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Approaching 25 years of legacy
A tall, energetic, and confident head of luscious white hair makes its way through rows of student performers comprising the McGill Symphony Orchestra (MGSO). With exacting standards, Maestro Alexis Hauser’s baton cuts through the air like decisive strokes of a sharp sabre. Yet, his generously open, music-loving heart, sincere communication and infectious good humour fill orchestra players and audience members with a sense of assurance and comfort.
A beloved presence at the helm of the MGSO for nearly 25 years, Maestro Hauser recalls his encounters with conducting greatness during his youthful student days in Vienna, Tanglewood, and Siena. At the time, summer training was long and covered by stipends—unlike most of today’s opportunities for aspiring conductors, he explains.
In 1969, Hauser spent over five weeks of training with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. The teacher of Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti and Sir Andrew Davis, Ferrara was “a phenomenal musician and a fantastic conductor,” says Hauser with admiration. Another breakthrough came in 1973 when the late Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend four weeks in San Francisco as his assistant. “Whatever I conducted in San Francisco turned out to be my audition for Tanglewood. This was one of the greatest summers of my life,” remembers Hauser. There, he recalls Leonard Bernstein conducting Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and playing a Mozart piano concerto. “He loved talking with young students. He felt like an older student himself.”
Having studied piano, cello, and choral conducting, Hauser completed his orchestral conducting training with the legendary Hans Swarowski at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. “Swarowski was a pioneer—particularly when it came to tempo relationships, (which) many conductors at that time ignored completely. His conducting classes were also about analyzing scores.” Having studied with Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Richard Strauss, Swarowski carried the tradition of a crystal-clear understanding of the score and a functional divide between the conductors’ hands—keeping the beat in the right and using the left only when necessary, explains Hauser.
Hauser owes much of his own teaching to this approach. “I emphasize the facts in the score,” he says. “The first thing to study is the form and structure. From there, you develop an interpretation. I tell my students they must find the truth behind the masterpiece—and that truth is only in the score.” When it comes to practical training, Hauser sees himself as an observer. “I don’t want my students to imitate me or anyone else. I try to help them find their own personality. It’s a fascinating process.”
As an aspiring young conductor, Hauser soaked up the rich tradition still echoing at Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic concerts. He recalls the “shattering experience” of hearing both Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for the first time in the late 1960s. Other great conductors left an impact, too: Carl Schuricht, Hans Knappertsbusch, Pierre Monteux, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Georg Solti, George Szell.
When it came to rehearsals, however, Herbert von Karajan left the decisive mark. “He knew exactly how to get the results he wanted in the most efficient way. Orchestra musicians had to be very prepared. He never wasted a second of rehearsal time just for himself, to be secure. It was all for the sound that he wanted (to get from the orchestra). This was very impressive,” says Hauser.
Photo: Tam Photography
Perhaps more than other musicians, conductors learn on the job. “I can also study scores as much as I want, but when it’s time to rehearse with the orchestra, time management is crucial,” says Hauser. “I tell my students to be prepared, not to talk too much—maybe not at all on the first rehearsal. Musicians want to look at you and get a graphic impression from you. Not your words,” advises the doyen of Montreal’s conducting scene.
Discussing his debuts at the Musikverein in Vienna in 1970, or the Atlanta Symphony and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1976, Maestro Hauser abounds with wise advice for young conductors. “Concerts are not a challenge if you are well prepared,” he says. “The first rehearsal is where orchestras assess whether a conductor knows what they’re doing, and they can tell this before you give the first upbeat! You must know the piece so well and let the orchestra play. Then, remember what you want them to improve—and work on this in the second rehearsal. There will be things to improve, regardless which orchestra you’re conducting.”
After decades of touring across the world, performing with some of the world’s best orchestras, Maestro Hauser can say with assurance what distinguishes a great orchestra from the rest. “First, it is the sound. When you give an upbeat to a great 100-piece orchestra, you feel that they all breathe together and produce a very cultivated, rich sound. Then, a great orchestra wants to get better from one performance to the next. They don’t like it when a conductor flatters them; they want to be challenged.”
Approaching 25 years as the conductor of the MGSO and an inspiring teacher to generations of players and conductors, Maestro Alexis Hauser continues to build a legacy in the very fabric of Montreal’s orchestral tradition of excellence.
The McGill Symphony Orchestra plays for Opera McGill’s production of The Light in the Piazza on Jan. 31, Feb. 1 & 2 and in a program of Ligeti, Prokofiev, Gibson and Strauss on Feb. 28.
www.mcgill.ca/music
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