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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

David Robertson on Conducting, Pierre Boulez, and Musical Interpretation

9 Jul 2025 13 published claims 1 attributable person
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Speakers in the public record

David Robertson

Claim mix

evaluation 5preference 4belief 2commitment 2

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The useful parts, with receipts.

13 published records

01 / belief

Oh, I would say start gently with a piece like Mémoriale, where there the sound world — it’s for solo flute, it’s for a small string ensemble and two French horns — the sound world is delightful and at the same time, it is a piece that has a very strong emotional tenor.

“Oh, I would say start gently with a piece like Mémoriale, where there the sound world — it’s for solo flute, it’s for a small string ensemble and two French horns — the sound world is delightful and at the same time, it is a piece that has a very strong emotional tenor.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

03 / belief

I have no idea how that’s really going to affect things, but I think that the challenge for us in what we call classical music — for want of a better term — is the idea of long form.

“I have no idea how that’s really going to affect things, but I think that the challenge for us in what we call classical music — for want of a better term — is the idea of long form.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

04 / commitment

Oh, you can only do your job by listening. That’s the only way to do the job. It looks as though you are somehow imposing your will on other people, but you’re not at all.

“Oh, you can only do your job by listening. That’s the only way to do the job. It looks as though you are somehow imposing your will on other people, but you’re not at all.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / preference

Janos would often say to people, “Imagine the moon view that there’s some extraterrestrial who’s come to observe the Earth and thinks that a safe distance to do this is from the moon because you don’t want to get too close.

“Janos would often say to people, “Imagine the moon view that there’s some extraterrestrial who’s come to observe the Earth and thinks that a safe distance to do this is from the moon because you don’t want to get too close.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / evaluation

In the ’47 version, he sanctions, which I think was probably because he would also like to conduct it, because you make money conducting, and so, he turned it into eighth note equals eighth note, and I find this is a very sad way of doing things.

“In the ’47 version, he sanctions, which I think was probably because he would also like to conduct it, because you make money conducting, and so, he turned it into eighth note equals eighth note, and I find this is a very sad way of doing things.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / evaluation

I think that because he doesn’t wear, or never wore, his emotion on his sleeve in any way that many people — and also with this extraordinary emphasis on precision that was connected with his performing One of the headlines in a New York paper announcing his arrival at the New York Philharmonic was “The Iceman Cometh.

“I think that because he doesn’t wear, or never wore, his emotion on his sleeve in any way that many people — and also with this extraordinary emphasis on precision that was connected with his performing One of the headlines in a New York paper announcing his arrival at the New York Philharmonic was “The Iceman Cometh.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / evaluation

What this means is that, similar to what happened in poetry in the 20th century and in our century, all of a sudden, it feels as if the rules which we used to be able to hold onto when we were listening to something that was new and with which we were unfamiliar, are suddenly broken down, and it feels like a free-for-all.

“What this means is that, similar to what happened in poetry in the 20th century and in our century, all of a sudden, it feels as if the rules which we used to be able to hold onto when we were listening to something that was new and with which we were unfamiliar, are suddenly broken down, and it feels like a free-for-all.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / evaluation

In some of the other languages that I’ve learned later, as a young adult and an adult, I can tell you specifically where I learned, which train platform I was standing on when someone corrected me, and I learned this word in this language for the first time, but in my mother tongue, there’s no way I can go back and say when I learned “water.

“In some of the other languages that I’ve learned later, as a young adult and an adult, I can tell you specifically where I learned, which train platform I was standing on when someone corrected me, and I learned this word in this language for the first time, but in my mother tongue, there’s no way I can go back and say when I learned “water.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / evaluation

One is, when Boulez founded this group, he made it so that each one of the players was considered a soloist. It was an ensemble of 31 soloists, and their contract was modeled on the soloist’s contract in an orchestra, which is usually closer to two-thirds of the time so that they’re not playing every single piece every single week because they need the time to keep themselves, like a great sports player, a tennis player, or a gymnast, in top form.

“One is, when Boulez founded this group, he made it so that each one of the players was considered a soloist. It was an ensemble of 31 soloists, and their contract was modeled on the soloist’s contract in an orchestra, which is usually closer to two-thirds of the time so that they’re not playing every single piece every single week because they need the time to keep themselves, like a great sports player, a tennis player, or a gymnast, in top form.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / preference

There are all sorts of ways that you can accomplish what’s necessary, but I think the fundamental idea is, every person in the orchestra, like every person in an ensemble of soloists, is equally important, and their viewpoints are equally valid.

“There are all sorts of ways that you can accomplish what’s necessary, but I think the fundamental idea is, every person in the orchestra, like every person in an ensemble of soloists, is equally important, and their viewpoints are equally valid.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / preference

My sense, in any piece of music that I play, is to try and make it — regardless of when it was written — contemporary in the sense that it speaks to us now because we are contemporary.

“My sense, in any piece of music that I play, is to try and make it — regardless of when it was written — contemporary in the sense that it speaks to us now because we are contemporary.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

13 / preference

I prefer by heart rather than from memory, because I think the notion is that, like any kind of music, it means so much to you that there’s no way you could forget it, in the same way that you can’t forget your parents’ names because they have volumes of experience and love and connection that are attached to those names.

“I prefer by heart rather than from memory, because I think the notion is that, like any kind of music, it means so much to you that there’s no way you could forget it, in the same way that you can’t forget your parents’ names because they have volumes of experience and love and connection that are attached to those names.”
Speaker
David Robertson
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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