Ursula Oppens has been hailed as the most important interpreter of contemporary music.
She has premiered some of the most significant piano compositions of the last 20 years, garnering praise from both composers and critics for her flawless technique, fierce musical intelligence, and seemingly boundless versatility. Her recordings, ranging from Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" sonata to Elliot Carter's "Night Fantasies," have received commensurate praise.
She will be performing a varied program at the Hopkins Center, featuring works by Schubert and Stravinsky, alongside two contemporary composers, Tobias Picker, and Taru Takemitsu. The Dartmouth spoke with her upon her arrival on campus.
The Dartmouth: How did you first become involved in contemporary music?
Oppens: I got really interested in new music for many reasons, but it really was a question of believing that this area I love is not dead, but alive and growing. That's a critical difference. If I thought that classical music really was something of another period, another time, another culture, I'm not sure I would enjoy it very much. But it isn't, and that's actually a false view of it. And when I discovered that I was really excited. More than that, I love it, and it's my way of getting as close to the composition as possible. I can listen to [Dartmouth professor] Christian Wolff, and work with him, and that's what's really exciting. There's this great music and I can be there.
The Dartmouth: At the same time, you've not ignored the standard repertoire of the past. Thursday evening you are going to present two early nineteenth-century, two early twentieth-century and two late twentieth century works. Do you see parallels between them?
Oppens: Actually, tomorrow's program is a little bit about the question of virtuosity or non-virtuosity. The Stravinsky sonata is not a virtuosic piece, but the etudes are. The Schubert improptus are not particularly virtuosic, but the "Wanderer Fantasy" is...The Takemitsu is not virtuosic at all, and the middle movement of the Picker is very much like the Takemitsu in that its full of these rhapsodic chords, but the outer movements are wild and virtuosic. So, the theme was not chronology, but virtuosity.
The Dartmouth: You've mentioned that a diverse program which points out contrasts is in the end the most liberating for an audience. Do you then see programming as a way of bringing out contrasts?
Oppens: As a performer who doesn't compose, the only thing I can compose is that evening of music. That's my composition: how everything fits together. And I want the audience to have a good time. That's important. I think of what I can play that will be like a good meal, with variety and balance, and different courses.
The Dartmouth: You yourself grew up in an atmosphere wherein twentieth century post-tonal music was part of the regular diet. For a lot of audience members who do not come from that atmosphere, do you think there is some kind of difficulty in finding another way of listing to that kind of music?
Oppens: I think there is. But I think in some sense, you should not go to a concert just to be comforted, and just to hear pretty things. What I hope to do is to get people to like the experience of something that is in a way more acerbic ... spicier, that is more dissonant.
The Dartmouth: It seems, though, that when performing many contemporary works, that there is a different kind of dialogue, with which perhaps a lot of audience are not familiar. It's not that it's just about dissonances, but it's a different kind of narrative.
Oppens: It's a narrative in which harmony has a different function, and rhythm has a much stronger function. The harmony does exist, but it doesn't do the same thing as tonal music, but it does something interesting.
The Dartmouth: To what extent do you think the audience, especially for more contemporary works needs to be familiar with structure?
Oppens: I often think it's a good idea to suggest that whatever you hear is true. I think that feeling there is a right and a wrong way of listening makes no sense. Because you're communicating with another person, not in a vacuum, and we're not giving a lesson on how to build a radio, we're trying to make someone else have an experience.
The Dartmouth: Despite your long and successful career, it only recently that you've begun to enter the musical establishment, with your first Carnegie Hall recital. Is there, not a sense of arrival, but perhaps one of entering and perhaps changing an institution that at least for the last several decades has been closed to contemporary music, or is it just another field that you enjoy exploring.
Oppens: I guess I really believe deep down that the audiences for classical music would be larger if people listened to more new music, because there's something still wide open about thinking that every program is going to have something on it you've never heard before. And I think people are not as sure that I'm wrong in this as they used to be.
The Dartmouth: Though it may be changing, that kind of criticism seems typical of the music world today. In your career, how have you been able to move from one musical world to another, avoiding the low-level politics?
Oppens: Either you are really a tremendous success and afraid of losing it, or you have nothing to lose and might as well try anything you feel like, as long as no one gets hurt. What I mean is that I've had a lot of support, wonderful management, and a lot of helpful friends, and in a way maybe I had quite a good situation, but I wasn't quite so successful to feel that I should keep doing the same thing, in fear of losing my fan club. To some extent, there are some people who want me to play only new music, because it's needed so much, but I don't want to do that just for myself because I like the old music, but also because that is a political position I don't agree with. I still think of a concert as something that should be fun.
Oppens will be performing tonight at 8:00 PM in Spaulding Auditorium. Tickets are $16.50 for the general public, $8.50 with a Dartmouth student ID. They are available at the Hopkins Center box office.
