Mandagsmorgen med Ed Gardner

Ever since the start of his career some twenty years ago, Ed Gardners career has been pointing upwards with an impressive speed and momentum. He is the previous chief conductor of the English National Opera, the current first guest conductor of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and chief conductor of London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also recipient of several prizes, including being appointed Officer of the order of the British Empire. 

So, what provides Ed with energy and inspiration? And does it change with age?

The things that gave me energy and insight as a 20-year-old are very different from what I have now. That's partly to do with the magic of experiencing something for the first time at that age, as your experience grows you get more into the nuts and bolts of the music and process. When I was a young conductor I watched someone transcendental like Abbado or Kleiber and was completely wowed, I really had no concept of what and how they did their thing. But watching great conductors as a young assistant, observing them making music through their bodies and minds  crystallised something of what it was to conduct.

With age comes experience, and as a more mature conductor Ed cherishes the possibility to find new insights into music that he already knows very well.

As I get older, what inspires me now are often the less dramatic things, like being able to do the Rosenkavalier ten times in a row and still learn more and more from it. We as conductors deal with these works of art which we'll hopefully get better at during a 50-year cycle. There are endless depths within them to find, and I feel being able to be on that journey with them is a great privilege.

A deeper and more profound knowledge of the music can actually also be a liberating factor in how you want to shape your interpretations. Once you have spent years studying tradition and accumulating knowledge, that allows you to let the orchestra give you even more creative input, and let them be an even greater source of inspiration.

I have come to the place where whenever I travel the world with a piece of music I know well, I feel it is much better to keep an open mind as to how the orchestras are going to respond to my impulses within their own musical language. From there you can use your instincts to mould what you have with what they have. It is a myth that we as conductors have this utter control over what we are performing or how we perform it, the greatest performances I know are those that deliver a three-way relationship between conductor, music and orchestra, and not just someone who does the same every place they are.

Not only does this approach require a lot of confidence and maturity, there is also a level of trust in this exchange that can result in musical interactions that really resonate with all parties involved.

When I talk to musicians in the really good orchestras about conductors they love, there is one word that keeps reappearing, and that is trust. It sounds like a simple word, but it is really hard to analyze what they actually mean by that. I think it is about the orchestra having the feeling of a conductor listening or sensing their needs, wants, and personalities as a group of musicians. It is not that the conductor lets the orchestra do exactly what they want, far from it. But there is something within that dialogue that means that they feel allowed to be expressive and make music also within their own terms.

If established, this connection will also be felt by the audience, and Ed stresses the importance of always delivering a dedicated performance to engage the listeners.

There is an alchemy in a performance between the conductor and an orchestra, a sort of collaborative inspiration which might be hard to pin down. I say to my friends who are non-musicians that they shouldn't shy away from feeling that a performance bores them a bit. That simply means it isn't speaking to you, and that is probably because there is a lack of inspiration on the stage, and not necessarily because you don't know enough about the music in question. We might not be able to pin it down, but most people are able to tell when there is something incredible inspirational in the air during a performance, even at an early age.

I just recently had the most wonderful performance in Birmingham where we were allowed back in the concert-hall after nearly 450 days in lockdown. It was amazing to perform a concert where we all jointly remembered what the communion between us present in the room, orchestra and audience, was. I found that occasion utterly inspirational! I think for all of us, it was like finding lost love again.

Such feelings are best shared, and an important part of a conductors job is to convey this feeling to everyone listening as best they can.

The thing that I always want to get across to an audience, whether old or young, is my passion for the miracle of whatever the piece I am conducting at that time. These days I also talk with audiences much more, that is something I think I will continue doing. It gives a window into your passion and thoughts. In the end, what people want to see it your utter commitment to what you are giving them.

Even before coming to Norway, Ed had experience working with youth orchestras in the UK. Much to the joy of the young musicians in Bergen, Ed has also continued this work with BFUng, the orchestras youth-program.

BFUng is a really important part of our musical family in Bergen, and I find working with the youth orchestra just as inspirational as with the Bergen Philharmonic itself. I am incredibly happy to work with them and feed off their energy and brilliance. Of course, in some respects, it differs quite a lot from working with professionals. Firstly, they don't play together every week and lack a common musical language that happens by osmosis, as you would expect from a professional orchestra. The good news is you have a blank canvas, so you really can shade and frame the music any way you want. I suppose the dialogue works in the way that you are not asking so much for them to present an interpretation to you, but you are really demanding of them to find a musical message together.

And Ed's love for the mothership itself, the Bergen Philharmonic, is also very clear. A visit as a guest conductor several years ago marked the beginning of a strong and dynamic relationship. And like many conductors before him, he would soon learn that the orchestra nestled in between the seven mountains has some truly extraordinary qualities.

I remember my first visit to Bergen. By then the news had gotten across the musical world that they were getting stronger with Andrew Litton, but still, I was really overwhelmed! I couldn't believe that a comparatively small city like Bergen had such a world-class orchestra, that wows me to this day. There was something in the style of their playing, especially in the strings; an old school, refined and delicate, but still incredibly motivated, a trait that turned everything into chamber music. I suppose giving is the most descriptive word, I love that quality in the orchestra!

The wall in the conductors' office in Grieghallen is covered with pictures and paintings of the orchestras chief conductors dating back 256 years, and amongst them is a picture of Ed's arguably most famous predecessor, Edvard Grieg. And Ed Gardner’s visits to Troldhaugen actually made a more lasting impression on him than most pilgrimages to other composers' homes in the past.

There is something very special about Troldhaugen, even now it feels very cocooned in nature, wrapped around by water. To me, it imbued nature in such a wonderful way, much like in his music. Apart from Sibelius' home, Troldhaugen is the only composer home I've been to where I found true and genuine inspiration from where the composers lived with their music. There is something about the modesty of their gesture, like the small composing hut, a feeling of otherworldliness.

Having recently moved to Norway himself, Ed has learned to appreciate the way Norwegians embrace nature and enjoy both the closeness to the mountains and the sea.

I can get quite emotionally entangled in work but after a few days off I bounce back. I think just the fact that I have a nice life at home, living in a beautiful place where I can see the sea is a contributing factor. I've noticed I need more and more physical exercise, something I expect will go up exponentially the next decade in order to keep my body as focused as my mind. I've done a lot of hiking recently, and this is something I know will become a major part of my life in the years to come.