoustically it was not that good. But theorchestra made wonderful sounds under such conditions. What I felt the mostwas the power of the musicians. They had the will to play good music,
regardless of the poor acoustic condition of the hall or the conductor’s ability.
They performed with fullness of pride in being musicians. What amazed me,
though, was that the members did not show up to their rehearsal until five or ten
minutes before it started. They shouldn’t have been that late. In Japan, someof the members would be practicing thirty minutes before it started. On thecontrary, in Paris they do not show up until the very minute before it starts.
The Orchestre de Paris has its regular concert on Wednesday andThursday evenings. The program is the same both days. They spend threehours for rehearsal on Monday and Tuesday between the morning and theafternoon. On the performance day, it has what is called Generalprobe (dress
rehearsal) at ten in the morning for three hours before the concert which starts ateight in the evening. Its three hours rehearsal has only one short break, so themembers have to keep their concentration for about eighty minutes. When I
went, everybody played well. At first, I could hear some sounds out of sync,
but as they kept playing together, their sounds came together excellently.

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By the way, it is very French to see some stringed instrument musicianssitting in the back playing really strong. To be honest, they have no desire toplay along with what the people in front of them play, but express their soundswith the conviction that this is what they want to play. They have strong
characters, and are proud of expressing themselves independently. It is a very
fun orchestra to observe.
October 2nd, Saturday
The Théâtre Mogador is a theater that the Orchestre de Paris uses forrehearsal and concert. Today, I went there to see the concert of anotherorchestra. It had a program with all Russian music.
When I saw theoutstanding performance of a young soloist in the Violin Concerto by Glazunov, I
was aware of the high level of the orchestra’s performance. And what
impressed me the most was the program’s main performance, Pictures at an
Exhibition, originally composed by the Russian composer Mussorgsky. Later,
Ravel, a French composer, arranged this piano suite for orchestration.
I do
not like this composition when it is performed with heaviness. I rather like toperform it colorfully like a French Impressionist painting, because I am convincedthat Ravel must have been thinking of subtle and pretty sounds when he arranged
this composition. What moved me the most tonight was the soft sounds that thebrass instruments created.
This composition has an image of showy sounds by brass instruments.
It starts with a fancy trumpet solo, and during the last movement, The Great Gateof Kiev, the music intensifies with the wonderful choral of brass instruments andthe brilliant and loud percussion sounds.

I wonder if the Russian composer

tonight had asked the brass instruments section about its tone color. The soundof the brass instruments in the movement of Catacombae in the middle of thecomposition, in my imagination, created a sound like an eerie echo in a dark
underground cave. It was soft, yet sometimes metallic and sharp. I thoughtthat the focus of the performance was laid on the changes of tone color rather
than on the techniques, which was exactly what Ravel had intended when hearranged this piece. That was why I was so impressed by the performance
tonight.
Message, October 3rd
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To Papa and Mama,
Lately the temperature has gone up to twenty degrees, and so it is notvery cold. It has not rained at all. I wonder what is going on.
I am sure that French families are used to dealing with it, but since all the
shops are closed on Sundays, supermarkets are packed with shoppers in theafternoon on Saturdays. Everyone hurriedly buys various things they will needfor the weekend. I also go shopping on Saturdays, especially to have bread.
Today I went to a natural food store because I had heard that the store sells soy
sauce. I found tofu there, too. Right away I mixed tofu with bean sprouts andleek (the leek is thick here) and added Himmy seasoning and bonito fish pack to
it. That was how I made yu-dōfu. It actually had a nicer taste than I had
expected.
Next week I will visit the orchestra in Lille. Mr. Casadesus is still theresident conductor there. It will take me just one hour by the TGV.
Yoko
October 4th, Monday
I observed the classes on the first day of this term at the École Normale.
I was looking forward to seeing how the classes would proceed and how I could
engage. Each time I see Professor Rouits, we greet each other by kissing eachother’s cheek, which is a French custom called, la bise. This custom is done
between people who have good friendships with one another. At first I felt thiscustom was strange, but I got used to it. Now I feel uncomfortable if I do notgreet with la bise. For two men, they usually just shake hands unless they arevery close friends.
The class at the Orchestral Conducting Department began with stretching
exercises.
After their bodies were loosened and relaxed, the instructor
explained the movement of the arms to the students. They were given basic
lessons such as how to show tempos and how to exercise in order to let the righthand and the left hand move independently. Then Professor Bruno Gousset, amusicologist, taught about music composition. This time, since the students
were going study Mozart’s symphonies No. 24 and No. 34, he began teaching on
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the history of Mozart’s symphonies. I was impressed by his knowledge of music.
As he continued, he taught the historical background of when these symphonies
were written. I admired Bruno, who could not only analyze each composition,
but also teach in detail while playing the piano. After receiving general
information about the piece, the students were given chances to conduct. In
Japan, professors do not give the general information of each composition
because the students are supposed to know it beforehand. But in reality, only afew students prepare for each conducting lesson by researching the historicalbackground of the piece.
It is difficult to conduct any composition by Mozart. What I mean is that
it is difficult to express the nuance of the composition, not the technicality of
conducting.
Professor Rouits asked me to comment on each student who
conducted. I wanted to say several things but could not express them fully in
French. I had no problem speaking French in normal conversations, but had a
hard time when music was the topic of the conversation. Since today was theirfirst class, the students did not show their characters yet. I looked forward toseeing them more.
October 5th, Tuesday
I went to another rehearsal of the Orchestre de Paris today. Today it
was rehearsing Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5. I had not heard much about hiscompositions. Once in a while I had heard his Symphonies No. 7 and No. 8, but
I had not heard of the fifth symphony. So I began studying the score whilestaying in Paris. Today Mr. Marek Janowski conducted the orchestra. He usedbe the music director of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, so herehearsed with the orchestra in French. He rehearsed in a very organized way,
and it was clear to me that the orchestra quickly shaped the sound of thecomposition by his advice pointed. But members of French orchestras still talka lot, which has not changed at all since I studied in France. Whenever a
conductor stopped conducting, you could hear chatting from nowhere, so I heard
the conductor shushing them many times. However Mr. Janowski was aware ofFrench orchestral behavior, and once in a while gave the members a warning,“Please listen quietly so that we can rehearse smoothly.” I had not seen such awell-organized rehearsal for a long time. I was sure that the orchestra was goingto have a fine concert the next day.
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October 6th, Wednesday
I spent the evening at the concert of the Orchestre de Paris. I was givena seat as an honored guest. For the first time in my life I received an invitationfrom the orchestra. My seat was on the second floor and must have been thebest seat in the hall because of the sound quality. In the past I had gone toanother concert of the orchestra to listen to Bruckner, but there was only a small
audience. I thought that Bruckner was not well known to the people in France.
Years later, the hall was packed with an audience, perhaps because the numberof the people listening to Bruckner had increased. The audience seemed to be
moved by his symphony.
October 7th, Thursday
I have been watching a TV program every morning. It is called
Télématin, starting at 6:30 A.M. William Leymergie is the wonderful host of thebroadcast show. William invites guests to comment on various topics with joy
and laughter during the show. Of course news and weather forecasts are alsopresented in between the show. He has been the host of the show for quite along time. His sense of humor is distinctly French and it is so fun to see himchatting with his guests, while gently teasing them. In addition, camera angles
for the host and the guests are elaborate, which are different from a normal news
programs where the host talks facing the camera.
The weather report in French is also fun to watch. It is presented several
times between the news. At first, the weather forecasts for the morning and theafternoon are shown, but the weather map is not shown on the screen. For thetemperatures of the regions, only numbers are shown on the map of France.
Since the names of the cities are not displayed on the map, you would not beable to get any weather information about a city unless you knew its location. I
sometimes watch the weather report with a map of France as a reference.
Because the shapes of the mainland Japan is long sideways with distinctive
shapes of bays and peninsulas, it is easy to locate cities. But the shape ofFrance is just large and pentagonal, it is really hard to find locations.
Nevertheless, the weather newscaster reports humorously every day. In France
a person has to be humorous in order to be successful. I enjoy watching Meteo,
the weather report.

It does not show any weekly forecasts like in Japan, which
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is troublesome, however. Perhaps, the weather in France is not as predictable
as in Japan due to the topography of the country.
Télématin also shows advertisements for new movies.

The biographicalmovie on the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani has just been released, so I went
to see the film. Originally, it was cast in English with French subtitles. The
setting of the film was of course in Montmartre, Paris, and the film was about theunpopular painter Modigliani, the lover who dedicated herself to him, and hisrivalry with Picasso, who had been the most glorious figure in fame and power inParis at that time. It made me think how these artists, especially the painters,
became successful in the world through all their hardships. The lover’s sincere
love to Modigliani was beautiful, and she committed suicide by falling from awindow right after Modigliani died. The short-lived life of the artist, bonded
together with the lover was frail, but must have been full.
Message, October 8th
To Papa and Mama,
It is raining here in Paris today. It must be raining in Lille, too. I heardthat there was an earthquake yesterday. I get lots of information through emails
from various people.
Yesterday I saw a movie, Modigliani. It was good. Many painters who
had been living in Paris during his time were in the movie. Renoir was a reallyold man. Utrillo was his best friend. Picasso was a mean person who wasalways against him. It was fun to watch the movie. It showed what it really was
like to live as an artist like Modigliani. After watching the movie, I can look at his
paintings in a more familiar way.
I am leaving for Lille now.
Yoko
October 8th, Friday
I visited Lille, a city north of Paris, to listen to the orchestra there. Mr.
Claude Casadesus is the music director of the orchestra, and he was one of thecommittee members of the International Besançon Competition for Young
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Studying in Paris again

Conductors as well as the final examination I took at the École Normale.
going to see him for the first time in twenty years.

I was

Transportation in France has become convenient since the TGV wascompleted. The TGV is a high speed rail service in France like the Shin-kansen
in Japan, and it can take me to Lille from Paris in one hour. This was my first
visit to Lille, and it was a large city. The city was located near Belgium, and thebuildings and streets in the city had a little bit different atmosphere. As I
expected, the mussel dish there was tasty. Having circled within the city andgotten lost, I finally arrived at the concert hall. It was a magnificent hall.
A long time ago, the orchestra came to Japan as its concert tour. The
concert sounded much better today than it had back then. I met with Mr.
Casadesus, and it was so nice to see him again. In France, excellent concert
halls are built even in reginal cities like Lille, and the people vigorously engage inmusic activities. A group of children were present at the concert today. These
children seemed to be attending the music concert as a part of their education.
The conductor gave many explanations to the children. They must be working
hard to draw different age groups to listen to classical music.
October 11th Monday
I liked the way classes proceeded at the École Normale. First, thestudents were instructed in the background history of a composition and its music
analysis. Then they conducted the composition with a piano. In the next step,
they conducted it with two pianos. And on the same day, they conducted it witha small ensemble made up of a string quartet and several brass instruments.
The students who had begun conducting in confusing ways at first graduallyfound their own way. By the time they conducted with the small ensemble, they
were able to conduct with their own ideas and expression. I still had no clue
about the European pedagogy of orchestral conducting, but I thought that theJapanese pedagogy, in which students are taught techniques first, needed to be
re-considered.
In the afternoon, I saw another rehearsal of the Orchestre de Paris. The
orchestra was rehearsing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral Symphonyconducted by Mr. Janowski.

It was not playing a typical heavy Beethoven, but
16Studying in Paris again

a pastoral symphony with a refreshingly fast tempo. The stringed instrument
musicians of the orchestra could really play. It was pleasant to see them playwith the full length of the bows like a soloist, no matter how fast the passages
might be. One of the contrabass players struck me as particularly interesting.
The fourth movement of the symphony is a depiction of a thunderstorm in which
contrabass players have to repeat an extremely fast passage. It is a section thatevery contrabass player has a hard time playing. All of the contrabass players
franticly played, and when they finished the passage, one of them gave a gesturethat smoke came out. It was as if he had played so fast that smoke wasproduced by the friction between the bow and the strings. When Mr. Janowski
asked the stringed instrument sections to leave lingering sounds at a passage of
pizzicato, all the contrabass players expressed the lingering sounds with theirbodies, which was so humorous. Without a doubt, the Orchestre de Paris wasa unique orchestra to see. Everyone was playing in each one’s way, but its
ensemble was good and they could produce a powerful forte.
October 12th, Tuesday
I went to the airport in Paris to pick up a friend who was visiting me.
heard a good story from the taxi driver while coming back to the city.

I

There are various types of taxi drivers. Some drivers keep talking on
their cellphones while driving. Some listen to popular music at extraordinarily
loud volumes. Others just keep driving without saying anything. The taxi driveron this day was playing piano music all the way, and it was a Chopin’s piano
composition. Curiously, I asked him for the reason. He told me that his fourchildren had learned the piano. The three older sons did not keep learning the
instrument because they did not like it, but the youngest son loved the piano andhad talent. So, he was still learning the piano. The taxi driver himself loved
piano music and always listened to it while driving his taxi. His story reminded
me of a conversation I had had with Olivier’s family.
In France it was easy tolearn the piano. That was why the driver was able to have his four children learn.
When we got out of the taxi, I could not help encouraging the driver,saying, “Please tell your son to keep playing the piano.”
October 13th, Wednesday
17Studying in Paris again

I went to the concert of the Orchestre de Paris. The program was
Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Since I had
seen its rehearsal on the pastoral symphony, I was looking forward to seeing its
performance of the composition. I was also interested in the pianist, Lars Vogt,
who was playing Schumann’s concerto. I had never heard of him before, so thiswas my first time to listen to him. Indeed, he had great musicality. I liked himvery much because he expressed Schumann’s music romantically and because
it was as if he were singing through each of his piano phrases. He played withsuch pleasant sounds. The encore piece by Chopin was impressive, too.
A while ago the following incident occurred. There was a young pianist
who had just finished playing Shostakovich’s piano concerto with excellence. As
a response to the audience’s non-stopping applause, he played an encore, The
Girl with the Flaxen Hair by Debussy. That was a really bad choice. Choosing
to play Debussy in Paris, especially a piece like this, which everyone in Parisknows so well, was risky.
As I expected, the audience of the hall had to listen
to the boring performance of such an ordinary piece by the distinguished pianist.
Though the audience clapped their hands, the hall was filled with the sounds ofpeople whispering to each other.
On the contrary, the pianist who played Schumann tonight expressed themusic of Chopin in the encore greater than his expression of Schumann in the
program. I had no doubt that I was not the only person who became a fan of
this pianist tonight.
By the way, an orchestral concert begins with the A note by the oboe
instrument. An oboe player plays the A note, and the other orchestra members“tune” their instruments with the sound. Everyone is used to the A note. But
the sound of the note in this concert tonight was exceptionally beautiful. The
echo of the sound reached throughout the hall, as if it conveyed the message that
this was the oboe sound of the Orchestre de Paris. The audience heard this as
the first sound, by which the sounds of the whole orchestra might be judged.
The sound the oboe player delivered tonight had a very French color with a gentle
touch like soft velvet. Just like anything else, a good beginning determines the
rest.

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October 14th, Thursday, cloudy with occasional rain
I went to Giverny to visit the house of Claude Monet, the Impressionist
painter. The flowers in the garden were ending their seasons, so they lacked
much strength. Monet is a very popular painter to Japanese people. This was
my second time to visit his house. It was in his Japanese garden that he painted
his famous works of the water lilies. The garden filled with colorful flowers in
different seasons looked exactly like Monet’s paintings. Many Japanese ukiyoe paintings that Monet had collected were displayed inside the building, which
had been transformed into a museum.
Having returned to Paris, I also visited the Musée Marmottan Monet tosee his Impression, Sunrise. In this painting, he depicted the moments of thesunrise reflecting on the water with his own way of painting. I spent some time
just looking at one of his large water lilies paintings at the museum. I had seen
this painting many times before. That was when the word a friend of mine hadonce said suddenly came to me. I think it was at the exhibition of Wassily
Kandinsky. “A masterpiece by a gifted painter allows us to even see the scene
outside its picture frame.” I also paint, so my friend’s word surprised me. WhenI paint, in many cases I start designing the composition of my painting to makesure that I could draw everything within one canvas. But a gifted painter would
paint a part of what impressed the painter in close-up. That is why such apainting gives a powerful impression and inspiration to those who look at it. If
we limit the frame size in the beginning and try to compose a picture within theframe, the energy of the painting diminishes. Music and painting are common
on this point.
October 15th, Friday, cloudy with occasional rain
Early in the morning, I set out to Honfleur. Many artists have painted thescenery of this town. I had not had a chance to visit this town until today. Afterriding on a train from Paris for two hours, I arrived in the station Gare du Havre.
Then I used a taxi to Honfleur. The weather in Normandy was changeable. It
was raining when I arrived at the station. Once in a while the sun came out
between the clouds, and I saw a rainbow in the sky. Coming here, I knew why
the painters desired to paint the sceneries of the town. It was a beautiful port
town. Many sailboats filled the port, and the sight of the masts in straight lines
was gorgeous. The outer walls of the buildings were painted in various colors.
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Painters must have been overjoyed to see and portray all these buildings
reflected on the water, creating the rainbow colors.
I went to the childhood home of the French composer, Erik Satie, in thistown. Satie was said to be an eccentric person. He must have been, because
his compositions are filled with sarcasm. Many titles of his works are bizarre,
such as 3 Pieces in the Form of a Pear and Desiccated Embryos. In the building,
I was guided with headphones from room to room while Erik Satie’s music wasplaying. Unlike an ordinary exhibition, the exhibition was visual and threedimensional with a blend of sound, light, images and objects. It was not just a
memorial house but a place to experience the fantasy of space.
I wanted to get some Calvados since I was in the region of Normandy.
It is a strong brandy made from the apples of the region, and is supposed to begood for digestion. If you have some Calvados during a meal, you are supposed
to regain your appetite and eat more. I found one and took it back to Paris.
And since then, I made it a habit to pour it over the vanilla ice cream on my desert
plate every night. This was tasty. I was glad to finally visit the town of Honfleur
after having wanted to do so for such a long time.
My trip to Normandy helped me realize that the winter season wascoming. I had been looking forward to enjoying the fall season in Paris, but I
experienced the hard winter life of the people in the northern region of France,
and appreciated their abundant food. On top it all, I saw a beautiful rainbow.
October 17th, Sunday
I finally had dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Ishimura, residents in Paris, for the
first time in a long time. We have known each other for years. Whenever I
visited Paris, I would visit their house and we would talk until late at night. The
couple love wine and have researched it. I often got drunk on wine while
listening to their talk. We always talk about how thinking is different between
Japanese and French cultures.
October 18th, Monday, cloudy
I set out early in the morning to observe another rehearsal of theOrchestre de Paris. I could not control my joy, because they were going to
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Studying in Paris again

practice a French composition, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. The orchestra musthave performed this composition many times, so I was sure that it would performwith its own interpretation as a legendary orchestra.
However, the orchestra was making some “strange” sounds during therehearsal.
Mr. Eschenbach, a German conductor, was conducting the
Orchestre de Paris, a French orchestra, and the two different styles of sounds
were expressed simultaneously. The two strong characters were crushing one
another.
Japan.

It was as if I were in the midst of the whirling current of the Naruto Strait,

Personally I like the school of traditional French music. Recently all theorchestras have become internationalized and have been losing the sounds oftheir own national colors. But whenever I listen to the album of an orchestra
recorded during its old good days, I can smell the national fragrance through its
traditional sounds.
No matter who might be conducting, the Orchestre de Paris seems tohave enough room to have fun while playing a French composition. While
practicing Boléro, the contrabass players were playing humorously, playing thebass next to them.
A friend of mine, who plays a violin for the orchestra said to me, “I would
rather play for a conductor who can perform a good concert than for a conductor
who rehearses rigidly. This word made me ponder.
October 19th, Tuesday
I spent another morning watching the rehearsal of the Orchestre de Paris.
It surely sounds much better the second day when performing in a completemanner. In the afternoon, I had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Robin. We have had
a close friendship with each other since I came to France for my study abroad in
1981. Mrs. Jacqueline Robin is a pianist and has premiered many compositions
by French composers. L’église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris is a church locatednear the place where the Orchestre de Paris rehearses, and a French composer,
Olivier Messiaen had played in this church as its organist for many years. We
had a meal at a brasserie right in front of the church. I heard that Mr. and Mrs.
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Studying in Paris again

Messiaen used to come to this restaurant all the time.
the Robins.

I had a very fun time with

October 21st, Thursday
I will be leaving France in a month. Time passed slowly at first. But asI became more active, it got busier every day. Yet, I am not busy doing chores
like I was in Japan. Here I am thinking about nothing but music every day, whichmakes me happy. I am soaking myself in the sounds of music.
Today I listened to a rehearsal of the Orchestre de Paris for its tour in
China. The orchestra did not rehearse for its concert tonight this morning.
Tonight I went to the concert of another orchestra. The London
Symphony Orchestra had been visiting Paris with Mr. Pierre Boulez, a conductor.
I had bought a ticket earlier because I wanted to go to this concert. The programwas Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, a rare composition performed in a concert. My
seat was the second from the front row, so I was able to see the conductor’s
expression clearly. Mr. Boulez was an eighty year old virtuoso conductor. As
a composer himself, he first performed his own composition, and then thesymphony by Mahler. That Mahler was outstanding. The London SymphonyOrchestra was excellent and was in perfect order. I wondered at how different
its atmosphere was from the Orchestre de Paris.
To start with, the way the orchestra members appeared on the stage
seemed to be different. The way they walked was pretty and they were all smart.
I looked at them carefully and found that they were dressed in stylish tailcoats.
Actually, the members of the orchestra, especially the male members, were rather
tall and skinny. The members of the Orchestre de Paris are rather short. It
made me think of the food culture in France. Of course the food in Paris is good.
They have various kinds of wine and cheese as well as sweets and chocolates.
If one is not careful, you can eat too much and end up gaining weight. On thecontrary, when I went to London last time, I was not happy with their food. I
wonder if the fact that the members of the London Symphony Orchestra walked
smart and played smart was actually caused by their food culture.
The following day, I saw Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring performed by the22

Studying in Paris again

same orchestra. I was overwhelmed by the virtuoso conductor’s conducting.
This composition is demanding for a conductor and makes the conductor tense,
because it is filled with irregular tempos. But Mr. Boulez conducted thiscomplicated composition with ease and smoothness. I could not help but
admire and respect him. I experienced great music performances both days.
October 26th, Tuesday
I visited Orléans today. It took me about an hour to get there from Parisby train. The town was famous for Jeanne d'Arc, and was a quiet city due to asmaller population. I went to a restaurant in the town for lunch. The people
were taking more time to eat than in Japan. There was an atmosphere of time
being stopped, rather than the time being slow. The local French people, as wellas the tourists, seemed to be enjoying such a time to eat. There are manybusiness people in Paris that are time oriented and return to their work
immediately after their meals. But in a reginal place like Orléans, time seemed
to be slower. I sometimes wonder if there are more than twenty-four hours inParis. But, to be more correct, there are many people in Paris who just want tomaximize their twenty-four hours each day.
Message, November 3rd
To Papa and Mama,
It is cloudy in Paris today. The Sun may shine at noon. It is
comfortable inside my room, but it is probably about nine degrees outside. It
feels chilly rather than cold. The winter has not come yet.
The TVs were broadcasting the election for the US President throughout
the night till this morning. The newscasters were broadcasting live news fromthe US. Perhaps the people in Europe are more interested in the election thanthe people in Japan.
I will email you again later.
Yoko
November 10th, Wednesday
I went to a gathering of the Rotary Club in Taverny, a suburb of Paris.
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Mr. and Mrs. Robin were members of the Rotary Club. I was invited to attend
its dinner meeting. I had been asked in advance to speak on my activities as aconductor in Japan and on music business in Japan, so I talked on the current
situations of Japanese culture. Several people asked questions that I could not
answer well. They wanted to know how Japanese orchestral organizations
manage as a business. It was not easy to explain an issue that I was unfamiliar
with to the people in French.
They earnestly listened as I shared with them my experience of studying
abroad, winning of the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors,
conducting a Paris concert sponsored by the Rotary Club, and conducting as theresident conductor of the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra. They were glad
to see me visiting the school in Paris where I had studied more than twenty years
ago, and giving advice to the students.
Message, November 14th
To Papa and Mama,
It has gotten colder and I could see my breath. It rained on and off
yesterday and it was really cold when I was walking outside. I wore two
sweaters, a woolen jacket and a muffler. I wish I had gloves. I am sure it will
get warmer again, but I will have to find an overcoat. Only one week is left, andI will be back to Japan very soon.
Please take care not to catch a cold.
Yoko
Message, November 21st
To Papa and Mama,
Only three days are left. I have enjoyed Paris very much, since I am
used to living here. Yesterday I watched the ballet The Sleeping Beauty at
L'Opéra de la Bastille. It was good. Tomorrow, Monday, will be my last day at
the École Normale. I have gotten to know my students. The other day, when Ibought them lunch as my treat, they were so happy. A student from Switzerland,
who had studied in Japan before, said that only Japanese people would do thiskind of hospitality.
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Some French students are from far cities like Bordeaux and Montpellier.
They leave early in the morning and commute to school by train for more than
three hours. All the students are earnestly studying music.
I will be back with winter clothes on.

See you soon.

Yoko
November 25th, Thursday
I did not realize that I had not cleaned my hotel room until I was sitting on
the airplane back to Japan. I had left my toothpaste, toothbrush, food in the
refrigerator and in the closet. I had even left my slippers and shoes. A stranger
who saw the room would think that I would be returning. I had thought for surethat I had packed everything. Unfortunately, I left most of my everyday
necessities behind. A Japanese proverb says, “A bird does not foul the nest that
it is about to leave.” That was not the case with me.
Truck drivers had a strike the day before my departure date, and there
was a possibility for traffic on the streets. I decided to leave the hotel earlier justin case. That might be the reason why I forgot to clean up my room. Or
perhaps, I just had a strong desire in my heart to come back to Paris again. I
left Paris with mixed feelings.
My stay in Paris for eighty days as the recipient of the overseas study
program of the Agency for Cultural Affairs had come to the end. I have visited
Paris many times, but this time I was able to identify various changes andmovements of the society. Most of all, I had great fellowship time with thestudents at the École Normale. Each of them gave me good wishes on mymusic score (which can be seen at the end of this book). They wrote in various
languages. I was blessed to return to my dear school where I had studied, andto give advice to the current students. I cannot wait to see these students
standing on the conductor stands of concert halls in the future.
In closing, I found the overseas study program of the Agency for Cultural
Affairs beneficial.
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