Watch out for the molecules

By WILLIAM DART

Benjamin Zander's fine Mahler CDs with the Philharmonia Orchestra have thrust the English-born conductor on to the international stage. But back home in New England, for the past 23 years he has headed the Boston Philharmonic, an orchestra with the staunchest of community consciences.

Its motto, "music without barriers", Zander tells me, is "a vision, not a statement". Seat prices go down to the ultra-affordable and there is a cherished tradition of open rehearsals. It's an orchestra that reaches out to its audience. "I'm in the foyer when people arrive for the concert and I'm there again when they leave," says Zander.

Not surprisingly, the driving force in his life is being a teacher.

"As a conductor, my job is to bring music alive as the composer intended. I try to look into the musical substance as deeply as possible and convey this to as wide a public as possible.

"And I'll use all kinds of ruses to do it," Zander adds, with a conspiratorial chuckle.

On Sunday we have our chance to experience a few of these ploys when Zander conducts the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in a programme he admits is "one of the most challenging I've done with a youth orchestra. The Brahms Fourth Symphony is so deep and complex, Stravinsky's Firebird so colourful, and as for Ives' Three Places in New England, I'm sure the musicians will hate it at the first play-through and then end up loving it."

Victoria Simonsen was a rank-and-file cellist in the Youth Orchestra three years ago when Zander first visited, and this year she is heading the cello section. She is looking forward to the Ives and bubbles with enthusiasm when I ask her about the man. "It's always about awakening possibilities in people and he connects with every single player, right down to the back desk of the second violins."

It is clear Zander is switched on by the energy and openness of the young. He conducted the Israel Philharmonic earlier this year and paid them the ultimate compliment by describing them as "a world-class orchestra who played like a youth orchestra. Like young players, they had that desire to be moved."

A stint with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas ended with a triumphant concert at Sao Paulo in Brazil. "There were 120 musicians from 20 countries, some staggeringly poor, some incredibly privileged. We did Mahler's First Symphony and it was transcendental."

Zander takes risks with music-making - he is known overseas for a 46-minute version of Beethoven's Eroica - and, as a conductor, he won't take "maybe" for an answer.

"My theory is that everybody loves classical music - our job is to make them realise it."

But how far can words go to explain the mystery of music? "Only so far," he admits. "Language does have its limitations, but words can open up quite a few doors."

You can hear "Zanderspiel" on the bonus discs that come with his four Mahler CDs, welcoming guided tours through those Mahlerian symphonic forests. With the Fifth Symphony, Zander plays a rare piano-roll recording of Mahler at the piano and, for a few extraordinary seconds, he vocalises some of the symphony's Adagietto in the style of Marlene Dietrich.

In some circles he is known as much as an inspirational motivator as a conductor. A sought-after speaker, he has done the world circuit, from the World Economic Forum in Davos to the State of the World Forum in San Francisco. Big forums ... big issues, and Zander offers bracing topics like "Orchestrating the Executive Team - a Model for Corporate Management Improvement".

"I penetrate into the business world as a musician. These people are used to being addressed with metaphors from sports and war: I use Mahler. They're getting tired of the baseball stars and generals.

"They like people who are leading teams, and I do just this with orchestras. A conductor is a silent leader who makes no sound but wakes up sound in others. It's a time for new models.

"These people want to crash through the barriers of normal reticence to storm the gates of heaven, working together to shift the molecules."

This sort of stirring talk is enough to make even the cynical flush with enthusiasm. Could Stephen Covey do the same for musical appreciation, one wonders? One thing's for sure though - those molecules could well be whizzing around the Town Hall on Sunday evening. Don't miss them.

* NZSO National Youth Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Zander, Auckland Town Hall, Sunday August 25 at 7.30pm.