Later, Mazer went to the Chicago Symphony as associate conductor under Sir George Solti, where he also conducted several subscription concerts each year. During his 16 years in Chicago, Mazer worked closely with inner-city youngsters as part of the orchestra's youth program. When Mazer retired in 1986, the mayor of or Chicago declared a ''Henry Mazer Day" during which city-wide celebrations were held in honor of his contributions to music and to Chicago's youth.
FCR recently interviewed Mazer about his career, the local music scene, and his efforts to develop the Taipei Sinfonietta into a world-class orchestra. Excerpts follow:
FCR: How does one start out to be a conductor?
Mazer: Sometimes it helps to marry a rich woman! (laughs)
FCR: Would you like to elaborate on that?
Mazer: Sure. Serge Koussevitzky, for example, began his career that way. He married a tremendously wealthy woman and used her money to organize his own orchestra in Russia. Then he appointed himself its conductor. Once he had made a name for himself he went to the U.S. and began a long and illustrious career as the conductor of the Boston Symphony. So if an unknown conductor has the necessary funds, he can engage a professional orchestra, rent top-quality halls, and do the promotion necessary to get his name known.
FCR: Did you marry a rich woman?
Mazer: Unfortunately, no. (laughs again)
FCR: Then how did you get started?
Mazer: As a child I studied some piano. By high school I realized I had better quit fooling around with girls and playing so much tennis, basketball, and baseball and get serious about music. I decided I wanted to be a pianist and started practicing eight hours a day. I got quite good at it and began to give recitals. But when I heard the real pianists play, I realized I had waited too long. So I started conducting several small groups.
When I was 20, I thought maybe I could get connected with the Pittsburgh Symphony. I went to the manager and said I'd like to be able to watch Fritz Reiner work. They gave me a job helping out backstage; I got paid 15 dollars a week. I met many of the artists I later conducted for, like Yehudi Menuhin and Arthur Rubenstein. I used to meet them at the train station and carry their bags to the hotel. I also rubbed Reiner's back with alcohol during intermissions.
Meanwhile I organized a Pittsburgh sinfonietta Reiner had started paying attention to me by this time and had me helping out at rehearsals and the like. Eventually he made me apprentice conductor of the symphony.
FCR: How did you end up conducting in Taiwan?
Mazer: I first came here about seven years ago as a guest conductor for the Taipei City Symphony Orchestra, the Taichung Symphony Orchestra, and the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra. After my appearance with the Kaohsiung Symphony, the musicians went to Mayor Su Nan-cheng and asked him to find some way to keep me on the island as conductor of the Kaohsiung Symphony. Su was really interested in putting together a first-class symphony, so he offered me a very good contract. I saw it as a challenge, because at the time the Kaohsiung Symphony was one of the worst sounding orchestras I had ever heard.
Unfortunately, except for Su, no one in Kaohsiung cared in the least about having a good symphony orchestra there. When I wanted to call an extra rehearsal I was told there was no money to pay the musicians. Of course, there really was money. There was just no support whatsoever, so I didn't renew my contract.
At that time I was shuttling between Taipei and Kaohsiung because I had al ready begun work on forming the Taipei Sinfonietta. The project was yielding promising results, so I decided to concentrate on the Taipei Sinfonietta.
FCR: Generally speaking, what is the quality of Taiwan's musicians?
Mazer: The string playing is very good here, as good as anywhere in the world. That was the original motivation for forming the Sinfonietta, which is essentially a string ensemble.
FCR: Is this assessment shared by others?
Mazer: I sent a tape of Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro" that I did with the Taipei Sinfonietta to George Solti, conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He wrote me and said that he not only enjoyed what I did, but also was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the strings. Solti would never have said that if he wasn't impressed. Of course, the musicians in our Sinfonietta don't have $50,000-instruments as many musicians in major symphony orchestras do. Better instruments would make a big difference.
FCR: What about the other orchestra sections?
Mazer: The main problem is with the brass section. Brass instruments aren't considered important in Asian countries the way they are in the West. In America you have bands that play at football games and dances, so you develop good brass musicians. They don't have that here, and there is no effort to remedy the deficiency.
Years ago when Seiji Ozawa was in Chicago, he often took musicians from the Chicago Symphony over to Japan to work with the young players of oboes, horns, and trumpets. Ozawa even got some of his musicians to take leaves of absence from the Chicago Symphony and stay in Japan for a while to work with the Japanese musicians. Consequently, Japan now has some very good brass musicians. Of course, it helped that Japan was willing to spend big money to get the services of those musicians.
FCR: How do you like playing in the National Concert Hall?
Mazer: I don't. The reverberation time of nearly six seconds is much too high. A good concert hall has a reverb time of only about two seconds.
FCR: According to officials from the Concert Hall, the reverb time is just a little over two seconds.
Mazer: Oh, come on, who are they kidding? It's been measured by several nonpartisan professionals, and it's either 5.8 or 5.9. The big shame of the whole thing is that something could be done about it. It's much easier to dampen a hall that is too lively than to liven a hall that is acoustically dead.
Look at how much money they poured into Alice Tulley Hall [in Lincoln Center] without any major improvements. Here they could spend relatively little money and realize substantial improvements. Covering the marble [fronting the balconies] with canvas and putting curtains on the stage would cut the reverb time drastically. But first people will have to be honest with themselves and admit that there actually is a problem.
FCR: Do you conduct in Taiwan the same way you would elsewhere?
Mazer: The only way I can survive on this island is to pretend that I'm not in Taiwan. I conduct like I'm preparing for a concert in Vienna or Carnegie Hall. And I expect the level of musical playing to be such that if we were in Vienna or in New York people would say that the playing was very good. I cannot accept the line "Oh, it's not bad for Taiwan."
I can live with Taipei's dirt and the pollution, although I'm scared to death of the motorcycles, but I won't put up with inferior playing. When I prepare a concert with the Sinfonietta, I want it to be good enough to be in Philadelphia or in Pittsburgh. And I know what the standard is because I've conducted in both places. Anticipating that kind of quality is the only way I can make music.
FCR: Do the musicians appreciate what you are trying to do?
Mazer: I think so. For example, I just got a letter yesterday from the second principal of the Sinfonietta who is now in New York. He told me how much I've meant to him because of my love for music and because I expected musicians to put their all into making good music.
Hey, I know that some of the time they think I'm a real S.O.B. when I bawl them out for not listening or not doing what they're supposed to. But in the end they're appreciative when they know I've really gotten them to do better than they would have done otherwise.