Almost two years ago, John Eliot Gardiner (Dorset, England, 82 years old) does not direct in Spain. His sudden departure from the concert circuit occurred following a embarrassing incident at the 2023 Berlioz Festival, where he assaulted Bajo William Thomas between racks. The public apologies of the teacher were not enough, who received an avalanche of criticism and ended up presenting his resignation as director of the three pioneer teams of the historically informed interpretation that he himself had founded (Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique), which fueled the rumors about a definitive withdrawal.
This Wednesday afternoon, after months of “Therapy and Reflection”, Gardiner will appear in the Palau de la Catalan music at the head of his new formation, The Constellation Choir & Orchestra, composed of several of the 123 specialist musicians who asked for a letter. With them he will address the three preserved Cantatas of Bach for Jubileo Sunday in what promises to be a trip that starts “with the most distressing melancholy and culminates in a euphoric celebration”, the director by videolarm from Palma de Mallorca during the first interview he grants in more than a year is sincere.
Ask. What has this time away from the spotlights dedicated?
Answer. To reflect on what happened. It has been a very highly sobering experience, a real call for behavior patterns and the lines that should never come to cross. The musicians work under a lot of pressure, but that does not justify my reaction at all.
P. Have you been able to talk to William Thomas?
R. I’ve been in contact with him and I hope he does well. What happened that night was the product of transitory madness, caused in part by the extreme conditions of heat and humidity. I have started a new chapter of my life. I return to Spain with humility, but also with joy, to one of the rooms that have marked my career the most.
P. What has made this radical change possible?
R. I have undergone cognitive therapy sessions from the hand of mental health experts. I followed an exercise and techniques program that has helped me to be much more aware of myself, my levels of tolerance and the need to exercise greater self -control, even in the face of provocations. I am another person.
P. And what about your group? Is constellation a completely new set or just changes the name?
R. It is partly the same community, with usual musicians and new additions. We have young singers fresh from the conservatory that we invite our Springhead headquarters, where I was born and crie, to participate in workshops in coaching Musical, yoga and improvisation. Our vision is broader and more humanistic.
P. What teaches those young musicians who don’t know about Bach?
R. That his music not only left a mark on the Baroque and that we can find his trace, for example, in the Jazz rhythms of New Orleans. Anyone who listens to the BWV 95 cantata will know what I mean. There is something hypnotic in these scores that Consuelo offers us, what the Germans call trostwithout the need to believe in the hereafter.
P. And yet Music in the Castle of Heavenhis monumental portrait of Bach, speaks several times about the “voice of God.” What do you mean?
R. In some way that I cannot explain with words Bach’s music emphasizes our moral compass. There is devotion and search, but also rebellion, humor and, of course, doubt, as in some of its cantatas or in the Mass in Little. So, when everything seems to crumble, the miracle occurs, the unforeseen.
P. Would you have liked to recover the direction of the sets you founded?
R. They are my family and I did everything possible to make it. But the Board of Directors was not for the work. So I closed a very important stage of my life. I do not have a grudge and I wish you all the best. Springhead constellation is allowing me to reconnect with my roots, to strengthen a link between my two great passions: music and nature.
P. What do the two albums that have published, in its absence, the Monteverdi choir with which it was seal, soli deo glory?
R. I haven’t heard them, but I recently congratulated Johnny Sells when I heard him direct the choir in Saint Martin-in-The-Fields. My record record is uncertain, but I know that there are many people interested in recording with us. Deutsche Grammophon, without going any further, has just published my Brahms integral with the Royal Concertgebouw.
P. In his day he fought a hard battle for the granting of the headquarters and the award of the Budgets of the Monteverdi. Does sufficient resources now have?
R. The constellation headquarters is in Dorset, next to the farm of my childhood, and for the moment we have no plans to move to London. My priority is to become a charity to raise funds, since the costs, especially those of tours, are very high. I trust that the new status facilitates donations.
P. Will he have the support of his friend, King Carlos III, who chose him to direct the music of his coronation?
R. I hope so. He hasn’t heard us yet, but I’m sure he will.
P. And how does the book about Monteverdi and its constellation What began to write during the pandemic?
R. It has not been easy, but I am about to finish it. It is an unconventional biography that analyzes Monteverdi’s musical revolution in the context of a generation of creators, thinkers and scientists who transformed our way of understanding the world, nature and art. People like Galileo, Kepler, Bacon, Rubens, Caravaggio or Shakespeare. The important thing here is the overall vision.
P. Is that the lesson that takes after these months of reflection?
R. Definitely. Now I trust musicians who have decided to accompany me in this new journey. And that translates into better interpretations, as the public of Barcelona can check. One must accept risks and errors as part of the process. There is nothing more ridiculous than a director alone, which no one follows. The rigor is important, but without that degree of complicity my work makes no sense.