A music director goes public with a secret stash of private instruments
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Gianandrea Noseda talks with Marissa Regni about the loaned instruments.Keren Carrión / NPR -
Gianandrea Noseda directs the National Symphony Orchestra at a rehearsal at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.Keren Carrión / NPR -
Musicians take notes during the rehearsal.Keren Carrión / NPR -
Some 20 musicians have joined the NSO since Noseda became music director in 2019, replacing retiring players.Keren Carrión / NPR
Crisp, warm, responsive. The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is on a journey to meet these benchmarks under the baton of music director Gianandrea Noseda. One of the ways in which he's shaping a new sound is through some very old instruments. The oldest is a violin made in 1686 in Cremona, Italy.
Since 2019, Noseda has been quietly loaning 17th - 19th century Italian string instruments from his private collection to the NSO. The musicians playing them had no idea that they came from their conductor — until now.
"I'm not saying that good instruments make the orchestra; the orchestra is made by great musicians. But if you give a good driver a good Ferrari, the driver also will drive faster," Noseda told NPR's Leila Fadel in an interview at his office in Washington, D.C.
These seven violins and a viola are worth a total of around five million dollars. It's a major investment for Noseda, who grew up in a modest neighborhood of Milan, where his father was an electrical draftsman and his mother was a homemaker.
From Italy to Tokyo
Noseda got the idea of purchasing and donating instruments a few years ago. While guest-conducting Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2010, he noticed that many of the musicians were playing old Italian instruments.
"The orchestra had a certain sound, very disciplined because of the Japanese culture, but also warm in a way given by the instruments," he recalled. "I was shocked by this experience."
The following year, Noseda — who is a piano player, not a string player — purchased a violin and lent it to the concertmaster, or lead violinist, of the Teatro Regio Terino he directed at the time.
"I immediately realized that it made a difference," Noseda said.
That violin, made in 1725 by Santo Serafin in Venice, is now being played by Marissa Regni, the NSO's principal second violin.
"The instrument is like a vessel to get the sound out. So if you've got a great instrument, you can really think about the tone, quality, all the most important things," Regni said. "If you don't have a great vessel.... it's like you're straining your voice, like you think you're being louder, it's not as beautiful a tone."
Noseda's loan program gives right of first refusal to the lead players, or principals, of each applicable orchestra section, after which other musicians can obtain the instruments on a rotating two-year loan.
"This instrument is much more mellow, round sound, very silvery on the E string but I feel like the G string is very chocolaty," Regni said, as she demonstrated on the violin.
Changing the orchestra's sound
But how do you do you go about changing the sound of a symphony orchestra?
"The most important thing is when you work day by day, inspiring the way to make the orchestra interact... create an expanded chamber music where everybody knows what to listen for, how to cooperate," Noseda explained.
Both he and Marissa Regni, the NSO's principal second violin, pointed to the importance of being surrounded by great musicians.
"If you hear a beautiful sound near you... you want to sound as beautiful as that person," is how Regni put it. "It's not I want to be as good as them. It's because you want to create this incredible sound. In order to do that, you all have to do it right. You all have to have that goal."
Crucial role of instrument loans
Few classical musicians can afford valuable instruments made by esteemed luthiers like Antonio Stradivari (ca. 1644-1737). That's where foundations and wealthy benefactors come in. Noseda's instruments range from a violin made by Francesco Ruggeri in 1686 to an 1830 violin made by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda. Noseda also owns two cellos and intends to soon bring one to the NSO. The other is on loan to a young cellist in Italy.
"At a certain point, you feel the real necessity to give back," Noseda told NPR's Leila Fadel. The instruments, he added, "will live longer than me. But now I think it's important that they will inspire people in the orchestra to also deliver a better sound world."
But at the beating heart of the orchestra remain the dozens of living souls who bring the ensemble to life.
"Once a very close friend of mine conductor told me that it's not important that you become a star," Noseda recalled. "As a music director, it is even more important if you are surrounded by stars. Because all the light they produce will make you brighter."
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Transcript
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., is shaping a new sound using some very old instruments.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF MASSENET'S "THAIS: MEDITATION")
FADEL: That's principal second violinist Marissa Regni. She's playing a 300-year-old Italian violin, and it belongs to the orchestra's music director, Gianandrea Noseda. He's been loaning the symphony instruments made between the late 17th century to the early 19th century. The musicians playing them had no idea they came from his personal collection until now.
GIANANDREA NOSEDA: The orchestra is made by great musicians. But if you - to a good driver you give a good Ferrari, the driver also will drive faster.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S "SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN C MAJOR, OP. 21- IV. FINALE. ADAGIO - ALLEGRO MOLTO E VIVACE")
FADEL: Noseda's instrument collection is worth about $5 million. But he says what makes them special is not how much they cost.
NOSEDA: I'm very sensitive about sound. How I couldn't - I mean, being a conductor. But if you ask me, which is the quality sound, the typical of Italian instruments? - probably, I cannot explain. But my ears can tell.
FADEL: So these instruments that are on loan to the National Symphony Orchestra - these are your instruments that you're loaning?
NOSEDA: Yeah.
FADEL: Why?
NOSEDA: Because I wanted to make a certain sound. Some players have very good instruments in the orchestra, so they will not ask for an instrument that I bring. But sometimes, you have an instrument that doesn't allow the artist, really, to express fully himself or herself.
FADEL: Yeah.
NOSEDA: I mean, if you - I'm not a string player. If you give a good instrument to my hands, it's just a piece of wood. But if you give a good instrument to a capable artist, of course, that helps to motivate the artist. And they become together a unity and improve the general sound in the orchestra.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF WALKER'S "SINFONIA NO. 4, 'STRANDS'")
MARISSA REGNI: The instrument is like a vessel to get the sound out. So if you've got a great instrument, you don't have to work nearly as hard. So you can express yourself and express the music.
FADEL: Marissa Regni plays one of the first instruments Noseda ever purchased, a 1725 Venetian violin by Santo Serafin.
REGNI: If you don't have a great vessel, you probably are spending a huge amount of your time thinking, how can I? I just need to get a sound out. All right? And so you're probably working infinitely harder than you need to be, physically. It's like you're straining your voice. Like, you think you're being louder, but you're really - you know, it's not as beautiful a tone.
FADEL: Wow. And what is it like? What is the difference between other violins you've played and this one?
REGNI: So the violin I have - I mean, I have a wonderful instrument already, a French instrument that was made in the 1800s. It's very powerful, but it's much more bright. And this instrument is much more mellow, very silvery on the E string. But I feel like the G string is very chocolatey. I mean, that's the best word I can think to describe it - is just a very chocolatey, rich, mellow sound. So...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FADEL: Wow.
REGNI: Beautiful. But then the E string is very...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
REGNI: It's like on one side of the bridge, you've got this silvery, beautiful sound. On the other side, you've got this rich, chocolaty thing. And in between is - the two strings sort of bring those two sound worlds together.
FADEL: Yeah. Describing anything as chocolatey makes me fall in love with it.
REGNI: I know, right?
FADEL: (Laughter).
REGNI: Who doesn't love chocolate?
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S "SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 55, 'EROICA': I. ALLEGRO CON BRIO")
FADEL: These aren't cheap instruments that you're buying. This - you must have had to save for each one, and then you loan them out.
NOSEDA: Yep. There is a point in life that you feel the need to give back. That happened in 2010 with me. I gave this instrument to the concertmaster of the opera house in Turin. I immediately realized that made a difference. The number of those instruments cannot be increased. If we know there are more or less 600 Stradivari, those are the 600 Stradivari. And not all the 600 Stradivari are good instruments. Some are like miracle, and some of them are not good. That's why you can find the best instrument of a not incredibly recognized luthier, and that instrument can play better than a bad example of Stradivari.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S "SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN C MAJOR, OP. 21 - I. ADAGIO MOLTO. ALLEGRO CON BRIO")
FADEL: There are around a hundred musicians in the National Symphony Orchestra. So having these eight instruments be part of that, how much of a difference in the tone, in the sound does it make overall?
NOSEDA: It makes a sound, a different sound, but it's more a complexity of things. It's richer in a way. It's bigger without being edgy.
REGNI: If you hear a beautiful sound near you, you want to sound as beautiful as that person, you know? And it's not like a - because I want to be as good as them. It's because you want to create this incredible sound - this core beauty. In order to do that, you all have to do it, right? You all have to sort of have that goal. So when you hear the things around you are beautiful, you want to be beautiful, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
NOSEDA: The offstage trumpet is good. Just a little bit more accented in the (inaudible). (Vocalizing). Forty-forty-nine, please.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FADEL: What else are you doing as music director to transform the sound of the National Symphony Orchestra?
NOSEDA: The most important thing is when you work day by day to make the orchestra to interact, where everybody knows what to listen, how to cooperate to make sound. That is the first thing. And the second thing is incredibly important - to be surrounded by great players. Once, a very close friend of mine, conductor, told me, Gianandrea, it's not important that you become a star. It's even more important if you are surrounded by stars because all the light they produce will make you brighter.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF WALKER'S "SINFONIA NO. 4, 'STRANDS'") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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