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Conductors’ Piano RecitalThis annual concert began on April Fools’ Day in 1999. My students
from the Department of Conducting at the Tokyo University of the Arts performedin this event. I had been producing concerts where I could play the piano whileconducting. I had no nervousness on the stage while playing the piano since I
had been performing as a conductor. But, I thought it would be good for mystudents to experience the sense of nervousness on the stage, and that was why
I decided to have a piano recital by them. They could choose any program.
Twelve or thirteen conductors (current students of the university or the alumnistudents) play the program of their choice based on their own interpretation. Not
many of them were good at playing the piano, so we livened up the recital by
being creative. Of course the recital was free of charge.
Many people come to see the recital each year. Most of them are friends
and music business partners the students had been acquainted with through theirconducting careers. It was a success. As our customary encore, all theparticipants gathered together and formed a “human orchestra,” in which theysang each section of the orchestra. Some sang melodies as a flute or a violin,which was fine, but it was more fun to see others, like one singing low as
contrabass, or especially the “percussionist”, who made onomatopoeia of aninstrument, while pretending to play the instrument. When the “percussionist”
was making jingling or whamming sounds, causing the audience to laugh, therest of the orchestra had to suppress it and continue singing. The members ofthe orchestra, who were all conductors, sang in the tempos they chose. We didnot keep ourselves together. We tried it once by designating one person as aconductor, but no one looked at him.
amused the audience.

Everyone acted independently, which

As the senior to the rest of the students, Mr. Yoshiaki Ooshima creatively
made the program for the recital every year. One time, each performer’s
character was compared to animals as fortune telling. Another time, eachperformer wrote comments on their favorite compositions and composers. The
portraits of the performers were also drawn on the program rather than theirphotos. We ended up keeping this annual recital for five years. Let me list
some impressive performances because of their uniqueness rather than their1

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technicality.
Rajio Taisō (Radio Calisthenics) No. 1 & No. 2, performed by Takeshi Ooi―hiswarm-ups on the stage and the novelty of his choice of this piece won big laughter.
Neko Funjatta (Flea Waltz), performed by Kazuki Yamada ― his piano
performance, while describing a scene where a student was playing in a musicroom while practicing the piano, was convincing.
Carmen Fantasia, performed by Yoko Matsuo, and acted by Takeshi Ooi―themusic was the popular Carmen, but it would have been boring by itself, so I asked
the actor to act as if he were doing fortune-telling by cards. The actor played aconvincing part by walking around the stage with the black grand piano cover
over himself.
The Scene of a Solfeggio Lesson, taught by Masanori Mikawa ―he actuallypresented the scene of his lesson on the basic music training necessary for aconductor, such as aural training and solfeggio on the stage.
4 Minutes and 33 Seconds, performed (?) by Takeshi Ooi―a parody of John
Cage’s composition. Originally a pianist would sit in front of the piano and donothing for 4:33. In this performance, the performer spread out a road map on
the music stand and looked at the map during the time. Occasionally sounds oflaughter and coquettish voice echoed from the backstage (I also participated in
making these sounds). Once in a while, the pianist fell asleep on the chair andsomebody would walk into the stage to wake him up. Eventually, the pianist wastold, “That is enough!” and was forced to stop the performance. The audienceloved this program.
Mr. Takeshi Ooi played a major role throughout the conductors’ pianorecitals.

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Conducting Aida
From the beginning, I did not expect to conduct Aida so many times.

Isaw this opera performance on TV by an Italian opera company for the first time
when I was a student. The second act, especially the scene of triumphal march,
was a famous and powerful chorus. A dynamic ballet performance added to thegreat spectacle of the scene. But, to be honest, I felt that the opera was not thatinteresting.
Then I had my first opportunity to conduct this opera. The Nerima Wardin Tokyo was planning an event at the Nerima Culture Center to celebrate thefiftieth anniversary of its independence from the Itabashi Ward. As I was thinkingof integrating the Nerima Symphony Orchestra, which I had conducted for a longtime, with ballet and chorus groups in the city together, an idea to perform Aidacame to my mind. That was in 1997. Everyone felt good about performing theopera. But, it was not an easy one. First, the original opera songs were in theItalian language. Since the chorus was an amateur group, it would take thegroup six months to practice. Also many people came to the audition when weinvited the public for the opera posts, and it was difficult to select the sopranosingers. Professional singers were invited for all the posts as soloists. Since
this opera had not been performed so often in Japan, these professional singers
also kindly the participated in practices with the chorus from the beginning.
Some of those rehearsals, with a piano on the concert hall, were gorgeous. Dueto the lack of finances, we could not prepare any stage sets, so the opera wasperformed simply with lighting and the stage setting that had been installed in thehall. We are so thankful for Mr. Keiichi Nakamura, who directed the opera in themidst of such limitations.
Our performance of Aida without big stage settings, was simple
compared to ones with colorful costuming and sometimes with real animals on
the stage. On the other hand, the music side of Verdi became central, and themusic performance was very dramatic on the stage.
Like the opera
performance at a Noh theater, it is possible that we perform better on a stage withless settings. Despite having many issues, our performance was successful.
Later on, I also performed Aida at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo and at another hall inAichi.
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It Stopped Raining!
Among my numerous conducting performances, the Aida concert atToyama in 2001 was especially memorable to me. This opera was originallycommissioned and performed at the opera house in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate
the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. There is a canal in Toyama, called theFugan Unga and the Canal Park is located by the canal. An event presenteditself to perform Aida by linking these two canals. The Aubade Hall in Toyama
was a large grand hall and was perfect for the opera performance. The project
was to perform the entire acts of Aida at the Aubade Hall by the ballet and chorus
groups in the Toyama prefecture as well as professional musicians with roots inToyama. Besides the concert at the hall, there would be another outdoor concert
at the Canal Park so that the Toyama residents could come in touch with opera
music as well.
It was right in the middle of the summer. The open-air performance ofAida at the Verona Arena in Italy is well known, so the people were excited andworking hard for the outdoor concert. But I was feeling uneasy about rain. I
am notorious for bringing bad weather to my concerts. When I conduct an openair concert, it always rains against my will. And my feeling turned out to becorrect. During the summer that year, it had been very hot and it had beenraining in the evenings.
We could not start the open-air concert until it got darker. We hadplanned to start the concert at 7 P.M. The lighting and stage setting were readyduring the day time. We also started rehearsing. The intense sunlight shoneon us during the rehearsal. Because the direct sunlight would damage themusic instruments, we finished the rehearsal early and waited for the evening tocome.
Suddenly, huge dark clouds appeared and covered the sky, and it beganraining. Before long, it was pouring. It was not just a shower at sunset but kept
pouring on and on. It did not seem to stop. Now we had to decide if we should
start the concert on time or not. The rain continued to fall mercilessly. All theperformers were dressed and ready, but looked outside nervously. Then I talked
to one of the staff, “Many times in my concerts, it has rained just before starting.
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But, thankfully, it usually stops right before the concert begins.” That comment
became the green light. We would start the concert on time, though it was stillraining.
I still remember the scene in front of me. It was still raining hard but thensuddenly the bright sky began to appear. The rain ceased and the sun started
shining again. It was sunset, of course. I had no clue what had been
happening, but the weather was restored instantly. With no rain, people began
coming to the park in increasing numbers. It was an exciting summer concert
with fireworks to follow. “After the storm comes a calm.” That was the Aida
that we had had.

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Attracted to La ValseI had not realized how fond I am of this composition. Ravel, thecomposer who wrote La Valse, is my favorite French composer and he is wellknown for his Boléro. La Valse is, simply, a waltz. I do not care for the waltz
that much, nor do I love to conduct it. La Valse is the only exception. I havedecided to conduct this piece eighty times by the time I become eighty years old.
But this piece requires a bigger orchestra and is also a larger composition to play.
So, I haven’t had many chances to conduct it. In addition, though it has manydifficult notes to play, it finishes in only twelve minutes.
I conducted this piece for the first time in 1992 with Ashiya SymphonyOrchestra. Prior to it, I had seen a rehearsal of Mr. Lorin Maazel when I wasstudying in Paris. I remember that I was so moved by the unique sound of theFrench Orchestra. But that did not inspire me enough to conduct the piece bymyself. So, why did I suddenly change my opinion about this piece later?
It started when I was conducting this piece during a concert in Kyushu.
During that time, I had been putting my heart into the piano and had played withMr. Koji Oikawa with two pianos on the stage. One day, I casually played thepiano score for La Valse. The sensation I had was different from when Iconducted. I had not been able to have the orchestra get the tempo as I hadwanted. The orchestra had not been able to express the subtle swing rhythm of
the waltz well. It was then that I realized, with the piano, I could express
anything that I wanted. I could even try various nuances. I liked that verymuch. When I conducted the piece with the orchestra after that experience, I
noticed that the various sounds of musical instruments were laid on top of one
another like the layers of colors on a painting. After that, I started appreciating
this composition more than ever.
I’ve had many experiences regarding this composition, but let me share
one of the most memorable. I spent the whole year of 2001 conducing La Valseat various occasions. It was a happy year for me. The following year of 2002,
I conducted this piece at the New Year’s Concert in Nagoya. On January 3rd, aheavy snow hit the city of Nagoya for the first time in forty years. I was not awareof how many inches of snow we got from the storm. There was a heavy traffic1

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jam in the city from the early morning. The concert started at 4 P.M. The
audience who had come from afar must have had a hard time getting to theconcert hall. But, the performance was successful and, having conducted La
Valse, I was also satisfied.
I had another chance to conduct La Valse on February 2nd at a music hallin Sagami Ōno, Kanagawa. I was also going to play the piano in Saint-Saëns’
the Carnival of the Animals as well as narrate on the stage. So, it was a big
concert for me. Whenever I play the piano, I am very careful not to hurt myfingers. I thought it would not be a good idea to carry my heavy luggage withstage costumes for a long period of time, so I took a taxi to get to the concert hall,which turned out to be a serious mistake. There was traffic everywhere on thestreets. The taxi did not move forward at all. I became nervous, as therehearsal time was getting closer. Finally I decided to get out of the taxi, get on
a train and rush to the music hall. I was late by thirty minutes. It was the mostdreadful experience of my life. I had been active as a conductor for twenty years,
and this was my first time being late. But, I kept myself calm, and managed tokeep the rehearsal short like a gust of wind. I felt so sorry for the orchestra andthe musicians who had been waiting for me. But by the time I conducted La
Valse later that evening, I had forgotten about it because I was concentrating onconducting.
gift.

Later, I apologized by giving them lots of chocolate as my Valentine

I will never forget that concert performance of La Valse. Then, the next
day came. It was February 3rd. In Japan it was Setsubun, the last day of winteraccording to the traditional Japanese calendar.

The year of happenings had

finally calmed down.
At this point, I have managed to conduct this composition seventeen
times, and after playing this piece so many times, I have been able to finally playwith a tempo which is fairly close to what I intend. The next step is to express
the essence of the French culture in this piece. The more you play it, the bigger
the task you deal with. Some musicians from the orchestras I have conducted
say to me that they will definitely be there when I conduct the eightiethanniversary of performing La Valse. I have to keep myself healthy until eighty.

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