First of all I want to say, that this interview has been conducted by a swedish opera singer, that also lives in Austria. I don't translate the whole text, because not everything is important for now. Another reason why I don't translate all and why I kinda "modify" some sentences simply is, that the German of this singer is a bit complicated if you know what I mean. I don't even understand everything and I'm from Austria! Well, to explain it a bit more: I think before the playbill has been printed nobody proofread it....and the words aren't always perfectly chosen...
[...] We focus on what Benny has fascinated since he's 2 years old and what has attracted him to the piano - making music (being able to make music). It started back then, when his father and grandfather taught him to play the accordion by ear.
-"It's quite possible, that those tunes back then were by my grandfather. I've never heard another accordionist playing them."-Benny
[...]I've analyzed, tagged and sorted music in a quite simple world.
-"I don't know that, but I think by classical music education you get constricted as an artist and you take yourself the possibility to evolve in other directions."-Benny
[...]
[...] In reply to my question if it makes a difference to write music for ABBA or for an opera/musical(she called it opera) like "Kristina från Duvemåla" he says: "No"
[...]
In ""Kristina" the librettist Björn Ulvaeus and Benny muster up the story from Vilhelm Moberg's tetralogy "Utvandrarna", "Invandrarna", "Nybyggarna" and "Sista brevet till Sverige". Benny explains that he tells the story with his music and not until then Björn writes the lyrics."
-"I can't compose in another way. The music comes to me and it's really hard for me to adapt it. The hero in Vilhelm Moberg's books isn't Karls Oskar, it's Kristina because nothing happens wherewith she not agrees. Thereby she gets the central theme of the whole story. This woman is much more interesting, also in this century."-Benny
So Björn and Benny included everything from the novels. All about Kristina and even the byplay about Robert. The first 'version' contained 2000 pages and 58 scenes, this was too enormous, so they shortened it to a manageable volume. Now where again talking about Benny's gift for writing music and he says:"when we interpret everything right about Kristina, the rest shows itself."
[...]How do you choose the instruments for your melodies?
-"I see the whole symphonic orchestra as one instrument, just like the choir and the group that contributes in "Kristine". As an example: Through my experiences with "Chess" I know, that the drums aren't very suitable for an orchestra of a theatre, because of that I'm sparingly using them."-Benny
[...]I HAVE TO LEAVE OUT A PART OF THE INTERVIEW; BECAUSE I SIMPLY DON'T GET THE CONTENT OF IT! I am so sorry, but there are words in this interview that don't fit the text XD the singer actually spoke a good German, but in this 3 pages.....not.
-"Music is unbeatable, it straight goes "into you", it's magic and I'm privileged to be able to dedicate my life to music. When I sit at my piano my intention is to make a melody, something i can build on my composition: Sounds, rhythms, harmonies,...
I'm almost exclusively listening to classical music and the biggest "melodymaker" for me is Johann Sebastian Bach, he's my inspiration and my idol/model."-Benny
[...] he means that with music you can reach people, you can't reach otherwise. He finishes our conversation with the words "...you can't botch with it, you simply have to take it seriously."(referring to music)-Benny
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