Video Interview, Paavo Järvi on Haydn's 'London' symphonies

The first instalment in Paavo Järvi's new series of Haydn's 'London' symphonies came out a couple of weeks ago – showing the amazing affinity that both Järvi and his Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have for this music. With Nos. 101 and 103 released, the project is already looking ahead to the other symphonies in the set – with a concert at Bremen's Die Glocke of symphonies No. 93 and No. 104.

I caught up with Paavo there between rehearsals to talk about his relationship with Haydn's music, its impact on subsequent generations, and what he thinks about all those whimsical nicknames that have been applied to so many of Haydn's compositions!

Many listeners know you from your work with Romantic and later music – so why Haydn? And why now?

Well, Haydn is actually the beginning of everything, when it comes to symphonic repertoire and symphonic form. We probably should have started the whole journey from Haydn, and worked our way up through Beethoven and Mozart and Schubert and so on! But it just so happened that we started with Beethoven, and after that Schumann and then Brahms. But I've always had this desire to really explore Haydn's symphonies, and there's no particular reason why it is just now; it just so happened that we were ready for this project, and after our Brahms cycle that we finished recently, it was just the right moment.

As someone who works on such a wide range of eras, what links have you found between earlier and later repertoire?

Everything is interconnected. I think that there are a lot of misunderstandings about the whole idea of classical repertoire and how the classical repertoire should be played, and what is the right or wrong way of doing it. I think that there is a logical connection from Bach, or even before, to the music of today. And certainly when we talk about the German-speaking space in central Europe, it's pretty much all the same music. There is absolutely zero difference between Haydn and Bruckner. There is almost no difference between Haydn and Mahler.

Now, a lot of people will now start having heart attacks and thinking "what do you mean, there is no difference between Haydn and Mahler!?" It all comes from the same well. There is a development, clearly, there is a difference in the music of Schubert and Beethoven and clearly Haydn, but it all is actually a variation on the same thing. It is exactly the same symphony that Haydn wrote that is then expanded, varied, made into more shocking, more vivid, perhaps more contemporary (according to the time when the composer lived) - but it all is traceable back to the music of Haydn.

Do you think the nicknames attached to many of Haydn's symphonies are useful?

Before the whole profession of marketers and marketing came into play, which we now sort of live by, the natural inclination to make something recognisable was always there – that's why we have names and we're not just called Person 1, Person 2, Person 3. We have names – "my name is Paavo", "your name is John", everybody is identified. And of course it helps a little bit, especially when you have a hundred and four symphonies, to say "ah, the one with the clock" or "oh, the drum-roll, that's right, yes".

They're not really his names, they're not something that he created – and I think that it's fun, and why not, you know? I don't think that as professionals we should pay too much attention to them, because what happens is that somebody says "oh, this is a hen" or "it's a bear" and then we're somehow looking for clues in the piece, how we could make something sound like a hen or a bear... actually it was just a reaction of some amateur listener who kind of thought "oh, that sounds like a chicken." The same thing with the "Clock", the same thing with almost anything.

Having said that, a lot of those nicknames are quite correct and quite on the money, and I don't think that there's any harm to it. I don't mind. I mean, Italians call the Sibelius Second Symphony an "Italian symphony" – because he wrote it in Italy. There's nothing to do with Italy, but if they want to feel better about it being called "Italian" then let them! That is absolutely no problem.

Was Haydn's well-known sense of humour unusual among his contemporaries?

The modern conducting profession has really come into existence in the way that we know it after Wagner. We really know the recordings of people like Furtwängler and Klemperer and Knappertsbusch and all these. These are all modern conductors, relatively speaking. By that time, all music that was written by a German composer – a "serious" composer! – had to be serious, and always there was a quest for profound meaning, and profound meaning is a kind of a Germanic trait which is carried over into the whole society in a way. And in a way, it's very good – there is a very understandable reason for it, looking for the origins of existence. But at the same time... not everything that is serious, and not everything that is profound, lacks humour. Humour and depth are not mutually exclusive terms, and very often people who really want to show the weight and the importance of something, like a slow movement of a symphony, tend to overdo it and make it a little bit too soul-searching.

Certainly during Haydn's time – I think Haydn took a lot of a lot of these things much more lightly. And that doesn't mean that there's nothing profound about his music – there can be very profound moments – and in general one needs to find the right balance. And I think the humour is the key element in Haydn – but also a key element in Beethoven, and in Mozart. What would a Mozart symphony be without recognising the humour? Or a Mozart opera, for that matter.

What's special about this last set of Haydn's symphonies, the 'London' twelve?

I love all of them equally, I must say; I don't have one favourite. I think that some of them are clearly more successful with audiences – I'm not talking about from a point of view of the quality or the construction, it's just it so happens that some pieces have a little quicker, more direct way to the listener's ear. And it is like that with a lot of music; there are fantastic pieces like the Fourth Symphony of Beethoven – but the Seventh is more popular! And with almost every composer you could have the same process.

So I think that for me, once you get to know them, you realise that there is no such thing as a general Haydn symphony. Every one of them is a gem, and every one of them is slightly different. And once you get to know that child you love it.

Do you have any plans for celebrating your twentieth anniversary with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen next year?

I think that in our business we are planned ahead at least three, four years, sometimes even longer! So there are clear plans of what is going to happen – I don't think there is going to be any particular pomp, or anything overly outrageous, but I think that certainly acknowledging the fact that we've been together for so long is going to be kind of the theme of the whole season.