Director attributes Dutch orchestra’s success to confidence among players

The music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) on Tuesday attributed the ensemble's rise to be one of the world's top orchestras to its members coming together to produce a cohesive sound similar to a chamber orchestra.

"We have a tradition of really being an orchestra that plays like a chamber music ensemble, of listening to each other," Joel Ethan Fried, music director of the Amsterdam-based orchestra, said during a news conference in Seoul.

Musicians have to listen very carefully because it's not easy for them to hear each other on the stage of a large music hall, he said.

"Where another orchestra might be 120 rock stars, there are 120 chamber musicians (in our orchestra). And when a musician comes into the orchestra, he or she quickly learns how to play with the sound of our orchestra," he said.

Having its own concert hall is another secret of RCO's strength, the director noted.

"We have the privilege of playing most of our concerts in a concert hall which is among the world's three to five best halls in the world with really wonderful sound in the audience. It's the sound that our musicians try to carry with them when they tour and recreate in other halls," he said.

Questioned about the health of the Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, RCO's executive director Jan Raes answered that Jansons is in stable condition after successfully undergoing several heart surgeries last year.

"Jansons had some heart problems. Last year, he had a few successful surgeries and he feels really good now. And we have many plans for the next five or six years. So we're not searching for a successor. The orchestra and the audience are very happy with him.

So, we feel very secure and confident. We can work together for the next few years," he said.

Founded in 1888, the RCO surprised classical music circles when it was chosen as the best symphonic orchestra in the world by the British music magazine Gramophone in 2008, ahead of the Vienna and Berlin philharmonic orchestras. The RCO has appealed to classical music fans across the globe with a good harmony of its velvet string sound, golden brass and colorful woodwinds.

The orchestra is to hold two concerts at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday as part of its Asian tour that also took it to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. South Korean conductor Chung Myung-whun, music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, has been leading the ensemble during its Asian tour.

The program of Wednesday's concert includes Kodaly's "Dances of Galanta," Mendelssohn's violin concerto and "Concerto for Orchestra" by Bartok. Violinist Janine Jansen will be the soloist in the Mendelssohn piece.

On Thursday, the orchestra will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 together with the phenomenal young pianist Kim Sun-wook and Brahms' Symphony No. 2, according to organizers.(Yonhap)