Page 204 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

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The Music at Tippet Rise
For cello-piano duo David Finckel and Wu Han, food and music go hand-in-hand.
Devanney Haruta: When putting together a program, how do you decide which pieces to play?
David Finckel: Making programs is kind of like making dinner. There’s a first course, a second course, a third course, and then dessert sometimes, which is the encore. It’s just like when you make a good meal-you want one course to lead to the other. Which is easy to do in music because classical music is always an evolving art. By the time a composer finished writing one piece, they were already thinking about how they were going to evolve in their next piece. Depending on which ones you put next to each other, the juxtaposition of pieces intensifies their differences or cements their similarities in surprising ways. That’s why we enjoy putting together recital programs, because it’s like cooking a really creative dinner for friends.
DH: In past interviews and articles, you mention that food is an important part of your life. Can you tell us more about this?
DF: Wow, that’s such a deep and far-reaching question! I think that eating is a genetic desire that was born into me. I grew up in a house where my father was a professional musician and my mother was an amateur musician and a great cook. As a family, we just lived for food. We would
be having one meal, and while we were eating that meal, we would be talking about what we would be having for the next meal.
When we’re on tour, we’re very lucky; we get to go to
many places that have wonderful food, countries that have wonderful cuisines. Eating is the quickest way to immerse yourself in a new culture. Sometimes when I’m not too busy with other things, I feel like I’m killing time between meals.
Wu Han: I say that eating is a religion for David.
No question about it. The first thing he says when he wakes up is, “What’s for dinner?” As a musician, also, the sensa- tion of food and joy is a very visceral experience.
The enjoyment of your senses, from listening to watching to tasting, is very, very basic.
DF: But also a much more accessible, complete
satisfaction than music. I’m not a professional chef, but when I make a decent meal for friends and am done and everybody’s happy, I go to bed and think, “Wow, that was great.” But as a professional musician, no matter how well I play a concert, I’m always thinking, “I could have done that a little better,” and “next time I’ll have to change that.” As artists, we torture ourselves to improve and get better all
the time—that’s what we’re born to do. But as a food lover,
I really just live from one meal to the next, and if I make dinner and some things could have been better, I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it.
WH: There’s always another meal.
CONVERSATION WITH
DAVID FINCKEL & WU HAN