Art Chowder September | October, Issue 17 | Page 49

Art Chowder:
I believe you’ve succeeded. Now, for your final
concert you’ve chosen “The Concerto of the Mad Queen” by
Zivkovic, and “Alpine Symphony” by Strauss. Why? These are two
very different pieces of music!
PrEU: Hahahaha! Yeah, well … .I never wanted a big piece to
finish my tenure, like a show-off piece such as Mahler’s “Second
Symphony.” I don’t need that. I just want to do a good piece of
music. Originally I wanted to do something like “The Mad Queen,”
or “La Follia” … a very famous tune that has fascinated composers
over the centuries with its craziness. But I’m not the only one
deciding the program, so we said, “Okay, we need a big piece.”
Someone mentioned “Alpine Symphony” and I said, “Sure.”
We’ve had a piece by Strauss in our program pretty much every
year. Because, I think, it requires from the orchestra not only
extreme virtuosity (which we need), but a certain lightness, a
certain elegance. And when you combine those, you can use that
in many kinds of music. If it’s Mendelssohn, Brahms, Mozart,
you combine a special light but brilliant sound with your chops.
It’s important for the orchestra, so we’ve had Strauss nearly every
season.
Art Chowder: And “The Mad Queen” by Zivkovic?
PrEU: I met Zivkovic when I went to school in Hartford,
Connecticut. He was a visiting professor and he introduced himself
to me saying, “I am the best marimba player in the world.” And I
said, “Really?” Now I think he actually is!
I invited him here a couple of years ago, to do his “Marimba
Concerto 2.” When you have a percussion concerto, it’s always a
funky thing, because it’s not really melodious. It’s not your regular
violin, cello, and piano. It’s not always what people want, so it was
a bit of a risk. But people loved it! Also, I think it’s really relevant,
great music, and he’s a brilliant player.
Actually, throughout the final season, you’ll see people with whom
I’ve previously worked coming back to perform. Alon Goldstein
is coming back, as well as the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo. I do
this consciously. It’s my way of saying goodbye to them while I
conduct.
Art Chowder:
Speaking of goodbyes, what do you love about
Spokane, and what will you miss?
PrEU: What I like about Spokane? The people, who I’ve always
found to be very friendly, warm, and not very combative. Actually,
surprisingly I have to say, they are also musically open-minded.
Adventurous! Where more “intellectual” towns are much more
conservative, I’ve always found people here are like, “Okay. Show
us.” It’s where the Wild West mentality kind of adventure, is still
living the life in an intellectual way. I always liked that. I find it
very pleasant to live here. People always say, “Can’t we all get
along?” Well, people here try to practice that. So that’s one thing.
September |October 2018
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